One of the biggest local history museums in the United States, HistoryMiami is located in downtown Miami. This premier cultural institution is dedicated to the history of South Florida, but its mission also includes the history of the Caribbean and Latin America. Its permanent collection documents somewhere between ten to twelve thousand years of human habitation in what is now the Greater Miami area, while two temporary galleries allow for rotating exhibition space. HistoryMiami is accredited by the American Association of Museums, as it has been since 1979 and it received Smithsonian Institution Affiliation in 2011.
On April 29, 2010 the Historical Museum of Southern Florida was officially renamed to HistoryMiami. The new brand direction and name was unveiled during the annual membership meeting attended by board members, community leaders, staff and members, as well as area residents. The rebranding was a direct result of a year-long effort to encompass the past history which defines the region as well as the future direction of our community more suitably.
Collection[]
The Museum of HistoryMiami collects and displays a variety of objects and images concerning Florida history. The permanent exhibition is entitled "Tropical Dreams: A People's History of South Florida." The Museum is the only one to have fossils from the recently-discovered Miami Circle® on display. Its display concerning the colonial Caribbean is largely made up of objects from recovered shipwrecks, including French cannons and Spanish silver and gold from the Atocha. A reproduction of Fort Caroline figures prominently in the display, while a few old maps detail the ways in which Europeans depicted the New World. In addition to the fort replica, the gallery contains large replicas of a Sharpie (the shallow-draft vessel that saw much use in and around the Keys and Biscayne Bay), a Seminole chikee, and a mid-19th century pioneer house. Other featured artifacts include Seminole/Miccosukee clothing, a 1920s player piano, a trolley from the 1930s that has been carefully restored, and 20th century vessels that Haitians and Cubans have used to immigrate to the United States.
Temporary Exhibitions[]
- The Guayabera: A Shirt's Story, June 29, 2012 to January 13, 2013
- Teen Miami, September 23, 2012 to June 16, 2013
Upcoming Exhibitions[]
Past Exhibitions[]
- Aviation in Miami: The First 100 Years
- Key Biscayne: Island of Shifting Sands
- Souvenir Maps & Plates
- Reflections: Paintings of Florida 1865-1965 (Traveling Exhibition)
- Estampas del Caribe Nicaraguense
- Florida Cattle Ranching (Traveling Exhibition)
- Crime in Miami
- Black Crossroads: The African Diaspora
- Interama: Miami and the Inter-American Dream
- June 21, 2008 through January 25, 2009
- Anne Mergen: Florida Cartoons
- June 21, 2008 through September 4, 2008
- Native Arts of the Northwest Coast: The Paul and Joan Gluck Collection
- February 23 through June 1, 2008
- Seminole Arts from Florida Collections
- February 23, 2008 through June 1, 2008
- Water Stories
- through January 20, 2008
- Rob Storter: Art of the Everglades
- through January 20, 2008
- Miami Bungalows
- May 18, 2007 through September 9, 2007
- Port Royal, Jamaica
- February 16, 2007 through June 3, 2007
- Miami Beach: America’s Tropical Resort
- June 23, 2006 through January 14, 2007
- Haitian Community Arts: Images by Iris PhotoCollective
- September 28, 2006 through January 14, 2007
- Stereoviews of Florida and the Caribbean
- June 23, 2006 through September 10, 2006
- Caribbean Collage: Archival Collections and the Construction of History
- February 24 through June 4, 2006
- Balseros—A Desperate Journey Cuban Photographs by Al Diaz
- February 24 through June 4, 2006
- The Spanish Colonization of Florida
- September 15, 2005 through January 15, 2006
- The South Florida Frontier
- June 24, 2005 to January 22, 2006
- Visions of the Caribbean
- February 25, 2005 to June 5, 2005
- Calypso Music in Postwar America: Photographs and Illustrations, 1945-1960
- February 25, 2005 to June 5, 2005
- The Florida Home: Modern Living, 1945-1965
- June 25, 2004 to January 23, 2005
- Haitian Maps and Prints from the Collection of Edouard Duval-Carrié
- September 16, 2004 to January 23, 2005
- Shipwrecks and Rescues, 1550 – 2000
- February 27, 2004 to June 6, 2004
- Maggie Steber: Haitian Photographs
- February 26, 2004 to June 6, 2004
- Assignment Miami: News Photographers
- June 25, 2003 to January 25, 2004
- Carl Juste: Miami Portraits
- June 25, 2003 to January 25, 2004
- Florida Remembers World War II
- February 21 to June 1
- Illustrating Cuba’s Flora and Fauna
- September 6, 2002 to January 19, 2003
- The Everglades: Exploitation & Conservation
- February 22, 2002 to August 18, 2002
- Follow That Dream: Florida’s Rock ‘n Roll Legends
- July 27, 2001 to January 20, 2002
- At the Crossroads: Afro-Cuban Orisha Arts in Miami
- February 23, 2001 to July 8, 2001
- Dèjá View: Home Movies in South Florida
- January to February 2001
- Ritmos de Identidad:Fernando Ortiz’s Legacy and the Howard Family Collection of Percussion Instruments
- September 8, 2000 to January 21, 2001
- Florida Cowboys
- February 25, 2000 to August 20, 2000
- Myths and Dreams: Exploring the Cultural Legacies of Florida and the Caribbean
- November 12, 1999 to January 23, 2000
Annual Events[]
The Miami International Map Fair traditionally takes place the first weekend in February and sees the highest volume of any such fair in the world.
Croquet and Cocktails is a springtime annual membership event hosted by the young professionals, the Flagler Street Society, that brings out the local community to combine games of croquet with signature cocktail drinks.
2007 was the last year for the Harvest Festival that traditionally took place in November. Harvest was an indoor, juried arts & crafts show that had grown over its thirty-two years to includes historical reenactments and antique automobiles.[1]