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The collection consists of 340 photographs of Miami including the celebration of Carnival Miami at Calle 8. The photographs were taken by Gustavo Roca.

This growing collection consists of cassettes, vinyl records, and documents pertaining to the Miami underground music community. The music in this collection was assembled by the WVUM staff and mostly dates to the 1990s.

The Walter Etling Papers include documents, clippings, and photographs related to Etling’s student years at the University of Miami, as well as his professional and community activities in Miami from the 1950s through the 1970s.

The bulk of the collection consists of photographs, clippings, documents, letters, programs, advertisements, brochures, and ephemera that Etling compiled into albums documenting his student years, professional activities, community service, and personal life.  The collection also contains loose personal papers, photographs, clippings, and other materials related to Etling’s student, business, community, and alumni activities, and personal life.

Business related materials, such as advertisements, brochures, statistics, and other papers, document Etling’s work as a real estate agent for the Allen Morris Company, the Keyes Company, and Walter Etling Company. Examples include brochures for the Keys Company and the Walter Etling Company, as well as the sale of the Flamingo Hotel. The collection also contains photographs and ephemera related to Etling’s involvement in establishing a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in Spain, and letters and documents regarding his service on the board of Key Biscayne Bank.

Community service related materials include letters, certificates, clippings, photographs, and other materials primarily related to Etling’s service to the Miami Science Museum, and also his involvement with Kiwanis International and the Dade County Grand Jury.

The collection also contains materials related to Etling’s extensive involvement with the University of Miami. Class assignments, notes, photographs, clippings, and other materials document his student years. Also included are letters, programs, photographs, clippings, and ephemera regarding his service for the Alumni Association and the Board of Trustees. In addition, the collection contains materials relating to class reunions and university athletics, as well as artistic studies Etling prepared when creating the painting that is on the cover of the University of Miami’s 75th anniversary book, Rendezvous with Greatness. 

Personal materials document family vacations, such as photographs of a trip to the 1976 Winter Olympics. Also included are materials related to his hobby of selling memorabilia, and programs and clippings that document the activities of his children while attending the University of Miami.

The Urban Environment League is a non-profit organization originally created in 1996 under the leadership and guidance of Gregory Bush, a professor at the University of Miami's History department and the Institute for Public History. The organization is dedicated to promoting safe and responsible practices in urban development in Miami-Dade through education and by advocating for environmental reform and legal protections for historical landmarks. Their records contain several issues of their internal newsletter, the Urban Forum; membership lists; minutes; correspondence; pamphlets; flyers; brochures; periodicals; research files on historical landmarks in Greater Miami, and urban planning; financial records; administrative files; ephemera; audio-visual materials (floppy disks and negatives); and legal files.

Sweat Records began as a local independent music store in Miami in 2005, conceived by DJ and club promoter, Lauren (Lolo) Reskin, and by former WVUM DJ and public defense attorney, Sara Yousuf. It served as not only a record store but a public event space and coffee shop, catering to the eclectic music scene in South Florida. The store was forced to temporarily relocate to the back of Churchill's pub in 2005 after the destruction caused from Hurricane Wilma and eventually moved to its new permanent location near Little Haiti. Sara Yousuf also left her role as co-owner to pursue a full-time career as a public defense attorney in 2006 and was replaced by Jason Jimenez who came onboard as Lolo's new partner in 2007. Sweat Records continues to this day to offer a wide variety of performances and events, featuring both budding local artists and veteran rock bands, and to contribute heavily to Miami's thriving music culture.

The Sweat Records collection contains archival material documenting the history of the record store, including newspaper articles, magazines, ephemera, pamphlets, company records, administrative files, personal papers from Lolo Reskin, and audio-visual material. Items are arranged categorically by series and material type.

This collection contains promotional materials, club guidelines, news clippings relating to Students Toward a New Democracy, and newspapers with articles relevant to Overtown and labor campaigns.

Spec's Music Inc. records is comprised of press releases in the form of newspaper and magazine clippings, business records, photographs, store memorabilia, and framed music posters, and plaques acquired during Ann Lieff's tenure.

The following description of material types and context was provided by JC Bourque, the main designer for Spec's merchandising and ad campaigns:

Promotion to Record Labels
These programs were intended to convince the record labels to allocate advertising revenue, known as “co-op” funds, to Spec’s Music rather than the competitors, or at least garner a larger share of the labels’ promotion budgets. Spec’s would commit to a media schedule, and use these materials to show the labels how much coverage they could get for their co-op dollars.The calendars were created to show the various advertising and store promotion themes that would be employed during the upcoming year. For example, Country Music Month would employ a different media mix than Classical Music Month. Knowing this, the labels might coordinate the release of major artists when the media mix was weighted toward that musical genre.

Promotion to Public
Marketing to the public included radio and TV spots, newspaper ads and inserts, in-store signage and theme art, direct mail, in-store sale flyers and other methods. Typically, a theme would be created and used across all platforms used for a particular promotion. The particular mix of media and other methods would vary according to the particulars of each promotion.

Newspaper Ads and Inserts
Spec’s would often place full-color, full page ads on the back covers of the Sunday lifestyle magazine in various major newspapers in Florida and Puerto Rico. Sometimes, for major promotions, multi-page inserts printed on higher-quality paper were inserted into newspapers instead.

Music Genre Art
These artworks were produced by Impossible Images for use in print materials to denote various musical genres.

Store Signage
Several types of in-store signage were used to reinforce the advertising messaging utilized in radio, TV, and print media.
Posters - There were two types of posters produced. Single-sided posters were used on walls and windows. Double-sided posters were hung from the store ceiling grid so they could be seen from any place in the store.
Danglers - These were also hung from the grid. A single line was attached to one corner of the dangler, presenting a diamond-shaped sign that would rotate in the air currents of the ventilation system.
Genre Signage - These were typically mounted on top of the music bins (gondolas) and consisted of the genre descriptor (Country, Jazz, etc.) and a Spec’s logo. These would identify specific locations for the different types of music. These were used in conjunction with large murals, below, that showed customers the general area of their music preferences.
Retrofit Signage - These were developed by Impossible Products to be added to older gondolas that had not been fabricated with slots for the genre signage holders. These were installed between back-to-back gondolas, with different genre inserts on either side.

Sound & Vision Magazine
This was a periodic publication that would showcase popular music and video releases. The music section was named “Sound &”, while the video section, printed upside down relative to the music section, was titled “Vision &”, so ether side could be considered the front page.

Moon Beach TV Spot
This was a “theme” TV spot (as opposed to a “donut”, below) that was intended to increase “top-of-mind-awareness” of the Spec’s brand, and create a shopping preference in the consumer. It was shot completely under ultraviolet light, and all the props, costumes and makeup were decorated with fluorescent materials.
The script, costumes and props were created by JC Bourque of Impossible Images, Inc. The spot was directed and shot by David Schweitzer. The footage was shot on 16mm film and transferred to electronic media for compositing.
The music was composed after the footage was roughed in. Various visual elements, such as the “frizbee” landing were accentuated in the music track. The musician thought JC was nuts when he proposed attempting this.
Behind the Scenes - Moon Beach TV Spot
These are photos of the shoot during production.

“Dominoes” Video TV Spot
This is an example of a “donut” spot introducing Spec’s entry into the video market. The donut would be distributed to the various TV stations, and the “hole” would be filled with promotions for specific video titles, with the visuals and narration supplied by the station. These insert would be different and various stations depending on demographics, time slot and label co-op purchases.

Special Promotions
Various themes, such as “Instant Hits Blitz,” “Mother’s Day Deals,” and “Saving Season” were developed and deployed across most or all of the media and store displays.Music... Serious Business This was a campaign to get prospective employees interested in the retail side of the music industry. I believe these were used at job fairs and other venues where people were looking for careers. The poster was designed similar to a playing card, with the two interlocking aspects of the music industry: the music, and the business.The brochure was a take-away for the prospect and included in-depth information about the business side of the industry.

Photographs and negatives of Hurricane Andrew created by the students of Southwood Middle School.

"An archive of ephemera detailing the short-lived Miami punk band, Screaming Sneakers, compiled by their drummer Mark Evans. The collection includes artwork, flyers, 28 letters, 12 photographs, maquettes, newspaper clippings, promotional material, and other items collected between 1981 and 1983 by Evans.

These items show the early days of the band in 1979 and their do-it-yourself rise to their only recordings in 1982. Featured throughout are various letters from fans and inquiring music writers including Mick Mercer of the English zines, ZigZag Mag and Panache Fanzine. In his letter he writes to frontwoman, Lisa, asking for an interview and saying, 'you seem to be a special sort of band.' Another letter is a retained copy of a note written by Mark to Blondie guitarist, Chris Stein, asking if his new record label, Animal Records, would be interested in the band. A group of 12 black and white band photos showing them posed around New York is featured here. A promotional poster for the band features a piece from the Miami News on Lisa which reads, 'she is more interesting simply sitting at her table than any of the bands cavorting on stage.'

Formed in 1979, the Screaming Sneakers were a punk, New Wave band based in Miami, Florida. The band consisted of then 17 year-old front woman Lisa Nash, Mark Evans (drums), Bud Gangemi (bass), and Gary Sunshine (guitar). Part of South Florida’s fleeting punk and new wave scene, the band was active mostly throughout Dade and Broward County. In 1982 they cut a four-song EP titled Marching Orders, which prompted new management, a move to New York, and a brief glimmer of fame, but despite their best efforts the band slowly faded into obscurity. Little enough is written on them, though they were recently featured in Gary McLaughlin’s 2012 documentary Invisible Bands, which covers the South Florida music scene between 1979 through the mid-1980’s.

An interesting collection of ephemera following a female fronted Miami punk Band’s short-lived time in the 1980s punk scene." -Between the Covers Rare Books

This collection features an array of scrapbooks, many of which are homemade, from the 19th and 20th centuries. Subjects covered in these scrapbooks include fashion, advertising, history, Robert Louis Stevenson, Pat Cannon's congressional run, garden clubs, cruises, and more. These scrapbooks are comprised of portraits, photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, programs, brochures, maps, drawings, telegrams, and more. Some of the creators are unknowns or names without renown, but these scrapbooks highlight their personal tastes and interests, offering some unique insight into their lives.

Thanks to a grant sponsored by UM Libraries as part of the CREATE Grant Fall 2019 grant Cycle Awards, students under the supervision of Professor Robin Bachin (Associate Professor/Assistant Provost for Civic and Community Engagement) conducted interviews with Miami community members in neighborhoods that have undergone significant transformations over the last several decades.

The Race, housing, and displacement oral history collection documents the complicated and significant interconnections among race, housing, and displacement in Miami during the twentieth century. The 6 interviewees are from various neighborhoods including Overtown, Liberty City, and Little Haiti. The interviews were conducted over Zoom during April 2020.

The following individuals were interviewed as part of this collection:

1. Adrian Madriz: Executive Director of the Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH)
2. Alana Greer: Co-founder of the Community Justice Project
3. Mileyka Burgos: Executive Director of The Allapattah Collaborative, CDC
4. Nancy Metayer: Candidate for Coral Springs Commissioner; member on the Steering Committee of the Miami Climate Alliance; former member of the Broward County Soil and Water Conservation District; Co-Founder of the Florida Disaster Preparedness Plan; environmental scientist; community organizer
5. Shirley Plantin, Chief Executive Consultant for U-Turn Youth Consulting Firm and the author of The Backstory of a New Reality
6. Yanick Landess, Director of Homeownership Programs at Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida

The Plymouth Congregational Church records contains historical records created and maintained by the church from around the 1910s through 2010s. The collection contains (but is not limited to) church records on baptisms, weddings, and funerals; architectural drawings of the building and grounds (including the Little Schoolhouse); church bulletins; educational materials; organizational records, including minister files, records maintained by church organizations (eg. Music Committee, Women's Fellowship Circles), and information on governance; ephemera related to events; press clippings; scrapbooks, photographs; and sermons and memorial tapes.

Originally established by W. L. Philbrick with Steve L. Stanfill, Jr., Philbrick Funeral Home served as an important landmark in the early 20th century, offering premium funeral services to the citizens of South Florida. It has since then been renamed to Philbrick-Stanfill Funeral Home and then Stanfill Funeral Home. This collection contains funerary records and burial information for those whose memorial services were performed under the original Phibrick Funeral Home leadership.

Conceived in 1932 by the original Orange Bowl Committee, the Orange Bowl was created as a popular tourism attraction for the New Year's Festival in Miami that would attract national publicity and bring more businesses and money to South Florida. This venture proved successful as the Orange Bowl celebration grew in both size and popularity, becoming a national extravaganza with their lavish parades, annual football games, and beauty pageants, all in an effort to create the "world's greatest half-time spectacle."

The first football game ever put on by the committee was in 1932 between the University of Miami Hurricanes and Manhattan College from New York City in what was then called the Festival of Palms Bowl. In 1935, the festival was renamed as the Orange Bowl and started featuring college football teams to participate based on their national rankings rather than offering a guaranteed position, and it was recognized by the NCAA as the first "official" Orange Bowl. The Orange Bowl stadium was created in 1937 to accommodate the game as well as the Miami Dolphins home games and several Super Bowls up until it was demolished in 2008, but it gained a prolific reputation as a local attraction during its lifespan in south Florida.

The Orange Bowl Records contains documents, financial and administrative files, scrapbooks, photographs, ephemera, pamphlets, newsclippings, audiovisual material, and 3D objects pertaining to the Orange Bowl Committee and their archives.

This collection currently contains advertisements, ephemera, pamphlets, scrapbooks, and graphic materials from National Airlines, mostly dating to the 1970s.

"Archive of letters between members of the Michelsen and Havens family, including correspondence from Kate C. Havens, a prominent female theosophist from Miami, Florida and Cloudland, Geogia. Approximately 75 letters plus newspaper clippings, ephemera, and a sketch book containing costume designs by Cleo Michelsen. The majority of these letters are addressed to Cleo Michelsen, a young lady, who is interested in the arts and would eventually marry Auriel Bessemer, a noted muralist of the New Deal. Cleo came from a well-established family from Miami. The letters are written from her brothers, sisters, parents, and grandparents. The family is well-educated, and the letters are articulate and well-written.

However, with the Depression looming over the country, her family is is in the midst of a crisis. Cleo's father has seen his business fortunes plummet, and he and Cleo's mother have separated. Her father eventually moves to Cuba where he attempts to revive his holding company. Her mother stays in Florida but is in terrible financial straits. One of Cleo's sisters writes regarding the lack of money and her mother's impoverished state - one which forces her to go days without eating.

In addition, as mentioned above, Cleo has been courted by Auriel Bessemer, who she meets in art school. A promising artist himself, they go on to marry in 1935. During the New Deal, Auriel was commissioned by the Treasury Department to create seven murals - "Historical and Industrial Scenes - Sketches of Virginia," for the first federal building in Arlington. The murals were conserved in 2007, and today, they remain in their permanent home in the U.S. Post Office Building in Arlington.

Most importantly, in this collection are a series of letters from Cleo's grandmother, Kate C. Havens, who splits her time between her home in Miami, Florida and a mountain retreat in Cloudland, Georgia. Mrs. Havens originally hailed from Chicago and was a prominent voice in the Theosophy movement of the time, delivering lectures, writing articles and becoming acquainted other notable theorists, including Anne Besant and Max Heindel. In Miami, she continued her involvement with Theosophy becoming the president of the newly formed Theosophical Society there in 1919. She was a free and very liberal thinker and also became heavily involved in the Women's suffrage movement, eventually becoming an officer on the legal status of women in the Florida State League of Women Voters.

Havens has a great affection for Cleo and writes her interesting heartfelt letters, which are mostly always infused with a Theosophical bent, injecting her views on spirituality and orientalism, providing her opinions on important theosophical readings, reporting upon her lectures given to the Theosophical Society in Miami, and giving accounts of two fascinating meetings with Pearl Buck and Dr. Alvin Kuhns." -Denning House Antiquarian Books & Manuscripts