Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Louis A. Perez Papers on Americans in Cuba #12017-z, Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Louis A. Perez Jr. on 23 March 2010 (Acc. 101377).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Americans--Cuba--Anecdotes.
• Americans--Cuba--Correspondence.
• Americans--Cuba--History--20th century.
• Americans--Cuba--Political and social views.
• Americans--Cuba--Social life and customs.
• Castro, Fidel, 1927-
• Cuba--Civilization--American influences.
• Cuba--History--20th century.
• Cuba--History--Revolution, 1959--Personal narratives.
• Cuba--History--Study and teaching.
• Cuba--Politics and government--20th century.
• Cuba--Politics and government--Anecdotes.
• Cuba--Relations--United States.
• Perez, Louis A., 1943-
• United Fruit Company.

Louis A. Perez (Louis A. Perez Jr.) received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1970 and later took a position as a Graduate Research Professor of History at the University of South Florida. While at the University of South Florida, Perez began research on a project concerning the history of the American community living in Cuba during the 1940s and 1950s.

The collection includes letters, 1991-1992, from respondents to the Louis A. Perez's author's query in the New York Times Book Review comprise the bulk of the collection. These letters describe the authors' experiences while living in Cuba and/or suggest other possible sources of continued research for Perez. Topics include interactions between Americans and Cubans, social customs, class categorization of the American colony, types of business and companies managed by Americans, and reactions to Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution. A few letters were written by individuals born in Cuba to parents who worked for the United Fruit Company, an American corporation. These letters describe growing up on sugar plantations. Also included are postcards from Cuba, 1910-1959; a manuscript detailing an unidentified woman's trip to Cuba in February 1930 and a transcription of the manuscript made by Perez in 1992; and a bibliography of English-language newspapers edited in Cuba by Americans or intended for the United States community living there.