Program Introduction
Beyond Vizcaya
Swapping Stories and Making Memories
About
A Human Library
Beyond Vizcaya is a collaborative storytelling project that connects Vizcaya’s 100+ year history to the stories of people in Miami and South Florida. With History Miami as our partner, Beyond Vizcaya presents historical figures and events as well as the voices of contemporary story tellers and topics of concern.
Behind the Scenes
Ever wonder how the Beyond Vizcaya stories are captured? Get an inside look at how Beyond Vizcaya’s content is created. On this page, we invite you to delve into the behind-the-scenes process that fuels the creation of our engaging articles, videos, and visuals.
Climate & Environment
As part of the effort to preserve and protect our historic museum and gardens and to broaden the reach of climate conversation, we’re involving climate scientists and people from our community to discuss this critical issue.
Community Stories
Beyond Vizcaya is an ongoing, collaborative storytelling project designed to connect the historic treasure that is Vizcaya with the greater community of which it is a part. Think of it as a ‘human library,’ personal stories about the people and events that helped build Vizcaya and Miami and are shaping our future.
Identity
They come from everywhere, the people that form our multi-cultural, multi-faceted home. Vizcaya was built and staffed by Bahamian workers who also founded the nearby community of Coconut Grove. Listen, learn, and join the conversation.
Labor
Vizcaya was conceived as a labor of love, a private winter retreat for the wealthy industrialist James Deering. The Bahamian workforce that built Vizcaya also built Coconut Grove. And the historic crafts now preserved in a public museum are still practiced here and in our modern community.
Migration
If one word could describe Miami, it would be “diverse.” Successive waves of immigration turned a tiny Tequesta settlement at the mouth of the Miami River into a major international business and cultural hub. Miami is constantly reinventing itself – with Vizcaya at the intersection of it all, history in the heart of urban development amid volatile climate change.
Swapping Stories
Where are you from? What’s your family history? Become a part of our “human library” by sharing your thoughts, your voice, your experience of Miami with HistoryMiami and Beyond Vizcaya.
