: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
Portrait of Diego Velasquez de Cuellar.
“Something about Cuba” is an exhibit of books and other library materials at the University of Minnesota Libraries, highlighting its collections on Cuban history, literature, art, and music, from the conquest of Cuba by Diego Velazquez in 1512 to the present. The exhibit is on display in the basement level of Wilson Library.
The display in the exhibit case in the Wilson Periodicals Collection area, titled “From Conqueror to Castro,” includes material on Cuba before the 1959 Revolution, and the display in the exhibit case in the Wilson Government Publications Library area, titled “Cuba after 1959,” includes material on Cuba since the revolutionary government led by Fidel Castro was established 56 years ago.
Purpose of ‘Something About Cuba’
Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos in Havana.
The purpose of “Something About Cuba” is dual. First is to emphasize the relative completeness of the “coverage” of Cuba at the various libraries and special collections in the University of Minnesota Libraries. There is, literally, something about Cuba in each one of the major libraries in the University Libraries system.
Second, is to illustrate the richness and complexity of Cuba’s history and the hybrid culture of the Island. With that purpose, the materials chosen for the exhibit range from a 1740 decree of King Philip V of Spain and the Indies at the James Ford Bell Library, granting permission to create a stock company in Havana to residents of that Cuban city who had petitioned him, to an English translation of the 1897 decree of the Spanish Monarchy granting home rule to Cuba and Puerto Rico, at the Wilson Library’s Government Publications Library.
In addition to books and to images of book and DVD covers, the “Something About Cuba” exhibit displays reproductions of photographs and paintings by Cuban artists. The latter include the iconic portrait of Ernesto (Che) Guevara by Korda, and the painting “The Triumph of Rumba,” by Eduardo Abela.
Exhibit Details
“Something About Cuba” will be on display from October to December 2015 during normal Wilson Library hours of operation.
