Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Charles Deering Collection - circa 1900-1922
Date(s)
- circa 1900-1922 (Creation)
Extent
6 boxes (papers and 345 photographs), 1 folder
Name of creator
Biographical history
Industrialist Charles Deering (International Harvesters) built his first home in Miami in 1910, when he was not quite 60. This was Buena Vista, located in what is now Bay Point. By 1914 he was buying land in south Dade County and in 1920 was owner of 380 acres of bayfront in Cutler, where he added a three story stone house to existing buildings. Among these was the old Richmond Inn which had been in business before the turn of the century. After his death in 1927 his widow continued living at the Cutler estate until her death in 1943. In 1985 the Nature Conservancy purchased it as a nature preserve and historic site. It is now managed by Miami-Dade County Parks
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Correspondence, pamphlets, photographic prints and clippings document Charles Deering's interest in plant introduction, research and cultivation at his two Dade County estates. Included are letters and notes from John Kunkel Small, noted botanist and authority on the flora of the southeastern states; material on the building of the Cutler dwelling, with letters from its architect, Phineas Paist; and a folder of pamphlets issued by National Audubon Society, chiefly dated 1912-1916.
Scrapbooks of the Buena Vista estate and Japanese life and customs, 1900-circa 1909. Folder of preconstruction sketches for the Deering estate on Biscayne Bay north of Miami, and a turn-of-the-century photograph album on Japan. Buena Vista materials include two floor plans headed: Preliminary studies of house for Mr. Charles Deering, Miami, Fla. ; a photographic print of a building model; and eight watercolor sketches of different rooms, elevations, etc., signed by the architect Clinton MacKenzie of New York City. The Japanese album consists of a series of hand colored phographic prints showing traditional Japanese artisans, farmers and street scenes. They are numbered in Japanese and appear to have been commercially produced.
System of arrangement
Papers arranged in folders by subject; photographic prints arranged by place and year except where undated.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
The collection is open for research.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of James Deering Danielson, 1989
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
Other Information
1989-102 to 1989-105
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
© Copyright 2019 HistoryMiami Archives & Research Center. All rights reserved.
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Barbee (Motorboat) (Subject)
- Charles Deering estate (Cutler, Fla.) (Subject)
- Paist, Phineas E. (Subject)
- Small, John Kunkel (Subject)