Welcome to a treasure box of digitized documents, objects and imagery from UF’s Cuban archives at Smathers Libraries’ Special Collections! Here we present archival materials that span different periods of Cuban history and are also unknown to most historians and the public alike. We hope to inspire their use in classrooms around the world and to further knowledge of the rich political culture of Cuba. Gems of the Archive will itself become an archive as new examples are uploaded monthly.
All items curated by Lillian Guerra with the assistance of Miguel Torres Yunda.
- Medal for building “tunnels of love” or war? Fidel’s autocracy in the 1980s
Read moreIn the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse, many of the most far-fetched examples of Fidel Castro’s “policy-making-by-whim” became both the stuff of legend and taboo.
Read more "Medal for building “tunnels of love” or war? Fidel’s autocracy in the 1980s"
- Cuban Cigarette Cards of Erotica
Read moreMost of us know that bubble gum companies once included collectible baseball cards in their packages in order to encourage sales. But did you know that Cuban cigarette manufacturers did something similar over a century ago?
- Fidel Castro in Moscow’s Red Square, 1963
Read moreTaken by Alberto Díaz, better known as “Korda”, and bearing the stamp of his studio, this photograph shows a 36-year-old Fidel Castro addressing adoring crowds in Moscow on his April 1963 tour of the Soviet Union. Although conspicuously absent from the stage that day,
- Recycled Beer Cans (2011)
Read moreAlthough most of us would probably not qualify these objects as “archival”, a historian sees in them the opportunity to document the struggles that Cubans face in an economy defined by austerity, scarcity and intense creativity.
- Recycled toothpaste tubes and pull-off tops (2016)
Read moreIn 2016, Historian of the City of Baracoa, Dr. Alejandro Hartmann, took me on a whirlwind tour of chocolate farmers and “manufacturers” of artisanal chocolates in the mountains near the city.
Read more "Recycled toothpaste tubes and pull-off tops (2016)"
- “Welcome to Our Revolution” (1959)
Read moreThis pamphlet dates from the winter of 1959 when Nancy Macaulay first visited her husband Neill Macaulay in Cuba.
- Alma Guajira
Read moreThis original copy of the play “Peasant Soul” (Alma Guajira) was published by the Cuban cigar company Gener in 1927.
- A Communist Life in Medals
Read moreIn Cuba, like the Soviet Union, the practice of distributing small lapel pins as tokens of the state’s political appreciation became and remained fundamental.
- Cigar Label
Read moreHow a cigar label revealed the hypocrisy of many pro-Embargo American politicians.