It is the end of an era at the University of Miami Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection.
After 59 remarkable years, Gladys Gómez-Rossié retired Sept. 30 from her job as community relations coordinator. Gómez-Rossié joined the University Libraries in 1967 as a library assistant. She served as assistant to director of libraries Frank Rogers from 1979-1997.
“We are deeply grateful for all that Gladys has given to the libraries during the 59 years she has devoted to the University,” said Charles “Chuck” Eckman, dean of UM Libraries. “The full measure of her contribution is hard to capture. She is one of five women whose early work laid the foundation for the Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC). Gladys’ passion for Cuba, her connection to its diaspora, her commitment to sharing the collection's treasures with scholars and the community, and her love for the libraries have helped shape the collection and libraries into what they are today.”
A member of the Pedro Pan exodus, which brought 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba to the United States, Gómez-Rossié worked in the library beside four other Cuban women who became her friends. They were Rosa Abella, Ana Rosa Nunez, Lesbia Orta Varona and Esperanza Bravo de Varona.
The five women, who worked in different parts of the library, had the foresight and the love for their home country to begin to collect everything they found on the island—maps, photos, letters, documents and local “periodiquitos,” or small newspapers that covered the Cuban community.
These materials became the backbone of what would become the Cuban Heritage Collection, the largest repository of materials on Cuba outside of the island and the most comprehensive collection of resources about Cuban exile history and the global Cuban diaspora experience.
Looking back at those early years, Gómez-Rossié said she does not even know how they were able to start the collection.
“But I feel very proud of what we were able to achieve,” she said. “We have preserved a precious part of our country’s history and culture.”
Another proud moment came in 1994 when she proposed the idea of starting the Amigos of the Cuban Heritage Collection, a group of prominent members of the community who act as ambassadors and the fundraising arm of the collection. The first Amigos board started in 1995.
“I told the director at that time that we needed to get out and let the rest of the University and the community know what we had,” she said. “We were the biggest kept secret for many years.”
She recalls that among the goals set in founding the CHC were to increase interest in and knowledge of UM Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection, assist scholars and researchers in relation to every aspect of Cuban culture and convey to the whole community a higher understanding of the traditions and cultural heritage of Cuba.
Wearing high heels and dressed elegantly, Gómez-Rossié has always been a great helper to any student, academic or visitor to the collection. After so many years there, she knew exactly where to find the exact photograph, book or letter in the large stacks.
For years, she worked closely with Bravo de Varona, former director of the CHC and the chair named in her honor, doing outreach in the community. Together they attended hundreds of community events, gallery openings and Cuban exile-related meetings.
She also co-hosted many events at the Cuban Heritage Collection. She greeted visitors daily and offered them a cafecito, or a shot of Cuban coffee she made herself.
“I think I am most proud of all the connections I leave behind, those within the library, within the University and in the community,” she said. “That is the legacy I leave behind. I am happy. It was time.”