"Florida International University will soon be home to the largest, most-comprehensive Cuban music collection in the world.

"Cristóbal Díaz Ayala-author of the definitive book on Cuban music and producer of the recent CD boxed set "100 Cuban Songs of the Millennium"-has given the FIU Libraries approximately 100,000 items that span the history of popular Cuban and other Latin music. Valued at nearly $1 million, the collection features 25,000 LPs; 14,500 78 rpms; 4,500 cassettes containing radio interviews with composers and musicians; 4,000 pieces of sheet music; 3,000 books; and thousands of CDs, photographs, videocassettes and paper files. Among the collection's rarest items are recordings made in pre-revolutionary Cuba."

From the FIU News Release, June 28, 2001

Also see:

• "Collector donating rare Cuban music to FIU", Miami Herald, July 11, 2001
• "A Collector Bequeaths His Huge Archive of Cuban Sound", New York Times, October 24, 2001