Name/Title
Pocket notebook of Leopoldo Arús Gálvez, Havana, 1940s–1980sEntry/Object ID
2025.1.434Scope and Content
A small side-bound pocket notebook with ruled and squared pages in pale cream stock, printed with a red vertical margin rule at left and right and a blue grid. It is written in cursive in blue, black, green and red ballpoint and ink, in one hand throughout, with entries added over roughly thirty-seven years.
Many entries carry a rubber date stamp rather than a written date: 6-ENE 69, 15 ENE 69, 27 SET 86, 30 OCT 86, 1 AGO 87, 9 ENE 88, 15 ENE 88, 18 MAR 88. Some stamps are struck twice or overlap the writing.
The three openings, in date order.
1951–1953 — car and household upkeep. Diciembre 22-/51 Banda de los frenos 40,000 Kms $10.00; Enero 8-1952 Una manguera verde para la playa - $9.50 50 pies; Julio 5-1952 Arreglo Refrigerador. Cambio de unidad.; Agosto 27-1952 Bujías, platinos, limpieza carburador 51,654 Kms.; Septiembre 15-1952 Limpieza Radiador.; 4 Gomas Firestone Octubre 7-1952 52,640 Kilómetros; Cambio de la junta de la tapa del bloque, junta del cárter, limpieza bujías y platinos y radiador, limpieza del motor. Filtro nuevo de aceite. Diciembre 20-1952 55,513 Kilómetros $26; Enero 2-1953 Manguera verde plástica para la playa $9.25 - 50 pies. 5 años de garantía. El Morro 23 y C.; 5 Marzo 1953 Manguera 25 pies $3.50 - 3 años garantía. El Morro 23 y C.
1966–1969 — car, contacts, and camera equipment. Septiembre 15-/66 Esmerilado y cambio de aros al Rambler; Febrero/68 Esmerilado y cambio de aros al Rambler.; Mayo 20-/68 Bandas de freno, zapatillas y empaque de la bomba = 47.00; Cámara fotográfica Kiev #6607632 T. Lente 2/50 #6612479 T. $200.00.
Facing page: Cándido Fermín Abreu; Principios de Electrocardiografía clínica - 1965 M. J. Goldman - M.M. México; Agencia Rambler Unidad 2101 (struck through with a red X) 61-2039; Dr. Rubén Mignagaray - 32-8651 F #409 e/ 19 y 21 Vedado; 6-ENE 69 - Compré Telefoto Júpiter 135 mm. f.4 #6808598 - $135.70 - Para cámara Kiev.; 15 ENE 69 - Visor Kiev #232608 - $45.00.
1986–1988 — repairs and appliances. In red: Tubería de gas nueva. Soldada la barra de transmisión. Calle San Anselmo entre Florencia y Macedonia ? Nieves with the stamp 30 OCT 86. Then Fondo del tanque de gasolina, zinc galvanizado 40.00 stamped 1 AGO 87; Nylon de pesca: 1 libra = 4,448 N / 1 Kgr. = 9,806 N / 1 N = 0,224 libras.
Facing page: Radio reloj $20.00; Aguja tocadiscos Sanyo Diciembre/87; Radio-tocadiscos-grabadora $168 - "Lloyd's" stamped 15 ENE 88; Televisor color Sanyo $325.00 stamped 15 ENE 88; Cassetes Sony stamped ENE 88; Ventilador 12" Sanyo 25.00 stamped ENE 88; Taladro - NAREX - Ø 6mm 1/4" EV 406 D #606673 stamped 18 MAR 88.Context
This is a household's own record of maintaining and equipping itself in Havana across the revolution, kept by one man in one book.
⚠️ The owner is already documented in the collection's published work. Cuba Material's post on photographic cameras names Leopoldo Arús Gálvez as the owner of two Kiev cameras bought in Cuba during the socialist period: a Kiev 4A purchased in 1967, and a Kiev 6C TTL bought in 1982 for a little over 200 pesos, used for family photography over several decades. This notebook is the primary document behind part of that account, and it records the first camera's serial numbers and price in the owner's own hand.
The camera serials date the equipment. Kiev cameras were made by the Arsenal Factory in Kyiv, Ukraine, built on Contax tooling and technology taken from Dresden after 1946; the Kiev 2, 3 and 4 series are Contax copies, and Jupiter lenses were their standard optics. In Kiev serial numbers the first two digits give the year of manufacture. So:
Camera #6607632 → made 1966
Lens #6612479 → made 1966
Telephoto #6808598 → made 1968, bought 6 January 1969
⚠️ The lens is written 2/50, the Soviet convention for aperture over focal length, so a 50mm f/2 — almost certainly a Jupiter-8, the standard Kiev lens. ⚠️ The Visor Kiev #232608 does not follow the year convention; accessory numbering may differ.
The car is the other long thread. The 1951–53 entries record odometer readings climbing from 40,000 to 55,513 km with brake bands, plugs, points, carburetor and radiator cleaning, a head-gasket and sump-gasket change, and four Firestone tires. Fifteen years later the same owner is recording esmerilado y cambio de aros — valve grinding and piston-ring replacement — on a Rambler, twice in eighteen months, with the Agencia Rambler telephone number kept on the facing page and then crossed out.
The 1988 page is a different world. A color Sanyo television at $325, a Lloyd's radio-record-player-recorder at $168, Sony cassettes, a Sanyo fan, a Sanyo stylus, and a NAREX drill — NAREX being a Czechoslovak toolmaker, which would make it the collection's fourth Czechoslovak object, after the ZVL label, the Koh-I-Noor eraser and the Poldi drill packet. ⚠️ These Japanese-brand appliances were bought in Havana in January 1988 through the so-called Casas del oro y la plata; the prices are in Cuban convertible pesos (chavitos).
Two places named, both in Vedado or nearby. El Morro, 23 y C as the shop selling garden hose in 1953, and F #409 e/ 19 y 21, Vedado as Dr. Mignagaray's address.
The medical reference is Principios de Electrocardiografía clínica - 1965, M. J. Goldman - M.M. México is Mervin J. Goldman's Principios de electrocardiografía clínica, published by El Manual Moderno in Mexico City — which is what M.M. México stands for. Leopoldo Arús Gálvez was a doctor.Collection
Leopoldo Arús Gálvez collection, The Cabrera Arús family collectionArchive Details
Creator
Leopoldo Arús GálvezDate(s) of Creation
circa 1945 - circa 1989Primary Language
SpanishArchive Items Details
Description
The whole object is inscription. ⚠️ I have transcribed the three documented openings in the Description above rather than repeat them here. Translations of the recurring terms: esmerilado y cambio de aros = valve grinding and piston-ring replacement; bandas de freno = brake bands or shoes; zapatillas = cups or washers; empaque de la bomba = pump packing; junta de la tapa del bloque = head gasket; junta del cárter = sump gasket; bujías, platinos = spark plugs, contact points; gomas = tires; manguera = hose; tubería de gas = gas piping; barra de transmisión = drive shaft or track bar; aguja tocadiscos = record-player stylus; taladro = drill; nylon de pesca = fishing line.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Leopoldo Arús GálvezRelated Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaCreated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
September 29, 2026Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
September 29, 2026
