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SubCollections
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The Andrew Kaufman Collection consists of more than 60 reel-to-reel tapes of Cuban radio programs made between the late 1950s and early 1960s. The collection also includes live performances of Cuban and Latin American artists and music recorded on rare and unique 78rpm discs. Mr. Kaufman donated this unique collection to the FIU Libraries in 2021, and it is currently housed in the Diaz Ayala Archive. Mr. Kaufman accumulated this collection throughout the course of his life while working in the music industry as an agent, producer, and creative manager for renowned artists. He worked at important recording companies including SALSOUL Records where he was a director. He produced and co-produced projects for more than 30 top Latin music artists such as Cachao, Sandro and El Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorkino, all of them Grammy nominated. This collection is open for research and academic purposes.
Andrew Kaufman Collection
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The Music Score Collection donated to FIU by the Celia Cruz Foundation, in April 2021, contains more than 200 scores and sheet music arrangements of relevant compositions. The collection includes a variety of genres such as sones, guarachas, Afro-Cuban lullabies, boleros, etc. These unique materials represent Celia Cruz’s repertoire, and characterizes the Cuban and Latin-American cultural heritage. There are well-known artists (composers/arrangers) represented in this collection such as Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Sonny Bravo, and Niño Rivera, among others. All the items included are physically housed in the Díaz Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Archive and available in digital format for research purposes. This project is a collaborative partnership between FIU CasaCuba, the School of Music, the FIU Libraries, the FIU Foundation, and The Celia Cruz Foundation.
Celia Cruz Music Score Collection
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Carlos Estrada was born in Guantanamo, Cuba on October 14, 1930 to Rosaurio Patiño and Juan Estrada. He married Lilia Franco on June 24, 1953. He left Cuba to settle in Miami in October 9, 1960, after Castro regime took over the CMKC radio station where he worked. Mr. Estrada was a music composer, poet, and radio personality. In Miami, he worked at La Fabulosa, La Cubanisima, Ocean Radio and Union Radio. His compositions were interpreted by artists like Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, and Blanca Rosa Gil, to name a few. During the 70’s, Mr. Estrada worked alongside Eduardo Espigul at La Fabulosa (WFAB) presenting a popular program called "El Show de la Una", and recorded albums in Modiner Records. Mr. Estrada was an active member of the Society of Cuban Authors and Composers in exile. He passed away at the age of 88 on September 7, 2019. His family donated his archive to honor him and his work throughout his life. His archive is accessible at the FIU Libraries for research purposes.
Carlos Estrada Collection
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The Sound & Image Department at the FIU Libraries houses thousands of cassette tapes as part of the Diaz-Ayala Cuban & Latin American Music Collection. The cassette series includes rare and unique content recorded from 1900 to 1960. This initiative started in 2021 with the digitization of songs from 1900 to 1935. This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Audio links to 1900-1935 songs will be available through the Discography of American Historical Recording (DAHR) from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Diaz Ayala Collection Cassette Series
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Danilo Orozco Gonzalez was a Cuban musicologist, professor, and researcher. He was born in Santiago de Cuba on July 17, 1944. Dr. Orozco received his PhD from the University of Humboldt in Berlín, Germany. For several years he taught at the “Escuela Nacional de Artes de La Habana” and actively participated in congress and seminars worldwide. In 1979 he worked as an advisor and analyst for UNESCO in Colombia. Additionally, he taught post-graduate courses in various countries such as University of Panamá (1982), Conservatory of Río de Janeiro (1989), Institute Vicente Emilio Sojo in Venezuela (1991), University of Salamanca in España, UCLA in the United States (1992), and University of Chile (1996). Dr. Orozco passed away in Havana, Cuba on March 26, 2013. The Orozco family donated his collection to FIU Libraries in 2018. The collection is currently available for research in order to honor the outstanding work of Dr. Danilo Orozco and continue his legacy.
Danilo Orozco Collection
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Cristobal Diaz Ayala was interested in the musical presence of the State of Florida in recordings, he made a list of what would be considered “Florida Topics” like the: name of Florida itself, its cities and towns, symbols, as well as native performers, composers, groups, orchestras, record labels, among others. For the past five years, he has been researching discographies of more than 200 different American recording companies, from 1898 to the 1960s. Using these and other sources, he was able to find and catalog more than 3,500 items related to Florida recorded by various performers. Diaz Ayala donated to FIU the intellectual work he developed for this project as well as the audio recordings he collected.
Florida Topics in Music
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In 2014, after many years of research and dedication to preserve Cuban culture and collecting items related to Lyrical music from Cuba, Mr. Jose Tain Alfonso donated his collection to FIU. Now, his archive is an important resource available at the FIU Libraries to our faculty, students, and general community. The diversity of materials donated include cassettes, Lps, Cds, VHS, DVDs, photographs, theater programs, events advertisement, and clippings that tribute relevant figures of the Classical music in Cuba.
Jose Tain Alfonso Collection
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The Preservation Project was funded by the Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation in 2016. The primary objective of this project is to preserve and provide controlled access to 78 rpm sound recordings from 1900 to 1929 in order to support academic and scholarly works. All the items included in this sub collection are part of the Diaz Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection.
Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation Preservation Project
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The Libertad Lamarque Sheet Music Collection Preservation Project was funded by the Southeast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN) through the Breakthrough Awards in 2018. Irene Lopez, the inheritor of Libertad Lamarque’s Sheet Music, donated this collection to FIU in 2014. The primary objective of this project is to preserve and provide controlled access to sheets music from 1910 – 1965, approximately. All the items included are physically housed in the Diaz Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Archive. The items comprised in this collection, mostly handwritten, were used by the Argentinean artist as her personal notated music for performances as a soloist or with other artists.
Libertad Lamarque Sheet Music Collection Preservation Project
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Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh, born in Havana, Cuba, in May 9, 1930. She earned her PhD in Philosophy and Letters from the Universidad de La Habana. Dr. Whitmarsh's academic journey led her to Ecuador in 1961, where she pursued her studies with the support of a scholarship. Subsequently, she spent 22 years in Mexico, contributing to various universities, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 1984, she relocated to the United States, settling in Miami as a Cuban exile. Dr. Whitmarsh actively engaged in community initiatives and participated in organizations such as the Institute San Carlos, as a member of the Directory. Dr. Whitmarsh passed away in October 2023, leaving an enduring legacy of invaluable contributions to the academic and cultural landscape. She generously donated her sheet music collection to Florida International University in 2023, further solidifying her dedication to preserving Cuban and Latin American heritage.
Rosa Leonor Whitmarsh Sheet Music Collection
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Orlando Carlos de Aragón Martin was born in Havana, Cuba on December 5, 2018. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the youngest member of the class in 1939. While en route to his US Navy Deployment, he met Miss Lillian Garcia Nuñez; the woman who became the love of his life and, mother to their eight children. They lived in various locations including Bogota Colombia, before settling in 1952 in Puerto Rico. In the mid-seventies, the family relocated to the US mainland eventually settling in Miami, Florida. Throughout all the years of their marriage they were both aficionados of art and great music and they carted their collection of over 1200 music albums, some dating from 1912 and earlier. They would be very pleased and gratified to know an extensive part of the collection has found a permanent home in the renowned “Diaz Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection” at Florida International University.
The Aragon-Garcia Collection
