Archival Collections

The Bryant Slide Collection, circa 1940-1981, contains 35mm slides of various islands in the Caribbean as well as Florida and Venezuela. The slides were taken on collecting trips sponsored by the William L. Bryant Foundation, where books, music and art indigenous to the regions were gathered. They are organized by geographical location. The content of the slides vary and include landscapes, religion, houses, people and everyday life.

The Bryant West Indies Audio Collection contains vinyl record albums and audio cassette tapes, all containing various genres of music from the Caribbean Islands. These records and cassettes were purchased or collected on trips sponsored by the William L. Bryant Foundation.

This collection of tourism brochures, pamphlets, maps and newspaper clippings documents the islands of the West Indies. The collection encompasses the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the islands and nations of South America, and includes Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Surinam.

The Vertical File contains a variety of collected materials on University of Central Florida, local history, typography and book arts, and the West Indies, subjects relating to the collections held by the Special Collections. Files are may contain a variety of materials including newsletters, clippings, brochures, pamphlets, documents, photographs, and other items.

William J. Bryant was interested in archaeology and collected these pottery pieces, bones, stone tools and shells from sites in Florida, the Virgin Islands and the West Indies.