Cuban Studies

Pedro Pan / Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh Papers

Barry University's Barry Memorial Library is the home to this extensive collection of materials donated by the late Monsignor Bryan Walsh, the man who, as director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau, spearheaded the Pedro Pan campaign from its inception. Among the contents of the collection, which are still being processed, are photographs of the Operation Pedro Pan children, newspaper clippings related to the program and the children of Pedro Pan, and articles and convention papers written by Monsignor Walsh regarding the history of Pedro Pan, the program's children, and various topics of interest. The collection houses bound copies of Miami Voice, the Catholic diocesan newspaper of Miami, published from 1959 through the 1990s. The collection also contains a number of books related to Monsignor Walsh's fields of interests, including material on the disciplines of sociology/social work, immigration, and the Catholic Church. [End Page 187]

Florida International University
University Park Campus
Green Library
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, Florida 33199
Phone: 305–348–2461

The following collections can be found at Florida International University's Special Collections and University Archives Department on the fourth floor of Green Library (GL–425). The collection is available to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Researchers are urged to contact the department ahead of time, so as to allow the staff to facilitate your needs. Call 305–348–2412 for more information.

Jorge Bolet Music Collection

The Bolet archives provide information on the professional and personal life of Cuban-born pianist Jorge Bolet. The material cover his time with the Cape Town and Durban Symphonies in South Africa, the Long Beach Symphony, and the Kern Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. The collection includes personal correspondence, family memorabilia, and notes relating to his concerts.

Cuban Living History Project of Miguel González-Pando

Miguel González-Pando, founder and director of the Cuban Living History Project, produced three documentaries: Y los quiero conocer, recounting the era of the Cuban Republic; Calle Ocho: Cuban Exiles Look at Themselves, based on the Cuban American exile community; and Ni Patria Ni Alma, which focuses on the Cuban American struggle to oust the Castro regime. The collection consists of over 114 taped interviews that González-Pando conducted between the years 1990 and 1997. Most of the interviewees, now deceased, were prominent figures in the political and intellectual life of the Cuban Republic. A number of other items, including press articles by Miguel González-Pando, press kits, personal photos, and posters, are included in the collection.

Leví Marrero Collection

Cuban historian Leví Marrero is best known for his fifteen-volume survey of the island's history, Cuba: Economía y sociedad. Materials necessary to complete this study, including photo reproductions and transcriptions of documents from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain, are part of the collection. Manuscripts used in the writing of La Historia de Cuba, parts 1, 2, and 3, are found in the collection as well. Personal correspondence between 1960 and 1994, photographs, and maps are also a part of the collection. [End Page 188]

Cuban Exile History Project

This collection includes documents and a myriad of materials relating to the Cuban exile experience. The collection includes runs of such Cuban periodicals as Bohemia, Carteles, and El Camagueyano; publications from the Cuban American National Foundation; and photographs of exiles. Correspondence between project director Miguel Bretos and other exiles, and publications of the Cuban Exile History Project are also included. The Project materials also include a Cuban Pamphlet Collection. Within this collection are a variety of paper series and pamphlets issues by different political movements within the island.

Rogelio Caparros Collection

Cuban photographer Rogelio Caparros captured much of Cuban life on film. The collection holds thousands of photographic proofs taken between 1957 and 1963. The bulk of the collection holds images of the Cuban Revolution and a number of photos taken in New York during Caparros' tenure as a photographer for the United Nations in the early 1960s. Of note among these photos are those taken of Fidel Castro while addressing the United Nations in 1961.

Cristóbal Díaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection

Renowned musicologist and author of Cuba Canta y Baila: Discografía de la Música Cubana, Vol. 1, 1898–1925, Díaz-Ayala donated approximately 100,000 items that span the history of popular Cuban and other Latin music. The collection features 25,000 LPs; 14,500 78rpms; 4,500 cassettes containing radio interviews with composers and musicians; 4,000 pieces of sheet music; 3,000 books; and thousands of other music-related paraphernalia.

Historical Museum of Southern Florida
101 West Flagler Street
Miami, Florida 33130
Phone: 305–375–1492

The Research Center of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida is open to the public from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. To access a guide to the Research Center's manuscripts and visual materials, please visit: https://www.historical-museum.org/collect/rc.htm

Historical Museum of Southern Florida Research Center

The Historical Museum of Southern Florida is dedicated to preserving the history, cultures, and archeology of the people of South Florida and the Caribbean. The research center is home of the archives, library, and documentary [End Page 189] collections of the Historical Association of Southern Florida. The center houses a number of small, privately donated collections of items related to the people of South Florida, including its Cuban-American population. The research center also houses an impressive picture archive (1,000,000+) of images from South Florida and the Caribbean.

Miami-Dade Public Library
101 W Flagler Street
Miami, Florida 33130
Phone: 305–375–2665

Florida Moving Image Archive

Access to this archive is strictly by appointment only. Appointments can be made from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday by contacting Lou Ellen Cramer at 305–375–1505. The archive staff will also compile a VHS tape of research materials of interest if so requested; there is a research fee for this service. For more information, contact the research staff at info@ia.org

Florida Room

The Florida Room is open during regular library hours, Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.) and Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.. For more information regarding the Florida Room, call 305–375–5023.

Florida Moving Image Archive

The Florida Moving Image Archive is an extensive collection of moving images recorded in South Florida from the 1920s through the 1990s. The archive houses local news broadcasts, films produced privately within South Florida, and news documentaries chronicling local reaction to events of historic significance produced by local television affiliates.

Florida Room

The Florida Room at the Miami–Dade Public Library houses complete runs of a variety of periodicals from across the state of Florida. The Florida Room specifically emphasizes materials from the region of South Florida. The Florida Room also houses a small collection of literary works by Cuban Americans from the Miami area. [End Page 190]

University of Miami
Otto G. Richter Library
Cuban Heritage Collection
1300 Memorial Drive
P.O. Box 248214
Coral Gables, Florida 33124–0320
Phone: 305–284–4900; Fax: 305–284–4901

Housed at the new Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion on the second floor of the Otto G. Richter Library, the University of Miami's Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) acts as a repository for an impressive collection of materials on the history of Cuba from discovery to the present. The collection is also home to a number of materials related to the Cuban exile community and Cuban Americans. The CHC houses more than 50,000 books (both rare and contemporary), a substantial number of Cuban-exile and Cuban-published periodicals, and over two hundred personal and corporate collections.

The CHC is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Researchers not affiliated with the University of Miami (its faculty, students, and staff ) will have to obtain a visitor's pass from the Richter Library circulation desk. All that is required to obtain a pass is a photo identification. Visiting researchers are also urged to call in advance for the CHC staff to best assist your needs. For a more in-depth overview of the Cuban Heritage Collection, visit the website: https://www.library.miami.edu/umcuban/cuban.html

Also available on the web is the University of Miami's Cuban Heritage Digital Collection. It contains the digitized contents of selected Cuban Heritage Collections. To access the Digital Collection, visit: https://www.library.miami.edu/chcdigital/intro.html

Tomás Estrada Palma Collection, ca. 1880–1999

Tomás Estrada Palma, the first elected president of the Republic of Cuba, served in office from 1902 to 1906. This collection, donated by Tomás Douglas Estrada Palma III in 1995, includes a variety of correspondence, photographs, and other documents related to Estrada Palma and his descendants. The collection also reflects the relationship of the Estrada Palma's government with the United States.

Tad Szulc Collection, 1984–1986

Tad Szulc, the distinguished journalist and author, donated to the CHC the bulk of original research material that he utilized in the work Fidel: A Critical Portrait. Among the items in the collection are typewritten transcripts of interviews with Fidel Castro and eighteen of his associates in the Cuban government. The interviews all took place in Cuba between the years 1984 and 1985. [End Page 191]

Polita Grau de Agüero Collection

Polita Grau, the former first lady of Cuba, who served fourteen years in prison for conspiring to overthrow Fidel Castro and her role in coordinating Operation "Pedro Pan," donated this collection in 1993. The collection includes letters, clippings, and photographs of Polita Grau, and also clippings and photos of her uncle, the former Cuban president Ramón Grau San Martín.

David Masnata y de Quesada Collection

Masnata was the founder and first secretary of the Cuban Institute of Genealogy and Heraldry. The collection contains research material on Cuban and Spanish genealogy and heraldry. It is arranged in five series: I: Gonzalo de Quesada y Arostegui Family; II: Genealogy (of Masnata's family); III: Genealogy related to other European countries; IV: José Martí (contains materials related to the Cuban poet); and V: David Masmata y de Quesada Papers (contains manuscripts of two of his unpublished works "The Founders of the Cuban Republic" and "Hierarchy of the War of '68").

Cordovés and Bolaños Families Collection, 1878–1999

The Cordovés and Bolaños families were involved in Cuba's Wars of Independence against Spain. The collection, donated by Julio Mestre, contains letters and documents from Cuba's Wars of Independence. The remainder of the collection includes clippings, documents, and photographs regarding the Bay of Pigs invasion, with which the donor was involved.

The Truth about Cuba Committee Inc. Records

The collection houses the official records of the organization, Truth about Cuba Committee, Inc. (TACC), established to publish information regarding Cuba and its role in promoting communism throughout Latin America. The collection includes over 390,000 pages of testimony, membership records, photographs, clippings, correspondence, and visual and audio recordings from 1961 to 1975.

Alberto Arredondo Papers, 1929–1975

The collection consists primarily of economic reports prepared by Arredondo, a Cuban economist. The papers are divided into four series. Series I is composed of biographical information regarding Arredondo. Series II and III contains reports written for the Symposium Nacional de Recursos Naturales de Cuba, the Consejo Nacional de Economía de Cuba, and the Confederación de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC). Series IV holds material related to issues of particular interest to Arredondo, including Cuban tariffs, tobacco, and employment and salaries. [End Page 192]

Cuba: Capitanía General Collection, 1851–1898

Valeriano Weyler and Ramón Blanco were both Captain Generals of the Island of Cuba. The collection is composed of "bandos" or edicts, "Reales Ordenes," and official forms (1896–1898) published during both Valeriano Weyler and Ramón Blanco's tenures.

Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club Collection

The Cuban women's organization, the Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, aimed to promote women's issues, social welfare, and women's athletics. After being shut down by the Castro government in the late 1960s, several members continued meeting in exile in Miami, led by María Luisa Guerrero. The collection includes these members' memorabilia, photographs, newsletters, and yearbooks.

Manuel R. Bustamante Photograph Collection

The collection is composed primarily of photographs taken in Cuba between the early 1900s and the 1990s. The collection also consists of materials related to Bustamante's personal experiences.

Enrique Labrador Ruiz Collection, 1933–1991

Enrique Labrador Ruiz, a Cuban author and journalist, was exiled from Cuba in 1976. During his years of exile, Labrador Ruiz wrote for many literary journals and newspapers. The collection consists of his manuscripts, correspondence, and newspaper clippings.

Gerardo Machado y Morales Collection, 1873–1994

Gerardo Machado y Morales was the fifth president of the Republic of Cuba, from 1925 to 1933. Due to extreme opposition and popular unrest, Machado was forced into exile in 1933. The collection contains correspondence, legal documents, and papers and photographs that chronicle his life in exile. [End Page 193]