By Sarah Block
Special to UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (January 15, 2016) — Historian Arva Moore Parks’ path to her latest work, George Merrick, Son of the South Winds, seems as cemented to destiny as the coral rock and oak lined streets Merrick laid out more than 90 years ago. As Parks, a University of Miami trustee and author of several notable Florida, Miami, and UM histories, explained at the Otto G. Richter Library on Thursday the visionary founder of Coral Gables shaped her own life.

“It began in the 1970s while I was still working as a teacher and was asked to join the National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose mission at that time was saving the Merrick House,” Parks said in presenting her book, which explores the city’s foundation starting from its first family’s passage from their northern base to a new South Florida frontier.

Parks’ prolific career as an author/historian has generated many of the region’s most cherished nonfiction works including The Forgotten Frontier: Florida through the Lens of Ralph Middleton Munroe, Miami, The Magic City, and George Merrick’s Coral Gables. She is also the author of the University’s 75th anniversary tribute Pathway to Greatness, Building the University of Miami: 1926-2001.

She explains that her latest book, which was released in 2015, is a culmination of more than 20 years’ work that was jumpstarted with a phone call from the late Mildred Merrick, a UM Librarian, who had ended up with many of the family records in 1989. “Had they not fallen into the hands of a librarian’s, this book would likely not exist.”

The presentation was followed by a book signing and viewing of Pan American University: The Original Spirit of the U Lives On, an immersive exhibition of archival materials highlighting the University’s rich multicultural history. “It’s a history that began with George Merrick’s incredible vision when he began building the City Beautiful and founded the University of Miami,” said Dean of UM Libraries Charles Eckman. “There is no one more fitting than the author of his story, Arva Moore Parks, to kick off our 90-year celebrations and march to the centennial.”

Pan American University includes original photographs and records from UM’s Cuban Heritage Collection, Special Collections, and University Archives alongside a large-scale wall installation created by Miami-based Cushy Gigs Creative, together documenting the University’s enduring connection to Latin America and the Caribbean. Lead artist was UM alumnus Alex Vahan, B.F.A. ’06. The exhibition will remain on view at Richter Library through Summer 2016 and is free and open to the public.

By Annette Gallagher
UM News

Alberto Cairo, the Knight Chair in Visual Journalism and director of CCS’s Visualization Program, says VizUM will provide new ways to deal with “oceans of data.”

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (December 12, 2014)—Places & Spaces: Mapping Science, the extraordinary Indiana University exhibition of 100 artistic big-data visualizations that debuted on the University of Miami campus in September, held its capstone event last week. But it signaled a beginning, not an end.

“There are no endings,” said Sawsan Khuri, chair of the Places & Spaces committee and director of engagement for the Center for Computational Science (CCS), which joined with the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Communication, School of Architecture, and Otto G. Richter Library to bring the exhibit to campus. “Places & Spaces may be leaving, but this is also the beginning of VizUM, a visualization project that will connect the visualization efforts already in place on the campus and initiate new efforts as well.” Read the full story

Yoani Sánchez (left) looks at some of the Cuban Heritage Collection’s most important holdings, as CHC director Esperanza Bravo de Varona explains the significance of the materials.

A meeting with journalists and a visit to Miami’s Freedom Tower already behind her, Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez stepped into the lobby of the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) and paused, looking around at the glass display cases and paintings.

“Este es un lugar muy bonito, es un lugar excepcional (This is a very beautiful place. It is an exceptional place),” said Sánchez, who arrived in Miami on March 28 to spend time with family before starting a public agenda. Read the full story

For the University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection, January 28 not only commemorated the 160th anniversary of Cuban national hero José Martí’s birth. It also marked ten years that the CHC has been housed in the Roberto C. Goizueta Pavilion at the Richter Library.

A small celebration with faculty, staff, and members of the Cuban Heritage Collection’s Amigos Board took place in the CHC’s Elena Díaz-Versón Amos Conference Room to celebrate the milestone. Since its dedication on January 28, 2003, the Goizueta Pavilion has become a vital resource for countless researchers furthering their research on Cuba and the Cuban Diaspora, as well as a venue for lectures and presentations focused on Cuba, its history, and topics related to other Richter Library collections and programs.

From left, Dean and University Librarian William D. Walker, President Donna E. Shalala, and Dave Barry.

Built for $3 million, the University of Miami’s Otto G. Richter Library has become one of Florida’s largest repositories for some of the region’s most significant collections of memorabilia and history. It houses collections that document everything from Cuba and the Cuban exile experience to the growth and development of Pan American World Airways. It also serves as a depository for federal and state government publications as well as rare books, maps, and manuscripts. Read the full story