Category: Text, University of Miami, United States
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Gregory Bush Community Studies Oral Histories Professor Gregory Bush (History Department) and the Institute for Public History (IPH) have recorded a series of interviews around the issue of public spaces in South Florida. Participants, who are representative of the diverse cultural milieu of the region, reflect and provide insights on migration, gentrification, the history of individual neighborhoods, housing, and community services. These voices help to articulate the ongoing discourse on public space as it applies to South Florida?s History of development. The recordings and accompanying transcripts of the oral history collection document the unique experiences of the region?s inhabitants.
Walter Tennyson Swingle Walter Tennyson Swingle (1871 - 1952) was a renowned botantist and one of the twentieth century's foremost authorities on citrus plants. In 1943, after 50 years of service to the United States Department of Agriculture, he was given a position on the faculty of the University of Miami by President Bowman F. Ashe who was impressed with Swingle?s vision of tropical botany. Swingle was given the title Consultant of Tropical Botany and set up the Plant Research Laboratory in the old Botany building in Coral Gables. At UM, Swingle completed his monograph "The Botany of Citrus and its Relatives of the Orange Subfamily" which remains the premier reference for the taxonomy, morphology, and anatomy of these plants.
Florida Promotional Materials Attracting people to Florida has always been an integral part of the state's developmental goals. The Florida Promotional Materials collection consists of a variety of promotional materials designed to draw tourists and settlers to the state. Included are numerous brochures, maps, and clippings that highlight historical sites such as the Barnacle Museum. Also featured are hotels, important for their historical and practical value, and recreational opportunities.
The Department of Special Collections at the University of Miami has significant holdings of rare and unusual books in the fields of Miami and Florida history, the Caribbean, and Latin and South America. These books cover topics of literature, geography, religion (and in particular missionary history), art, politics, and economics. This collection includes examples of early printing, private press publications, and fine printing. They are supplemented by a rich collection of historical maps, photographs, and archival documents. The personal library of Jackie Gleason focuses on the donor's lifelong interest in parapsychology and his career in television and film.
The Bob Simms Collection documents the life and activities of Robert H. Simms in the black communities of Coconut Grove and Miami. Born in Snow Hill, Alabama in 1927, Bob moved to Florida in 1953 to join the faculty of the George Washington Carver schools in Coconut Grove. In Miami, he served as Executive Director of the Metro Dade Community Relations Board from 1968 to 1983, developed the Miami Inner-City Minority Experience (MICME) for the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1970s, and led efforts to create and implement the Inner City Marine Project (now known as the Mast Academy).
Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1890-1998) led an extraordinary, long life, and established herself as one of South Florida's premier personalities of the twentieth century. Douglas' importance as a female writer and reporter of both local and national significance is further impacted by her pioneering role as an environmental and political activist. As a writer and reporter she enjoyed a distinguished career first as an assistant editor for the Miami Herald and later as an O. Henry Award winning short story writer and novelist.
Composer, arranger, and pianist Aldemaro Romero was an innovator of Venezuelan music, contributing to its increased visibility on the international scene. His musical career started at the age of 10, singing and playing the guitar on the radio program, La Hora Infantil. In 1941, Romero moved to Caracas and started working as a piano accompanist and composer with one of the most famous tropical bands in Venezuela, Alfonso Larrain's orchestra. In 1948, Romero traveled to New York to work as arranger and piano accompanist for the record label RCA Victor. In 1952, he began the famous sequel of recordings titled Dinner in… (Caracas, Rio, Buenos Aires, Columbia and Mexico).
Alan Crockwell Collection Alan Crockwell, a science teacher at The Carrolton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove, moved from Buffalo to Miami in 1977. Crockwell co-founded the Miami Memorabilia Collectors Club in 1991. He has published numerous articles on Miami history and its collectibles. The Alan Crockwell Collection contains a variety of materials from different sources that document the history of Miami, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and greater Miami-Dade County. Much of the content is related to Ralph Middleton Munroe and his family.
Ralph M. Munroe Family Papers Ralph Middleton "Commodore" Munroe, avid yachtsman, successful businessman, and celebrated patriarch of the Munroe family, made Coconut Grove his home in the late 1800s. Munroe and his family moved to South Florida from Staten Island, New York, to provide a more beneficial environment for his wife, Eva Maelia Hewitt, who suffered from tuberculosis. Unfortunately, both his wife and daughter succumbed to illness and died shortly after their move to Miami. Munroe subsequently split his time between Staten Island and the Grove, often staying at the Peacock family hotel, The Bay View House, later known as the Peacock Inn.
Organized in 1925, the Coral Gables Garden Club has promoted gardening and community beautification in Coral Gables for over 80 years. In recent years, the club helped preserve George Merrick's vision for his city, raising funds for new entrances to Coral Gables at Douglas and Red roads and Miracle Mile; commissioning a statue of Merrick recently dedicated in front of Coral Gables city hall; and supporting the preservation of the George Merrick house on Coral Way.
Helen Muir Papers Helen Muir wrote for the Universal Service Syndicate and reported for newspapers such as the Miami News and the Miami Herald. The Helen Muir Papers consist of Mrs. Muir's personal and professional correspondence, and features correspondence with Robert Frost, his daughter Leslie, and attorney general Janet Reno, among others. The collection also includes drafts of Muir's writing and research files, photographs, and clippings that relate to her career, which began when she moved to South Florida in 1934. Muir's devotion to Miami and its history can be gleaned from the numerous books she authored on the city, including Miami, USA and Biltmore: Beacon for Miami . The collection consists of twenty-nine boxes that span the years 1934 through 1995.
Henry Flagler, founder and president of the Florida East Coast Railroad (FECR), created the Model Land Company (MLC) in 1896 to manage his rapidly expanding real estate holdings in the state of Florida. The growth and expansion of the FECR was crucial to the development of Florida, and the Model Land Company, with its three subsidiary companies - Fort Dallas Land Company (FDLC), Perrine Grant Land Company (PGLC) and the Chuluota Land Company (CLC)- managed Flagler's "land empire" until its demise in 1967. The Model Land Company Records constitute a large portion of the surviving records of the Model Land Company. The files consist of the administrative and financial records of the MLC's Miami-based land agent, Frederick S.
The Caribbean Documents Collection is comprised of correspondence and original financial and legal documents from the various islands of Antigua, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Christopher, Trinidad and Tobago from the 16th to the 19th century. The collection consists of individually acquired items such as letters narrating travelers' impressions but also groupings of transactional papers from plantations and slave registers. Selected items from the Caribbean Documents Collection are digitized and available online.
Mark F. Boyd (1889-1968), a physician, researcher and writer, specialized in tropical medicine, and his research on malaria brought him international recognition. The Rockefeller Foundation selected Boyd to conduct research on malarial regions of the western hemisphere. He was elected President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine, and received numerous awards. For 16 years Boyd served as an officer of the National Malaria Society and became president of the organization in 1946. Boyd also wrote a number of articles on public health and served on the Florida State Board of Public Health. He collected materials dealing with malariology, field ecology, and other branches of science like botany. The Mark F.
Thomas Jefferson (1742-1826) was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), the first Secretary of State (1790-1793), second Vice-President of the United Sates (1797-1801), the third President of the United States (1801-1809), the founder of the University of Virginia (1819), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers. Four letters from the University of Miami Thomas Jefferson collection have been digitized and are available online. A full description and listing of all materials in this collection are available in the Thomas Jefferson (ASM0569) Collection Finding Aid
Theodore Bolton Collection Theodore Bolton was a librarian, art historian, and artist. Bolton received a diploma in the arts from that Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, in 1915. He studied library science at the same institute, receiving a diploma in that subject in 1924. He pursued formal academic work later in his life as well, receiving in 1937 a B.S. in education, and a M.A. in education in 1940, both from New York University. Thereafter, he received an M.F.A. from Columbia in 1955. In addition, he studied at Harvard during the summers from 1937 to 1939. Upon his retirement, Bolton and his wife moved to Coconut Grove, Florida. Theodore Bolton died at his Coconut Grove home on Friday, December 7, 1973.
