Manuscript 49: From Agnietenberg to Zwolle, a Journey Through Time and Technology

  Last semester, I had the privilege of participating in the interdisciplinary seminar “Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts,” led by Emily Runde and a team of experts including Susan Boynton, Christopher Baswell, Alexis Hagedorn, and Jeffrey Wayno, in which we embarked on an immersive journey into the world of medieval manuscripts and documents. From codicology and […]

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Hull-House Maps and Papers: On moving a book from general to special collections

  By many measures, Hull-House Maps and papers is not a rare book. In 1895, Jane Addams and her colleagues at Chicago’s Hull-House published Hull-House Maps and Papers: a presentation of nationalities and wages in a congested district of Chicago, together with comments and essays on problems growing out of the social conditions. Their goal […]

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Paris Bibles

  The Burke Library’s resources include some wonderful examples of the first personal study Bible filled with innovations still in use today.  These precious volumes are not from the 19th-century, the Reformation, nor even the first days of the printing press, but are manuscripts from the medieval world, products of the end of the period […]

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Re-post: Exhibit on Islamic Science on Display at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library through March 2023

  This post is entirely devoted to the newest exhibit at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, featuring dozens of works from the Muslim World Manuscripts housed in the RBML and Burke Library collections. Head of Global Studies Kaoukab Chebaro wrote a terrific post for the Global Studies Blog which we are highlighting below. We […]

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Religious Communities in the Christian Tradition: a New Exhibit

  Three weeks ago, the staff of The Burke Library were delighted to welcome faculty, students, and staff from Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University to an opening reception marking the start of a new academic year. As part of the festivities, we were also very pleased to open a new exhibit on the first […]

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Gratian’s “Decretum” and the Foundations of Christian Legal Education

  The Burke Library’s new exhibit, “Gratian’s Decretum and the Foundations of Christian Legal Education,” explores the history and development of one of the most important legal texts of all time: Gratian’s Concordia discordantium canonum (“Harmony from Discordant Canons”) – or, more simply, the Decretum – a twelfth-century legal textbook designed to reconcile aspects of […]

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Looking Back & Looking Forward

As many will know, in September the Burke Library reopened its physical spaces and in-person services for affiliate students, faculty, and staff. It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back into the reading room, study spaces, and stacks. For the previous 17 months, though our physical facilities remained closed to patrons, the Burke staff continued to […]

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The Return of Special Collections at Burke!

  Earlier this Fall, The Burke Library proudly reopened its doors to the Columbia and Union communities after being closed for eighteen months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been wonderful to see so many new and returning friends use Burke’s study spaces, stacks, and general collections. Our staff is particularly proud to provide […]

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“Gebetsanliegen” in the Catalog: a Metadata Mystery

  Online catalogs make it possible to find specific materials from anywhere in the world— but what happens when an item doesn’t have its full title in its catalog metadata? (How would you find The Great Gatsby, if the title was just “The” in the catalog? You might try searching for terms like “Great” and […]

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Virtual Teaching with Rare Materials in the Era of COVID-19

Screenshot of presentation by librarians Jeffrey Wayno, Emily Runde, and Melina Moe

  Over the last year, much has changed at The Burke library. The era of COVID-19 has brought about a host of challenges, particularly the ongoing effort to connect students with our magnificent collection of rare materials. The Burke is currently closed to visitors, but manuscripts, rare books, and archival material are always richer and […]

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