News

Research from the RBML | Tessa Roynon Writes about Toni Morrison’s Editorial List
Tessa Roynon, librarian at the Swan School, discusses the significance of the Toni Morrison editorial papers, which track her work with a host of renowned and canonical authors, including Toni Cade Bambara and Lucille Clifton.

Columbia University Libraries Acquires the Archival Collection of MINUTIAE Mobile App
Columbia University Libraries announces the acquisition of the archival collection of a mobile application, MINUTIAE, among the first of the archives of a mobile application, which documents the content, development, and experience of the "anti-social media app."

Now Available | Columbia School of Library Service Records
University archivists recently processed the alumni files in the Columbia School of Library Service records, which include materials related to the coursework of groundbreaking librarian, curator, and cataloger Dorothy (Burnett) Porter Wesley, B.S. 1931, M.S. 1932.

Show Me Your Cards: Communicating in the Days of Yore
Before texts, tweets, and swipes, there were calling cards, cartes de visite, and dance cards: the original social media of centuries past. These small pieces of ephemera, currently on display in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, tell how we connected, flirted, and formed relationships before the digital age.

Meet Flora Harpham
University archivists introduce Florence Ellen (F. E.) Harpham, the first woman to become a member of the Columbia faculty in 1896 as a "computer" in the Department of Astronomy; her work included analysis of the some of the earliest celestial photographs taken in the United States.

An A-to-Z of Oral History at Columbia: 5000 Pages with Richard D. Heffner
An A-to-Z guide to the Libraries' Oral History Archives: 'H' is for a 1997 oral history interview of more than 5,000 pages with Richard D. Heffner, academic, broadcast journalist, and former chairperson of the voluntary film rating system in the motion picture industry.

Historias: Latino Arts and Activisms Collections at RBML
The latest installment in the Curatorial Shorts event series will highlight the Latino Arts and Activisms collection, which stewards the archives of Latinos and Latino organizations in New York and other regions, including Dominican-American writer Josefina Báez.

A Revolutionary Friendship: Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama
A panel discussion at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, hosted in collaboration with the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, commemorated the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X and celebrated his friendship with activist Yuri Kochiyama.

Belle da Costa Greene and Columbia
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Morgan Library and Museum as a public institution, University archivists remember its first director, Belle da Costa Greene, as "a key partner and contributor" to library exhibitions at Columbia throughout the early 20th century.

Jews at Columbia: The Early Butler Years and the Trustee Question (1901-1920)
Librarian for Jewish Studies Michelle Margolis continues a series of blog posts about the history of Jews at Columbia with an installment on the first years of the Nicholas Murray Butler presidency during the early 20th century.

Researcher Profile | British Black Panther Movement
Dr. Robin Bunce of Homerton College, Cambridge University, describes how the papers of activist Darcus Howe, held by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and other recently-digitized materials contribute to his research on the history of Black Power in Britain.

Processing the Jack and Irene Delano Papers
Cristina Stubbe, an archivist with the Winthrop Group, processed the papers of Jack and Irene Delano, held by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library and including drawings, photographs, and other materials that document the history and culture of Puerto Rico.

Research at the RBML | Laura Kaiser Finds Elizabeth Dejeans in the Paul Reynolds Papers
Author and independent researcher Laura Fisher Kaiser consulted the archival records of the Paul R. Reynolds literary agency in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library for an upcoming biography of novelist Frances Elizabeth Budgett (pen name Elizabeth Dejeans).

NYPL Library School Records: A Student Project
Students in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Itzel Franco ('26CC) and Sarah Noon ('24GS), helped University archivists to improve the condition and description of a brittle but valuable collection of records from the New York Public Library (NYPL) Library School.

An A-to-Z of Oral History | G is for (40% Oral History Collection on) Gun Violence in America, 2017-2020
An A-to-Z guide to the Libraries' Oral History Archives: 'G' is for gun violence in America, addressed in the Forty Percent oral history collection which "gives a powerful voice to survivors of gun violence" in the U.S. from 2017 through 2020.

Archivist’s Pick: A Glance at the Chinese Republican Era and Beyond
Processing Archivist Yingwen Huang details a small exhibition in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library on the people of the Chinese Republican era (1912-1949) and beyond, which includes photographs, letters, ephemera, and other artifacts.

President Barnard’s Other Legacy
The (other) legacy of Frederick A.P. Barnard, tenth president of Columbia College: Best known for paving the way for the College to become a University and for his unsuccessful campaign in support of coeducation, Barnard also made significant contributions in the education of deaf students.

An A-to-Z of Oral History at Columbia: “F” is for “Fair Use”
An A-to-Z guide to the Libraries' Oral History Archives: 'F' is for fair use and copyright, which dictate how journalists, researchers, and others are permitted to incorporate archival materials like oral histories into their academic work.