Hervey Allen was a literature professor, poet, World War I veteran, and Trustee of the University of Miami from 1936 until 1949, the year that he died. Allen had a formative influence on the "Friends of the University" organization, as well as on Latin American studies at the University.

The collection consists of letters both by Allen and about Allen after his passing away, clippings about Allen and his writings, photographs, photocopies and typescripts of Allen's writings, and obituaries including an official University of Miami memorial.

This collection contains typescripts, photocopies and photographs regarding the history of the confederate submarine H. L. Hunley.

The Hurford Janes papers contain about 200 pages letters to and from Hurford Janes for his proposed biography of James A. M. Whistler, the American painter. The collection also contains several newspapers, photocopies of old letters, postcards, pages of poetry, and two manuscripts: one of the biography and one titled "The Whistler Mystery."

The Hurricane Andrew collection contains two different series of materials regarding the 1992 hurricane.

Series I consists of photographs, writings, and artwork made by children representing their Hurricane Andrew experience. The majority of the materials are photographs, negatives, prints, photographic slides, writings about those photographs, and administrative documents from a project done at Southwood Middle School titled "The Eye of the Storm through the Eye of the Child." Administered and organized by Colette Stemple, a photography teacher at the school, the photographs depict damage done to their homes and their neighborhoods, and have accompanying text written by the children as well. The project was eventually on display in the Miami Art Museum one year after the landfall of Andrew, under the same name. Also included are drawings, poems, a bound volume titled "Hands On: The Day the Winds Came... Migrant Children Write About the Effects of Hurricane Andrew," reflections written by Caribbean Elementary School students, and a folder scrapbook on Hurricane Andrew's effects titled "In the Wake of Andrew."

Series II contains historic Miami Herald newspapers chronicling the Hurricane's impending landfall in South Florida, the actual landfall, and several weeks of the aftermath.

The Irving A. Leonard collection contains materials related to Kirk Munroe (1850-1930), a writer of children's stories and a journalist who lived for approximately forty years in Coconut Grove. Much of the collection consists of typed copies or photocopies of letters, diary entries, bibliographies, essays, and newspaper articles, but some unique photographs and correspondence with family members of Munroe is included as well.

The Isaac Bashevis Singer Collection consists predominantly of correspondence written to Singer during the years 1978 to 1982. The correspondence is divided topically into the following categories: agent correspondence, autograph and photograph requests, fan mail, financial papers, Hebrew and Yiddish correspondence, legal affairs, miscellaneous, "new writer" requests (letters from authors asking Singer to read their work), personal, protocol, publicity, publisher and producer correspondence, requests for information, requests for money, and requests for interviews or speaking engagements.

Also included are manuscripts by Singer, periodicals, brochures, photocopies, and clippings with content from or about Singer, and writings by other authors.

The papers document activities of J. M. Portuondo in capacity of a professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Havana, a writer and a faculty member of the University of Miami School of Medicine.  The materials include books, pamphlets, periodicals, clippings, circular letters, typescripts of anti-communist writings by Portuondo, reports, a poem by Portuondo, speeches by him, copies of his medical diplomas, a historical map of Havana, and photostats of a photograph and of a letter from José Martí to José Portuondo.

The James Baxter collection contains Florida related materials. Included are a deed of sale and title of a house in Flagler; theater publications from the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the Miami Summer Star Theater, and the Dade County Auditorium Playgoer; postcards from Key West, Ft. Lauderdale, Port Everglades, Fort Myers, Palm Beach, and Miami Beach; a series of photographs of historic sites in Florida, largely lighthouses; a 1903 periodical titled "Liberty Boys of '76: The Liberty Boys in Florida, 1903"; an 1883 Vol XIX issue of Dime Beadle's New York Library, subtitled "Alligator Ike; or The Secret of the Everglade. A Tale of the Outlaws of the Okeechobee"; and a photocopy of the latter periodical.

The John Moultrie Collection contains the following three items:

(1) A sales report titled "Copy of Sales of Effects of Estate of John Moultrie" dated 1772. The commodities sold range from a plantation titled Goose Creek to slaves to "bush corn & peas."

(2) A 1786 letter addressed to a Lord Hawke. In this, Moultrie apologizes for having to leave London early and missing an engagement with Hawke, and asserts his gratitude to Hawke on behalf of the people of East Florida.

(3) A leaf excerpt of a letter, chronicling the fate of the British people living in East Florida after the American revolution. The leaf begins: "...about the time or just before the revolt of the Americas the governor of East Florida secured the Kings order restraining him from any further grants of land in the usual manner and terms, and ordering all the vacant lands in the province to be surveyed, advertised, & laid out in certain tracts and to sell them at public sale at certain periods - giving public notice thereof. This of course could not accommodate with lands those unfortunate people who were obliged to fly from their homes in the neighboring colonies on behalf of their attachment to Great Britain, into East Florida held out as a place of refuge by proclamation in consequence of his Majesties instructions to his governor."

The collection also contains typescripts of these documents, and a photocopy of an image of Moultrie.

The John W. Bennett collection contains two audiocassettes titled "Alistair Cook speaks of H. L. Mencken from the tape of Mrs. R. R. Bennett, 6/15/80" and "Conversation - H. L. Mencken and Dr. Donald Kirkley. June 30, 1948," two newspaper clippings on H. L. Mencken, and a photocopy of a book titled "Roosevelt and the Republic" by John W. Bennett.

Dr. José Agustín Balseiro (1900-1991) was an award-winning author, poet, and scholar of Latin American Studies and Hispanic literature. He was also a professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Miami from 1946 to 1967.

Throughout his career, Dr. Balseiro exhibited a strong interest in Latin American and Hispanic-American studies, Latin American and Spanish literature, and Puerto Rican history and literature. His papers, donated to the University of Miami, reflect all of these interests and range in date from his earliest activities as a writer in Spain to his final days working as a consultant to the University of Miami Libraries starting in 1974. Much of the content consists of correspondence, clippings, typescripts, and periodicals in which Balseiro’s writings were featured. Also included is sheet music belonging to his father, Rafael Balseiro, who was a Puerto Rican composer.

Of special note are three bronze medallions: (1) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el primer Centenario del Natalicio de Luiz Muñoz Rivera (the centennial of the birth of Luiz Muñoz Rivera); (2) from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena, commemorating el Centenario de la Abolición de la Esclavidud in Puerto Rico (the centennial of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico); and (3) from the University of Panama commemorating the first 25 years of the University’s existence.

Joseph L. Herndon (1948-2021) was a historical preservationist who aided in several global restoration projects, including the Old Spanish Fort (1730) in Pascagoula, Mississippi; Qasr Ibrihim (1600's) in Hoffuf, Saudi Arabia; the Old Post Office (1897) in Washington, D.C.; The Rugby Colony (1880's) in Rugby, Tennessee; Union Station (1900) in Nashville, Tennessee; The Germantown neighborhood revitalization (1840's) in Nashville, Tennessee; The Biltmore Hotel (1926) in Miami, Florida. His papers include a large breadth of information and research pertaining to the Biltmore Hotel, the Panama Canal, Turkey, the Deering Estate, resorts, and other areas of interest to Joseph Herndon. Material types represented within include audio-visual materials (CD-ROMS, VHS, photographs, slides), print-outs, administrative files, financial files, travel brochures, ephemera, architectural plans, interior design samples, research files, reports, proposals, periodicals, and 3D objects.

The Kenneth Close Collection contains a number of prints from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and elsewhere, sheet music for "The Death of Minnehaha" by Longfellow and Ch. C. Converse, and several insurance policies from the 19th century (some which are photocopied).

Dr. L. A. Hodson was a Miami ophthamologist who had a strong interest in zoology. Dr. Hodson, a friend of professor of zoology and University of Miami president Jay F. Pearson, ventured on a number of trips to the Bahamas (a few times with Pearson) where he discovered a number of new species and collected hard to find species. These he donated to the University of Miami.

The L. A. Hodson collection contains clippings about these expeditions; correspondence; much of which concerns the securing of his visit, the donation, and an exhibit on the Cat Turtle that was set up at Tufts College Medical School; a photograph of Hodson taken by Pearson, and two typescripts: "The Discovery of the Cat Turtle," and "Notes on the Discovery and Biology of Two Bahaman Fresh-water Turtles of the Genus Pseudemys," the latter of which was co-written by Pearson.

Michael J. Maxwell was an architectural consultant whose firm, Michael Maxwell Associates, Inc., consulted the city of Opa-locka in the mid-80s on appraisal and restoration matters. This culminated in a Master Plan for the Restoration of Historic Opa-Locka City Hall, and a Nomination Proposal of several historical sites in Opa-Locka to the National Register of Historic Places. These two documents, as well as the planning materials, are held in the Michael J. Maxwell collection.

The collection also contains other Opa-locka related materials. Included are 1926-1927 Opa-locka price lists, a 1953 charter, copies of the Opa-locka Times from 1926 and 1927, letters including a 1926 letter petitioning for the establishment of a Post Office at Opa-locka, a history of Opa-locka brochure and preparation materials for the brochure, and other items.

The Nicaragua collection documents the Nicaraguan diaspora living in Miami during the 1980s and the political and social conditions in Nicaragua from the 1979 Sandinista revolution onward until their loss of power in 1990.

Many of the materials falling into the latter category are from the United States in origin, such as anti-Soviet propaganda endorsing the anti-Sandinista "Contra" Freedom Fighters, pamphlets that describe the Sandinista government and Central America in general from an American perspective, and periodicals and reports about Nicaragua written to an American audience. The materials that document the Nicaraguan diaspora are mostly fliers, menus, calendars, brochures, and other genres that were from local Nicaraguan businesses, restaurants, clubs, and other organizations. Some of the materials transcend these two categories, as many that concern the political conditions are addressed to or produced by Nicaraguan exiles.

A large part of the collection consists of photocopies of news articles.

Writers that are especially represented by the collection include Ruben Dario, Esteban Duque-Estrada, and Luis Mejia Gonzalez. Associations and organizations that are especially represented include Alanzia Revolucionaria Democrática (ARDE), American Defense Foundation, American Defense Lobby. Asociación Nicaragüenses en el Exilio, Asociación Nicaragüense pro Derechos Humanos, Bloque Opositor del Sur (B.O.S.), Council for Interamerican Security, Fundación Ruben Dario, Nicaraguan American Solidarity (NICAS), Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters, Partido Conservador de Nicaragua, Partido Socialcristiano de Nicaragua en el Exilio, Resistencia Nicaragüense, and Unidad Nicaragüense Opositora (UNO). Materials from some of these were grouped together in a series titled "Associations."

Also of notice are brochures advertising tourism to Nicaragua during the Sandinista regime, and memorabilia such as a handmade Nicaraguan crest, Nicaraguan paper money from the Sandinista era, and a pin that says "If you like Cuba you'll love Nicaragua."

This collection contains research materials on Panama collection during Oscar De Soto's time working for the Department of State, including handwritten notes, negatives, medica clippings, transcripts, essays, photocopies of articles and publications, reports, and periodicals.

The papers document the activities of Dr. Pedro J. Greer, Jr. in capacity of a physician and founder of Camillus Health Concern clinic for homeless. Materials include clippings of newspaper articles about Pedro Greer, his book titled Waking Up in America, photocopies of articles about his awards, incoming correspondence, photocopies of invitations and of photographs.