During the fall 2021 semester, the Harriman Institute (founded as the Russian Institute in 1946), celebrated the 75th Anniversary of its establishment. The oldest institute of its kind in North America, the Harriman has also played a key role in the development of Columbia’s library holdings in the vernacular languages of Eastern Europe and […]
Category: Global Studies
At Home in the World: an online conversation series bringing Area Studies librarians together
At Home in the World is an online conversation series that has brought together librarians from across various area studies groups to discuss topics of common interest. The organizers of the series programmed four events in the 2020-2021 school year that focused on the value of Area Studies Organizations, Open Access Initiatives, Ephemera Collections, and […]
Writing in Spanish and Portuguese among the Dutch: Jewish Sephardim in Amsterdam
In 1892, Temple Emanu-el, a Jewish Reform congregation in New York City, donated a collection of rare Judaica books and manuscripts to Columbia University. Richard James Horatio Gottheil, the son of Temple Emanu-el’s rabbi and Columbia’s newly established professor of Rabbinical Literature (his title would change many times over the next few decades) was instrumental […]
An Interview with Navid Zarrinnal, PhD student at MESAAS about the Muslim World Manuscript Project and his research: Disciplinary Education and the Beginning of Religious Optionality in Iran (1889-1934)
In the past week, I sat down with Navid Zarrinnal, PhD candidate and Dean’s Fellow, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asia, and African Studies (MESAAS), and asked him a few questions about Islamic manuscripts, his work with the Muslim World Manuscript project and his research. Welcome, Navid. Can you please introduce yourself, your field […]
Imagining the World: Unexplored Global Collections at Columbia: Online exhibit
The Global Studies Unit at the Columbia University Libraries has launched an online exhibit entitled: Imagining the World: Unexplored Global Collections at Columbia. This online exhibit is a reworked version of the physical exhibit put on display in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 2016. It reflects the depth and breadth of our global […]
The Hispanic Institute Between the Wars (Digital Exhibit)
In 1920 Federico de Onís along with other academics established the Hispanic Institute for Latin American & Iberian Cultures at Columbia University (initially named the Instituto de las Españas) with the intent to disseminate research on Iberian and Latin American cultures in all their manifestations and to promote academic and social events that showcase new […]
“People, Books & Archives in Pictures, 1903-2021: Resources for Russian/Soviet, East European & Eurasian Studies on the Heights.”
The year 2021 marks the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the Russian Institute–today’s Harriman Institute–at Columbia University. As part of the program connected with this important milestone, the Institute has organized a Harriman Atrium exhibit on the 12th floor of the International Affairs Building focused on the building of the library and archival collections […]
The Muslim World Manuscripts Project: “Listening to all the Echoes in the Garden”
On July 14th, a celebration event was held online to mark the completion of the Muslim World Manuscripts digitization project: Celebrating the Manuscripts of the Muslim World Project (2018-2021). Over the past three years, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Columbia University Libraries, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and a number of other Philadelphia partners […]
Architectural Preservation and Documentation, Human Rights, Memory and Trauma
During the last few weeks of the spring term of this most unusual year, I chatted with Banu Pekol, an AHDA (Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability) fellow at the Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights about her work with architectural history and human rights, and the role of architectural preservation and […]
Global Studies E-Resources & Library Guides at Columbia under COVID-19, Part 2
Part Two of a roundup on 2020-2021 Global Studies e-resources (digital collections and e-reference works) and library guides encompasses news on Jewish studies ; Latin America & Iberia ; and South & Southeast Asia. JEWISH STUDIES Michelle Margolis Chesner, Columbia’s Norman E. Alexander Librarian for Jewish Studies, reports the acquisition of two new collections […]