Explore the Collections

This collection contains scripts. This includes but is not limited to, play descriptions, selected scenes, and notes and comments from works such as Grounds for Divorce, Robin Hood's Party, and the Broadway play The Last Warning. Additionally, this collection includes blueprints on how scenes were developed, corrected, and improved based on comments and concerns from various actors during his career from the early 1920s until his death in 2003.

The materials in this collection reflect the subject's interest in environmental preservation. Mr. Adams served in a number of environmental interest organizations such as the Isaac Walton League of America (IWLA), The Florida Water Task Force, and the Florida Wildlife Federation, to give but a few examples. The bulk of the collection contains correspondence, news clippings, legal documents, and blueprints/aerial maps of affected lands.

This collection consists of six advertising trade cards published by the Company of Products Cibils and six by the Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company. The main subject of the images is Cuba, depicting tobacco plantations, the sugar cane industry, local markets, ports and ships. All of these made the island attractive for visitors and business people.

This collection consists of brochures and general information on various artists from Latin America and the Caribbean Islands donated by the Florida International University Art Museum from Miami Herald art critic Leslie Judd Ahlander. This includes Cuban artist Felippe Abbreu and Argentinean artist Marta Minujin. The area of these artists include Cuba, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica.

To view more images from the collection visit the Christine Ardalan Photographs.

Donated by the Arguelles Family, includes photographs of Cuba and other Caribbean islands from 1937-1948.

Online access to the Arguelles Family Album.

The collection is organized in alphabetical order by family's last name.

Pre-Colombian artifacts from Costa Rica.

Online access to the Sam and Etta Barnett Pre-Columbian Collection. 

Rabbi Baumgard's Shabbat and High Holy Day sermons covering a span of many decades have been made available by the Baumgard family for online access. Copyright belongs to the Baumgard family.

Online access to the Rabbi Herbert Baumgard Collection.

You would never think of the Florida Everglades as a major contributor to Florida's logging industry, but from the 1920s through the early 1950s, it was. The epicenter was the long-abandoned Collier County town of Jerome, located on State Rd.29 just north of U.S.41. The Jerome lumber mill once was among the most productive in the United States. During the 1940s, loggers cut and finished about 100,000 board feet every day. About a thousand workers,mostly African-American men, kept the mill going.

Collection in process.

The Bolet Archives covers the professional and personal life of Cuban born conductor Alberto Bolet. Included are personal correspondence, publicity and family photographs and notes relating to his concerts.

Online access to the Alberto Bolet Collection.

General election campaign papers from the General elections in British Guiana held on 27 April 1953. 

Online access to the British Guiana General Election Collection.

This collection includes newspaper clippings, financial records, legal documents, and personal letters from Burnett Roth to inform and persuade the public that there is no reason for antisemitism or hatred towards African Americans. Additionally, there are invitations to equal-rights galas, brochures for events, audio cassettes involving oral memoirs on the situation in Israel and the Middle East, and documents reporting terrorist attacks on the Jewish community itself from Israel. 

Rogelio Caparros was a writer and photographer for the Cuban magazine, Bohemia. The photographs in the collection reflect Cuban life during the Revolution, in Nicaragua, Panama and a number of photos taken in New York during Caparros' tenure as a photographer for the United Nations in the early 1960s. Included are negatives, contact prints and large photoprints.

Online access to the Rogelio Caparros Photograph Collection.

The collection is organized in alphabetical order by family's last name.

Archives of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars, an association promoting the literature and orature of Caribbean women writers and scholars.

Photographic study of the Florida Everglades circa 1950-1980, commissioned to study modern organic sediments as a means to understanding the origin of coal. Geographic regions covered include the following: Little Banana River, Shark River Headquarters, Tamiami Trail, Bay Head, Paurotis Pond, Harvey River, Cape Sable. Photographs cover the following subjects: mangrove peat, pyrite content, distribution of rhizophora pollen, benzo-alcohol extractive,ether extractives, sulfur in stream loads.

Online access to the Daniel J. Casagrande Collection

Collection in process. 

Select item below to view Digital Collection:

Album de la revolucion: 1952-1959

This collection contains cassettes and documents pertaining to legal lawsuits and disputes between unions and laborers. This includes but is not limited to the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) v. Florida, Transports Workers Union (TWU) v. Eastern Air Lines, Leon County Teachers Association v. Leon County Schools, PBA v. City of El Portal, PBA v. Homestead, and Teamsters Local v. Coca Cola Foods.

Includes over 400 VHS tapes of interviews with prominent Cuban exiles. In addition to the tapes, are the books, plays, documentaries, and newspaper commentaries written by Miguel Gonzalez-Pando.

Documentaries available online: Y Los Quiero Conocer (And I Want to Meet Them), Calle Ocho: Cuban Exiles Look at Themselves, and Ni Patria Ni Amo (Neither Motherland not Master). 

Digitization of interviews in progress.

Online access to the Cuban Living History Project.

Judge Mattie Bell Davis was the judge of the Metropolitan Dade County Court (1959-1972).

Videotapes and photographs of the Estate before and after the 1992 Hurricane Andrew.

The Bernard Diederich Collection includes both papers and media; they include Diederich’s telegraphs and telexes, his reporter’s notepads, and his interview notes, as well as historical documents, such as Central American and Caribbean newspapers and political posters and booklets. The papers also include his private correspondence, which reveals the many challenges encountered by journalists who work in Latin America and the Caribbean. The media collection contains over 20,000 slides and photos that document Diederich’s travels. It also includes videotapes and audio cassettes with Diederich’s many interviews with Central American and Caribbean leaders.Included are Central American and Caribbean newspapers, political posters, booklets and private correspondence, as well as, videotapes, photographs, slides and audio cassettes with interviews of Central American and Caribbean leaders.

Online access to the Bernard Diederich Collection.

This collection consists of naval covers created during the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as the Cold War period of the early 1950s through the early 1980s.

Dana A. Dorsey (1868-1940) was the first African-American millionaire in Miami. The collection is comprised of the legal and financial records of his vast real estate holdings. Mortgages, leases, rental and loans agreements represent the focus of the collection.

Online access to the Dana A. Dorsey Collection. 

This collection contains photographs, manuscripts, newspaper articles, audio-interviews and journal articles dating back to the mid-19th century depicting life for African Americans in South Florida all the way to the present. This addresses racial relations amongst increasing Hispanic emigration, evolution in the legal system and local court houses, demands for fairer educational standards, and acknowledgment of racial bias for crimes against AfricanAmericans done by whites.

This collection includes a manuscript of Bruce D. Epperson’s book about the finance and technology of the first modern highways in the South including: Ingraham Highway, Tamiami Trail, and Conners Highway. It includes news articles and magazine clippings, ranging from 1899 to 1953, that detail the advancement of the road systems through Florida due to the 1920s Florida land boom and the creation of a highway funding system based on fuel taxes. The collection also details maps that show highways as they were before and after their development.

Florida Labor: Union Memorabilia of Henry Petrell, International Association of Fire Fighters, Arbitration Hearings - Charles A. Hall, Contracts Private Industry. Collective Bargain, Labor Schools and Conventions, Public Service Contracts, International Association of Machinist Aerospace Workers, Police Collective Bargaining Agreement #3, UAW Newspaper Bound Volume, ILGWU, South Florida AFL-CIO, Collective Bargaining, Jack Rubenstein Collection

This collection is in process.

The Florida Nurses Association Collection is an extensive 36 box collection documenting the history and proceedings of the Florida Nurses Association. Contents of this collection include items such as the rules and bylaws, annual convention manuals, board of director minutes, historical photographs, and other miscellaneous items spanning the years of the early 1940’s to the late 2000’s.

A collection of 22 publications by and relating to Francisco Amighetti. In addition, the collection includes newspapers - Over a hundred single sheets and incomplete issues of Harpers Bazaar, Harpers Weekly, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated, Gleason's Pictorial Drawing Room Companion, Ballou’s Pictorial, The Illustrated London News, The New York Scientific Times & Mercantile Register, Pen and Pencil, and Scientific American. These items have records in our library catalog.

Goodsell was the Latin American correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor from 1964-1985. Included are video clips and hundreds of images, and transcripts of interviews with regional leaders.

Online access to the James Nelson Goodsell Collection.

Elaine Gordon a lawmaker and trail-blazing legislator recognized for her devotion to women, children and the elderly. Gordon was a liberal Democrat from South Florida, who proved herself adept in the power circle dominated by men from the conservative districts in the Florida Panhandle.

The Papers of Senator Gordon consists of files pertaining to the senator’s work with the Dade County School Board, with the struggle for desegregation in South Florida, in addition to Senator Gordon’s travels for the State Department. His time in the Florida Legislature is represented by files relating to the Senate Bills with which the Senator was concerned. These are in chronological order with the assigned Senate Bill Number and Title.

100.5 linear feet

The collection is composed of 433 photographs by Kenneth (Allegro) Shartz between 1994 and 1996 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detailing the daily life of the refugees, the humanitarian workers, the detention camps, the wildlife, and the naval base.

Online access to the Guantanamo Bay Collection.

The Heinl Collection is primarily concerned with Haiti. It includes photographs, print materials, and artwork from the late eighteenth century through to the late twentieth century. The photograph series contains images of Haiti from two periods: the U.S. occupation (1915-1934) and 1957-1971. Both sets have a strong focus on matters of military and diplomatic interest. The print materials include rare books, pamphlets, and letters, most of which are concerned with Haitian history. The art collection includes maps, prints, paintings, and drawings, including a number from colonial Saint Domingue.

Includes thousands of books, handwritten and typed letters, photos and other primary documents relating to Cuba and Cuban genealogy, collected over four decades by Felix Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza.

Online access to the Enrique Hurtado de Mendoza Collection of Cuban Genealogy.

Books from the collection can be viewed in our Library Catalog.

This collection contains union disputes involving the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and counties and cities across the United States, such as Los Angeles, Coral Gables, and Buffalo. The documents used to understand the terms of these negotiations include bargaining agreements, contracts, case files, court hearings, personal statements, wage statistics, and salary negotiations. Additional disputes relate to age discrimination, retroactivepay, and grievances.

This collection depicts the legal disputes of the International Association of Machinist Aerospace Workers (IAM) labor union. This includes conferences, sourcebooks, organizer tool kits, manuals, voting records, and records of board meetings. Additionally, statistics are held in the rise and fall of memberships based on national circumstances, such as Reagan's increased military spending in the 1980s.

This collection contains highlights, newspaper clippings, union decisions, and negotiations between garment union workers in South Florida and the companies they worked for. This includes companies such Stolberg’s Tailors, Disco Manufacturing Co., and Nora Corporation. Additionally, this collection maintains bank statements, ledgers, and plaques to detail how the workers were paid, motivated,and acknowledged in the workforce.

The Isle of Pines Collection deals with the correspondence between the US residents on the island and congressional and legislative representatives in the United States regarding the ratification of the treaty.

Dr. Eugene Keene Jaudon (1867-1941) a Dade County physician for 27 years, was founder and superintendent of Miami’s first charity hospital.

Dr. Jaudon received his medical degree from the State Medical College, Charleston S.C. in 1896. He and his wife Lillie Lee moved to Miami in 1903. Dr. Jaudon served on the city’s first board of health and was made county physician in 1904.

The Erica Koehler Collection is a 3 box collection donated to the Florida International University Special Collections and Archives Department from the School of Nursing. This collection includes items collected by Ms. Koehler and mainly covers the area of Industrial Nursing.

Includes Cuban travel memorabilia including postcards, travel brochures, pamphlets and restaurant menus and issues of three popular Cuban journals: Bohemia, Carteles and Social.

Online access to the Elena Kurstin Collection.

The collection documents the life and career of Cuban-born cartoonist, designer, illustrator, graphic artist, caricaturist, and art director Abril Lamarque. The collection consists primarily of varied printed material (1883-1989), such as magazines, newspapers, clippings, posters, and other publications that Lamarque either designed or that feature his cartoons, caricatures, or illustrations. These include clippings of the comic strip Monguito and editions of the Havana newspaper Lunes de Diario de Cuba. Printed material also includes posters, some humorous and others more serious, such as the posters Lamarque designed for the "Aluminum for Britian" project which he was asked to discontinue by the U.S. State Department. Seven scrapbooks (1920-1959) containing clippings and articles, illustrations, scattered letters, photographs, invitations, artwork, and other materials detailing Lamarque's extensive artistic career and his amateur magic performances are also found within the collection.

Online access to the Abril Lamarque Collection.

Scrapbooks and papers of The League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade County, including articles, correspondence, awards, certificates, descriptions of projects, proposed amendments, flyers, and accomplishments.

Online access to the League of Women Voters of Miami-Dade County Collection: League of Women Voters of Miami Press Book December 1939 thru March 1948

This collection contains the tape-recorded notes compiled by Timothy Long during the production of "Escape to Dreamland: The Story of the Tamiami Trail," a documentary about the stretch of US Highway 41 that was cut through the Everglades. 

Online access to Escape to Dreamland: The story of the Tamiami Trail.

Mana-Zucca was an internationally known pianist and composer. The collection consists of handwritten and published scores, full original orchestration of her works, including operas and marches, records, and diaries. Much of her life is documented in an extensive collection of scrapbooks and photo albums.

Online access to the Mana-Zucca Collection.

This collection is in process.

Contact us for further information.

Cuban historian Levi Marrero author of a multi-volume History of Cuba donated a large manuscript collection of the documents used to write his history. In addition he donated other research materials, items selected for inclusion in his books and correspondence. This archive represents his personal papers donated to FIU.

Included in the collection are newspaper articles, VHS tapes and materials gathered by the New Republic magazine legal counsel.

In 1989, when the private Metropolitan Museum and Art Center Collection (MMAC) in Coral Gables closed, its Board ensured the intact survival of this important collection by transferring it to the care of Florida International University. 

The Manuscript Collection of newspapers and documents were donated to the FIU Libraries Special Collections from the FIU Art Museum.

In 1989, when the private Metropolitan Museum and Art Center Collection (MMAC) in Coral Gables closed, its Board ensured the intact survival of this important collection by transferring it to the care of Florida International University. With over 2,300 objects that include cultural artifacts, paintings, sculptures, prints and photography, the MMAC collection comprises a significant component of the permanent collection. Excepted from the Frost Art Museum, the Manuscript Collection of newspapers and documents were donated to the FIU Libraries Special Collections.Miscellaneous items previously in the museum’s collection. No main focus, letter, deed, some rare documents, and letters.

The J. Floyd Monk papers are comprised of 5 boxes of research in Florida history. Some of his frequently addressed topics include: The Seminole War, tourism in Florida, and the history of Cedar Key. One of Monk's special interests which also served as a vacation place for his family.

Online access to the J. Floyd Monk Collection.

The materials in this collection reflect the subject's participation in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) activism and interest in psychotherapy for the LGBT community. The bulk of the collection contains correspondence, news clippings, interviews with Moorehead, autobiographical information, and photos.

Pre-Colombian Artifacts from Colombia.

Online access to the Nardin Collection.

Barbara Parker was an American mystery writer. She wrote 12 novels, the first of which, Suspicion of Innocence, was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first mystery novel by an American author. Parker was on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America and was the chair of its membership committee for two years. She attended Florida International University, where her thesis for her master's degree became the genesis for Suspicion of Innocence, her first novel.

La colección contiene documentos personales y profesionales relacionados a Julián Peláez del Pozo, Magistrado español que sirvió en los tribunales de Ultramar en Cuba y Puerto Rico durante el siglo XIX. La colección recopila documentos personales y académicos de Julián Peláez del Pozo entre los que se encuentran su certificado de bautismo, diplomas y certificados de estudios realizados en la Universidad de Madrid. La colección también contiene unavariedad de documentos relacionados con su carrera profesional y diferentes aspectos del sistema de tribunales de justicia aplicados por España en Cuba y Puerto Rico.

The collection contains personal and professional documents related to Julián Peláez del Pozo, a Spanish Magistrate who was assigned to the Overseas Courts in Cuba and Puerto Rico during the 19th century. The collection compiles personal and academic documents of Julián Peláez del Pozo, among which are his baptismal certificate, diplomas and certificates of studies carried out at the University of Madrid. The collection also contains a variety of documents related to his professional career and different aspects of the court system applied by Spain in Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Digitization in progess. Online access to the Julián Peláez del Pozo Papers.

This collection of five boxes of papers represents the academic background of Dr. Lisandro Perez. The collection is a compilation of papers that represent his work as a professor from Louisiana State University and Florida International University.

Collection of iphotographs and documents donated by the founding president of Florida International University. This collection includes this personal papers as well as his records of the years spent building the University. 45 linear feet.

Online access to the Charles E. Perry Papers and Ephemera.

This collection includes papers and articles such as statistics, educational reform newspaper articles, and papers from the United Faculty of Florida Correspondence by former Florida International University professor Brian Peterson. His work focused on reforming the educational system in poorer neighborhoods, particularly in Miami, Florida.

The collection consists of materials depicting the role of Mary Brickell as one of the “founding mothers” of the city of Miami, Florida. Documents detail her work as a landowner and real estate developer. The materials balance the personal and professional lives of Mary Brickell and her descendants.

Online access to the Carmen Petsoules/Mary Brickell Collection.

This collection entails bargaining agreements, contracts, and complaints between the state and local police officers of Florida involving the Florida Police Benevolent Association, one of many labor unions involving police officers. Additionally, in this collection are listed manuals and demands during collective bargaining negotiations to ensure all police officers received fair pay, benefits, and pension.

The Collection of Ralph Renick includes correspondence, trip reports, programs, invitations, newspapers, bills, photographs, clippings, handbook, certificates, directories, passports, speeches, notebooks, maps, tapes. This collection contains materials regarding the life and career of Ralph Renick.

The materials in this collection represent the Reno family's service as journalists as well as their love of South Florida. These materials are the private and public writings, photographs, and ephemera of the family and provide biographical background and context to multiple figures, including Attorney General Janet Reno. Reflecting the family's journalistic occupations, Henry, Jane, and Robert's newspaper articles and columns make up the bulk of the items in this collection.

Created 1900-2000

Robert M. Reno was a photojournalist for the Miami Herald from the 1920s until his death in 1959. Prior to emigrating to the United States, he operated a photo studio in Odense, Denmark, where he created postcards. This collection represents this aspect of his career, and contains postcards he designed or collected from the early 20^th century.

Documents relating to the political parties of Puerto Rico with emphasis on the political activities during the 1970’s - 1980’s. This collection contains information from the political perspective of Puerto Rico starting in the late 19th Century, briefly when it was still a Spanish territory but later an American territory. While mostly being articles, it also details what the economic, political, and health factors were on the island with additional articles on how U.S. politics were represented and perceived, such as when John F. Kennedy became president.

The Carlos Ripoll Collection consists of material relating to José Martí, which was accumulated by Mr. Ripoll in the course of his research on the life and work of José Martí.  Material includes including manuscripts, books, papers, and pamphlets, original typescripts, printed material, and clippings of writings by Carlos Ripoll and other writers.

Jack Rubenstein, was a labor-union official who led efforts to organize textile workers in the 1920's and later became a vice president of the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O. This collection contains paperwork corresponding to specific meetings and the outcomes of the meetings in relation to unions and textile workers.

Born on July 21, 1919, in Wachula, Florida, Undine Sams graduated from Jackson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1940 and received her BSN from Barry College (now Barry University), in 1961 she worked in emergency, industrial, school and private duty nursing and was a volunteer Red Cross nurse. Sams was one of the few nurses to win the Army-Navy Excellence Award at the Richmond Field Blimp Base during World War II.

This collection contains personal letters and documents from Lawrence J. Smith, a former United States House of Representative from Florida. Some of these letters relate directly to Middle-East policy before and after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, such as sells of arms to Kuwait, and actions of sanctions against Iraq for its attack on Israel. Additional documents and letters depict policy towards Soviet and Central and South American immigration, NRApolicy, and enforcement/crackdown of illegal narcotics.

The Alex and Carol Stepick Collection consists of materials depicting the plight of the Cuban and Haitian refugees in the 1980s in Miami, Florida. The documents detail the treatment of refugees once on American soil and the condition in the countries they were escaping from; highlighting the contrasting experiences of Cuban and Haitian refugees. The collection demonstrates the work of Dr. Alex Stepick

The Dr. William Straight Collection held in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at Florida International University is an extremely fascinating and well researched collection that contains an extensive history of the first and founding doctors in Miami beginning in the late 1800’s. This collection contains 19 boxes of personal research and papers, 2 boxes of photographs, antique medical cases, and index card filing cabinets with historic and biographical information on each topic that Dr. Straight researched.

Online access to the William Straight Collection.

The Barry Sugerman collection was donated by Andrew Huber and Barbara Sugerman to the FIU Special Collections and University Archives. The collection consists of books, architectural plans, photographs, magazine articles and other items relating to the expansive work of Barry Sugerman, Architect, A.I.A.

A significant collection of original works, papers, monographs, maps, and other material relating to the environmental history of Florida Bay and adjacent areas from marine biologist, Dr. Durbin Tabb, one of the best known and widely cited researchers in the region.

Collection of music CDs, original artwork, photographs and books all relating to Brazil and its culture.

This collection is in process.

This collection personal papers, newspaper clippings, and personal papers from various authors and representatives influencing Cuban policy, including Florida Representative Mary Ann MacKenzie. Additionally, there are personal documents by Agustin Villegas, such as resumes, copy of diplomas, certificates of education, and select documents incorporating religion and communism, such as selected writings by Karl Marx.

This collection is in process.

The materials in this collection reflect Mr. Wolfson's interest in the arts. The materials primarily consist of playbills, showbills, and programs from plays, operas, and musical performances in Europe, the U.S. (including South Florida), Asia, and Oceana.