Research material from noted author and historian, Arva Moore Parks McCabe (1939-2020). Born in Miami, Florida, Arva had written countless books on Florida's eclectic history, including The Forgotten Frontier: Florida through the Lens of Ralph Middleton Munroe, Miami, the Magic City, and George Merrick, Son of the South Wind: Visionary Creator of Coral Gables. She also served as chief curator, interim director, and chair of the Coral Gables Museum.
This collection focuses heavily on George E. Merrick, Coral Gables, and other research topics used in her writings. It also features a large assortment of archival material: booklets, books, magazines, posters, photographs, negatives, pamphlets, postcards, maps, ephemera, newspapers, and guides about Miami and other notable cities and famous people related to South Florida.
The Florida Promotional Materials (1886 to present) consists of a variety of advertising literature used by governmental and private organizations to depict the region as an ideal vacation destination. The collection includes various richly illustrated printed brochures, maps and flyers that provide information on public safety, tourism, art, horticulture, recreation, sport, education, as well as Florida’s famous hotels and rich wildlife, parks and national monuments. The collection also documents the growth of Florida’s cities to attract tourists and residents alike.
The Little Palm Island Collection consists of a promotional packet from the Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, containing ephemera such as brochures and hotel restaurant menus. The island resort, located three miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean and 28 miles east of Key West, has its own unique history. Well known visitors have included President Harry Truman and his wife, John Foster Dulles, and Admiral Bull Halsey. The island was also the setting of the 1962 Warner Brothers production, "PT 109", a biographical war film about John F. Kennedy's naval service during World War II.
