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The Elena Kurstin Cuban Memorabilia Collection provides a glance at Cuban life and culture in the years prior to 1959. This collection contains assorted pieces of ephemera that depict the lives of average Cuban people. Included are photographs of the countryside and people, postcards, and advertisements. The Cuban tourist industry is well represented, especially the resorts and casinos of 1940s and 1950s Havana. The collection also includes magazine and newspaper articles about Cuba, both pre and post-revolution.

This collection contains documents pertaining to individuals being monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), such as Albert Einstein and his secretary, Helen Dukas, and stage actor Lenny by former FBI director John F. Sullivan. Such documents include biography and clearance information from those individuals. During the 1960s, and the Cold-War reigning on, the FBI often investigated or kept close-tabs on any individual who may be have construed as a domestic political threat. For instance, Lenny Bruce was kept under tabs because of his outspoken personality, and possibly pitting states' rights and authority against each other. Einstein by comparison was monitored since the 1930s and until his death in 1955. According to J. Edgar Hoover, Einstein was a potential communist and threat to radicalization on his political views, despite being said as he was preaching about his native Germany in the 1930s.