Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of a private tour at the University of Miami's Cuban Heritage Collection. The collection contains an incredible amount of Cuban books, magazines, and newspapers dating back to the 1800's, as well as personal collections of letters and photographs donated by the families of notable Cuban citizens. In addition, there are pictures, post cards, maps, stamps, films, rare books, and a plethora of other Cuban memorabilia dating from the 16th century to now.

The collection continues to aggregate materials from exiles as well as from the island itself. The considerable amount of resources they have collected provides researchers with unmatched tools to analyze the history of Cuba. At the collection you will find items from the colonial days, from the island's short-lived democracy, from exile, and of course, from the long-lived tyranny it is enduring now.

Many of the articles in the collection are available to peruse online, and I recommend you stop by their site and take a trip down memory lane.

You can visit the website here: http://www.library.miami.edu/umcuban

You can also visit the library itself on the campus of the University of Miami.

My congratulations go to the staff at the Cuban Heritage Collection at UM for the incredible work they have done and continue to do.