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The University of Miami: A Pan-American University
Located in Coral Gables and parts of the Greater Miami metropolitan area, the University of Miami enjoys a cooperative relationship with its neighbors in the Americas and the Caribbean that dates back to its charter.
The University of Miami first opened its doors in 1926. Coral Gables founder George E. Merrick donated 160 acres of land and $5 million to build the Pan-american University.
Such an institution had been the dream of one of the founders of the University, William Jennings Bryan. The motto in the early years, "North American culture for the North Americans and Latin American culture for the North Americans ," exemplifies the relationship the University of Miami would sustain in the coming years with its neighbors to the south, and especially Cuba.
In 1928 Bowman Foster Ashe, founding President of the University of Miami, attended the bicentennial celebration of the University of Havana as a guest of University Rector Octavio Averhoff. Other visits and exchanges followed.
 The University's Relationship with Cuba to 1959
As early as 1926, faculty from the University of Havana were invited to come and teach at the University of Miami.
The professors included Luis A. Baralt, Escuela de Filosofía y Letras; and Juan Clemente Zamora, Alberto del Junco, and Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante from the School of Law.
In 1937 University of Miami President Ashe and Jay F. Pearson, who later served as the second president of the University of Miami, were invited by the Cuban Minister of Education to discuss plans to open a Pan-American Institute in Havana. Members of the Naval Academy in Cuba visited the University of Miami during the 1940s, the Ministry of education sent a delegation of 70 teachers to visit in 1947, and the University of Miami hosted the Cuban Chamber of Commerce in 1949.
In 1950 Minister of Education Aureliano Sánchez Arango presented a Cuban flag to University of Miami officials in gratitude for their cooperation. In 1953 Jay F. Pearson received the prestigious Carlos F. Finlay award from Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
Honoris Causa
The University of Miami has awarded honorary degrees to many prominent Cubans since 1928, including:
- Octavio Averhoff, Rector of the University of Havana, June 11, 1928.
- Juan Clemente Zamora, Dean of the University of Havana School of Law, May 24, 1943.
- Domingo F. Ramos, Cuban Secretary of Defense, May 24, 1943.
- Ramón Grau San Martín, President of Cuba, February 7, 1949.
- Clemente Inclán, Rector of the University of Havana, June 7, 1954.
- Luis Machado, Counsel for Banco Internacional para la Reconstrucción, February 4, 1957.
- Lydia Cabrera, writer and renowned authority on Afro-Cuban folklore, May 8, 1987.
- Armando Valladares, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission of Human Rights, May 6, 1988.
- Gloria Estefan, Cuban American pop singer, May 14, 1993.
- Luis J. Botifoll, Cuban lawyer and journalist, former president of the Republic National Bank of Miami, May 13, 1994.
- Monsignor Reverend Agustín Román, Auxiliary Bishop of Miami, May 8, 1998.
- Celia Cruz, Cuban American singer, May 14, 1999.
- Manuel Jorge Cutillas, Chairman of the Board, Bacardi Limited, May 12, 2000.
Cuban Students and the University of Miami to 1959
The first Hispanic-American student to register at the University of Miami was Cuban-born Carlota Sarah Wright. She attended her first class in 1928.
The University of Miami football team played the University of Havana for the first time on Thanksgiving Day 1926, and that same year, the Hurricanes traveled to Havana on Christmas Eve. The basketball team opened its first season by hosting the University of Havana, and the swim team also competed with the University of Havana in its early years.
In 1934 five Cuban students received scholarships to the University of Miami.
This announcement appeared in the newspaper under the headline "The University of Miami, A Great Institution and Its Ideals of Cultural Exchange with Latin America." Four years later a group of University of Miami students was honored at the Capitol in Havana.
There was a contribution of the flow of Cuban students through the 1950s. With the rise of Fidel Castro in 1959, increasing numbers of Cuban exile students enrolled at the University of Miami.
The University and the Cuban Community since 1959
Fidel Castro's rise to power in 1959 sparked a mass exodus of Cubans to the United States.
Under the leadership of University of Miami President Dr. Henry King Stanford, the university opened its doors to the Cuban community and established a series of programs to assist the newly arrived refugees:
- The University of Miami School of Medicine established the Cuban Refugee Program to prepare Cuban physicians for the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates. The program developed into the Office of International Medical Education, headed by Dr. Rafael Peñalver. A total of 2,346 Cuban doctors had graduated by July 1975.
- In 1961 the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare funded University training courses for Cuban lawyers. With more than 450 Cuban attorneys registered, the courses, which were in place until 1963, familiarized Cuban attorneys with U.S. laws.
- The Cuban Economic Research Project was established in 1961 to conduct research on the Cuban economy before and after 1959. Cuban exile economist José Alvarez Díaz headed the project until 1965.
- In 1963 the University of Miami established the Cuban Teachers Program, which lasted several years, to train Cuban teachers for jobs with the Dade County Public School system.
- In 1965 Robert Allen, Dean of the School of Continuing Studies, established the Cuban Cultural Center in the Koubek Memorial Center to help recently arrived Cuban exiles adjust to life in the United States. Many refugees participated in the vocational and cultural programs offered at the Center.
- The Federation of Cuban Students was founded in the late 1960s. By 1970 there were approximately 1,500 Cuban exile students attending the University. In 1974 a young Cuban exile student, Orlando González, was named baseball All-American, an award given to the nation's outstanding baseball players.
The Cuban Heritage Collection at the Otto G. Richter Library
Beginning in 1930 the library's Latin American and Caribbean collections grew to provide support for the numerous courses taught at the University. Some collections were donated and others were purchased.
The University library expanded to keep pace with the rest of the University and in 1962 the Richter Library was dedicated. Cuban books and other materials have remained an integral part of the Otto G. Richter Library.
The quality of the materials in the collection during the early years reflects the knowledge and talents of charles Lewis Morgan, who was head of acquisitions, and J. Riis Owre, who was dean of the Graduate School and one of the foudners of the University's Pan-American Institute in 1927. During the 1960s, with the addition of several exiled Cuban librarians to the Richter staff, the Cuban Collection expanded to include an increasing number of periodicals, maps, manuscripts, and other materials.
Library directors Archie L. McNeal (1952-1979), Frank Rodgers (1979-1997) and current university librarian Don L. Bosseau recognized the historical significance of Cuban materials, and they have continuously supported the quest for materials on the subject.
Cuban Books
The Otto G. Richter Library's Cuban Collection includes a collection of approximately 45,000 volumes of books, both rare and contemporary, with titles such as:
- Lembeye, Juan. Aves de la Isla de Cuba. Habana: Imprenta del Tiempo, c.1850.
- Mialhe, Pierre Toussaint Frédéric. La Isla de Cuba pintoresca. Habana: Lit. de la Real Sociedad Patriotica, [1838].
- Poey y Aloy, Felipe. Memorias sobre la historia natural de la Isla de Cuba. Habana: Impr. de Barcina, 1851-58. 2 vols.
- Sagra, Ramón de la. Historia física, política y natural de la Isla de Cuba. Paris: A. Bertrand, 1839-1856. 12 vols.
- Tipos y costumbres de la Isla de Cuba: colección de artículos: obra ilustrada por Victor Patricio de Landaluze. Habana: Miguel de Villa, 1881.
Periodicals
Cuban periodical publications at the Otto G. Richter Library include newspapers, magazines, and newsletters, which are listed in three categories:
- Publications dating from the colonial period to the 20th century include: La Gaceta de la Habana, 1848-1902 continued by La Gaceta Oficial de la Republica de Cuba, 1902-present; El Moro Muza: periódico satírico económico y literario, 1859-1875; Juan Palomo, 1869-1874; La Charanga, 1857- 1859; El Curioso Americano, 1892-1920; Diario de la Marina, 1832-1960. Some of these publications are on microfilm and others in their original format.
- Periodicals published in Cuba from circa 1910 to the present include: Archivos de Folklore Cubano, 1924-1930; Bohemia, 1911 to present; Carteles, 1919-1960; Havana Post, 1913-1960; El Mundo, 1901- 1969?; Orto: Revista de difusión cultural, 1912-1956; Social, 1916-1938; El Caimán Barbudo, 1966-present; Granma, 1965-present; Juventud Rebelde, 1965-present; Revolución, 1959-1965; Trabajadores, 1970-present.
- Cuban periodicals published in exile including the so-called 'periodiquitos." The collection currently includes approximately 255,000 issues of 800 titles. Writer Gastón Baquero has called exile periodicals "heroic journalism." In an article that appeared in El Miami Herald on November 4, 1985, he wrote, "One of the most beautiful aspects of the Cuban exile is that which we can call heroic journalism...That heroic press that comes from the soul rather than from financial means."
The Cuban Archives
The Cuban archives include material produced in Cuba, by Cubans in exile, and by Cuban-Americans since 1959, such as the following:
- A collection of Cuban historical and literary manuscripts from the 17th to the 20th century. This collection contains an important document dated May 12, 1895, and signed by José Martí, father of Cuba's independence movement, and General Máximo Gómez, Commander-in-Chief of the army during the War of Independence, 1895 to 1898.
- Collections of personal and corporate papers from prominent Cubans, representing a wide spectrum of disciplines including politics, history, the arts, literature, music, journalism, and architecture, as well as general materials on Cuba. Major portions of this collection have been donated.
Truth About Cuba Committee
The Truth About Cuba Committee, Inc. Collection. One of the first collections of corporate papers acquired by the library, it includes over 390,000 pages of testimony, pamphlets, photographs, clippings, correspondence, and tape recordings. The material was gathered by Luis V. Manrara, director of the Truth About Cuba Committee from 1961 to 1975.
The committee, which represented all sectors of the Cuban exile community, was the first and one of the most significant groups to be formed in exile. It was established to uncover the truth about what was happening on the island.
David Masnata Collection
In December 1988 the library acquired The David Masnata Collection, a substantial personal collection of genealogy and heraldry, compiled by Cuban exile attorney David Masnata y de Quesada, Marqués de Santa Ana y Santa María, grandson of Gonzalo de Quesada, a distinguished Cuban political leader known as Jose Marti's protege and preferred disciple.
Masnata, who was exiled in New York until his death in 1988, founded the Institute of Cuban Genealogy and was a member of genealogical institutions throughout Europe and the Americas. The collection includes approximately 3,000 books and fills 114 boxes with documents covering genealogy and heraldry relating to Cuba and Spain. This impressive collection is an excellent resource for information on family histories, particularly for Cubans living in exile.
The Archives also include:
- audio and videotapes
- clippings
- ephemera
- maps
- photographs
- posters
The Future of the Cuban Heritage Collection
Since its creation, The University of Miami has been proud of its strong link to Latin America.
The span of its Cuban Collection reinforces that commitment and examples of the University's continuing relationship with its neighbors abound:
Established in 1984 by University of Miami President Edward T. Foote II, the North-South Center is an international resource center dedicated to conducting research and analysis of issues affecting the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.
In 1987 the Emilio Bacardí Moreau Chair in Cuban Studies was established at the Research Institute for Cuban Studies in the Graduate School of International Studies. This is the first chair in the world dedicated to Cuban studies and the first chair to be established at GSIS. The Bacardí Chair recognizes School of International Studies programs that focus on Cuban history and culture.
The support of the University of Miami Institute's for Cuban and Cuban American Studies formerly the Research Institute for Cuban Studies in the (now School of International Studies) is the Cuban Heritage Collection at the Otto G. Richter Library.
The Cuban Heritage Collection hosts researchers from around the world who are interested in Cuban history, the Cuban exile experience, and the impact of Cuban Americans on the economy and political climate of many regions in the United States.
Acquiring resources to fuel the future growth of the Cuban Heritage Collection is a priority at the Richter Library. The collection has grown consistently through the years and is now recognized internationally as one of the foremost sources of information on Cuba.
It is our responsibility to support it as a tribute to the historical link between the University of Miami and the University of Havana. With the appropriate support, the Cuban Collection of the Otto G. Richter Library will serve future generations as the premier collection outside Cuba, providing a cultural bridge between the Cubans of the island, Cuban-Americans, and generations of Cubans born in foreign lands.
Esperanza de Varona, Head
Cuban Heritage Collection, Otto G. Richter Library
University of Miami, Coral Gables Florida
Phone: 305-284-4900
Fax: 305-284-4027
Credits for the Development of the Cuban Heritage Collection Website
Curator -- Esperanza B. de Varona
Assistant Curators -- Diana González Kirby, Pedro A. Figueredo, Lesbia Orta Varona
Cataloguers and Digital Image Scanners -- Maytée Valenzuela, Lina Velez
Web Site Designer and Developer -- Lyn MacCorkle
Translators-- Esperanza B. de Varona and Zoe Blanco-Roca
Digital Photography Contributor -- Fabian Rodríguez
Technical Advisor -- Richard J. Goodram
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