Search

The collection of Dana A. Dorsey is comprised of the legal and financial records of his vast real estate holdings. Mortgages, leases, rental and loans agreements represent the focus of the collection. Of special interest to researchers are those documents which detail the growth of both black and white Miami, deeds which describe in detail the properties and location of what were the newly created sub-divisions in the city. In a period of racial segregation these documents show a blurring of racial lines as exemplified by Dana Dorsey business relations with the founding families of the city.

The Dance Band Combos Collection consists of instrumental arrangements of popular songs first made for distribution to theater and music hall orchestras. These early to mid 20th century arrangements proved so popular that surprised publishers began making them available for general sale. Pit bands could then purchase a ready-made score of a current hit tune to vary their repertoire. Dance groups found them useful as well, and they made novel additions to the programs of salon ensembles and amateur combinations. Later, these multi-purpose orchestrations became commonly known as stock arrangements.

This collection relates to Daniel Duffy who served as a U.S. Navy executive officer in the Pacific Theater during World War II. This collection contains an oral history transcript where Duffy details his experience with the U.S. Navy, the V-12 program, descriptions of his time in the Pacific theater, and the GI Bill.

The Daniel M. Johnson Collection consists of approximately 5,200 books published between the 1780s to 2002 that are by and about Africans and people of African descent. The collection includes many first edition and signed copies as well as pamphlets, articles, letters and photographs. The major categories that Daniel M. Johnson delineated for his collection are: African-American literature and children's literature; African and Caribbean literature; African-American history and critical thought; African, Egyptian, and Middle-Eastern history; and African-American art, music, dance, and sports. The catalog includes 4164 nonfiction books and 907 fiction books.