Lydia Cabrera was one of the 20th century’s leading writers on Cuban folklore and an internationally known chronicler of Afro-Cuban culture and religion. Cabrera spent a lifetime documenting Afro-Cuban folklore and religions. She studied art and religion in Paris, and in 1960 she left Cuba to live in exile in the United States. Her extensive collection of papers is available for research at the Cuban Heritage Collection.

The Lydia Cabrera Papers includes correspondence, manuscripts, original drawings, field notes, interviews, photographs, illustrations, and paper laces. This collection also contains documentation about the restoration of several colonial buildings in Cuba.

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