The Columbia Spectator

Spectator-Archive

The Spectator is fully digitized and online! Issues from 1877 to 2014 are available online.  Whenever possible pages have been scanned from original paper copies and digitized using state of the art technology that provides full-page, searchable reproductions of articles, photographs, and advertisements.  The digitization of the materials required repairing fragile, heavily-used items, which took longer but resulted in high-quality, color digital reproductions.  The project has successfully addressed both archival preservation and information access, offering excellent, detailed searching of article content, advertisements, and images.  The Spectator Archive is a tremendously rich and important part of Columbia University history, including that of its libraries.  The Library News columns from the 1800’s include articles and short pieces covering Melvil Dewey’s tenure and influence here at Columbia, particularly his implementation of the Dewey organization and classification system and the establishment of his “School of Library Economy”.  Check out this article from The Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume XXIII, Number 7, 17 January 1889, Spectator-Library-Column-17-January-1889.

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