The Gallery at the Kislak Center celebrates the vision, passion, and generosity of Jay I. Kislak, whose landmark gift to the University of Miami and Miami Dade College preserves an extraordinary narrative of the Americas and its many cultures.

The Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation has transformed the University of Miami and its Libraries. The Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Open New Worlds: A Journey Through the Kislak Collection, features nearly 200 items from the Kislak Collection selected by its curator, Arthur Dunkelman. The exquisite assembly of rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and artifacts conveys a multifaceted history of the Americas, hemispheric cultural encounters, and global exploration beginning with Native American cultures and extending to modern times. The exhibit also serves as a window into the larger array of primary sources available in Special Collections.

The Kislak Center at the University of Miami, which houses the Gallery, is an elegant and beautiful multipurpose space that provides a welcoming venue for research, lectures, debates, conferences, workshops, concerts, and other events. The Kislak Center and Kislak Collection embody the University of Miami Libraries’ hemispheric leadership goal—to be a rich and accessible resource for expanding global knowledge, catalyzing research, and making fresh discoveries. Well into its second year of operation, the Center is fulfilling its mission, serving as a dynamic hub for learning and lively academic and cultural exchange.

For more information, visit https://www.library.miami.edu/kislak-center/the-gallery.html

Images: Select items from the Kislak Collection