#DisruptWikipedia for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 16 October 2019, Noon, School of Social Work Building, Room 401

Chinese Telegraphic Codebooks and Cryptography

by yh3112 on October 9, 2019

The Chinese codebooks were essential tools for encoding and decoding confidential messages in the age of telegraphic communication under the Chinese Nationalist governance. Messages exchanged between high level officials were often encoded to prevent information leaks. Unlike the codes in English, one might wonder how the Chinese encoded telegrams as its writing system is entirely logographic.

During the processing of the Li Zongren papers and the Wellington Koo papers, Chinese telegraphic code books were found in the collections. Since these individuals were prominent statesmen during the Republic of China period, one would be curious to know how were these codebooks utilized by and how these codebooks are different compared to other telegraphic codebooks.

: Cover page of Li Zongren Codebook

: Wellington Koo Codebook

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New from RBML’s Archivists | September 2019

by Columbia Rare Book & Manuscript Library on October 8, 2019

Newly Processed Collections

Patti LuPone papers
A collection of scrapbooks, scripts, sheet music, and photographs chronicling the career of the Tony award winning actress and singer Patti LuPone.

#Loveinaction OH Collection
“The interviews of the #LoveInAction oral history collection were taken to document narrators’ experiences in the Student Interracial Ministry and SIM’s impact on their lives. The Student Interracial Ministry was founded in 1960 at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Spurred by the civil rights movement, this student-run group strove to build greater understanding between people of diverse backgrounds by placing students in congregations to worship and live in different communities.”

Harriet Zuckerman papers
Correspondence, manuscripts, research files, drafts, memoranda, etc of the noted Columbia sociologist Harriet Zuckerman.

Manuel Ramos Otero papers

Manuel Ramos Otero

“Manuel Ramos Otero (1948-1990) is considered the first openly out homosexual writer from Puerto Rico. He resided in New York City for much of his adult life. In 1990, he returned to his hometown of Manatí, Puerto Rico, where he died of complications from HIV/AIDS. The collection includes personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks and notes, reviews, photographs, and newspaper clippings. These materials range in date from Otero’s infancy to his death, 1948-1990. There is also a small section of the collection that contains material related to Otero posthumously, which dates from 1990 to 2007.”

Paul Levitz papers
Paul Levitz is a comic book writer, editor and executive. Currently the writer of Legion of Super-Heroes and Adventure Comics. He has served as a writer, editor, vice president, executive vice president, president and publisher at DC Comics. Over 40 years of comics scripts and Fanzines from the 1960s and 1970s.

Columbia University historical recordings, 1902-1985
A collection of phonograph records, reels of audio tape recordings, and motion picture films recording a variety of Columbia University academic and extra-curricular activities and events such as lectures; speeches, some at award ceremonies; commencement; installation of Nicholas M. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower as presidents of the University; King George VI of England during his visit, 1939; speech of England’s Queen Mother, Elizabeth in 1954; homecoming; football, the band; academic and alumni conferences; and radio programs under the auspices of Columbia.

Maison Française records, 1930s-2000s
Founded in 1913, the Maison Française of Columbia University was the first French cultural center established on an American campus. This collection consists of photographs, correspondence, event materials, fundraising records, calendars, publicity materials, programs, newsletters, interviews, and records related to a renovation project. It includes two scrapbooks containing mostly photographs of events at the Maison Française, such as the visits of Edith Piaf, Jean-Paul Satre, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Boyer and Marcel Marceau.

Bard College Minutes, 1928-1944
This collection consists of the Board of Trustees and Faculty meeting minutes of St. Stephen’s College (1928-1935) and Bard College of Columbia University (1935-1944). In 1928, St. Stephen’s College, an undergraduate college of arts and sciences in Annandale-on-Hudson, was incorporated within the educational system of Columbia University as one of its colleges for undergraduates. In 1935, with former Columbia professor Donald Tewksbury as Dean, the College changed its name to Bard College of Columbia University, in honor of its founder, John Bard. In 1944, Bard opened its doors to women students and ended its association with Columbia.

Updated finding aids / collections

Virgil Thomson papers
There is now an online finding aid for the papers of music critic and composer Virgil Thomson.

Indusco Records
Oversize material in the Indusco Records is now fully described.

CFP: In Service to the New Nation: The Life and Legacy of John Jay

by Robb Haberman, Associate Editor, The Papers of John Jay on October 7, 2019

The John Jay Papers Project seeks paper proposals for a conference entitled “In Service to the New Nation: The Life and Legacy of John Jay,” to be held on September 24-25, 2020, at Columbia University. Dr. Joanne Freeman, Professor of American History at Yale University, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker. The conference coincides with a major exhibition of Jay documents and artifacts at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) and with the completion of The Selected Papers of John Jay, a documentary edition of Jay’s writings that appears as a seven-volume series published in print and digital formats. The current edition of the John Jay Papers Project commenced in the 1990s and built on the extensive collection of John Jay materials that RBML began amassing several decades earlier. The conference is sponsored by Columbia University’s Office of the Provost.

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Contest | Playing with A Full Deck – design your own playing card!

by Kimberly Springer on October 7, 2019

Playing with a Full Deck is a competition for the most creative re-imagining of the standard playing card deck.

The competition accompanies the Columbia University Libraries’ Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibition, Mirror of Humanity: Seeing Ourselves in Playing Cards.

The Columbia University community is invited to create a new playing card design. The contest invites thinking across academic subject areas, while also encouraging play and creativity. Contestants are asked to think beyond typical boundaries when imagining the playing deck of today and the future.

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Play Ball! Columbia Football and the New York Yankees

by Jocelyn Wilk on September 30, 2019

With the New York Yankees about to begin another playoff run, we just had to take this opportunity to highlight some interesting intersections between Columbia Football and the Yankees.

Lou Gehrig playing football for Columbia, 1921-1922

In the current Columbia Football exhibition, “Roar, Lion, Roar,” we highlight former Columbia Lion Lou Gehrig (CC 1925). Gehrig played freshmen football in the fall of 1921 and joined the varsity squad in fall of 1922. After playing baseball in the spring of 1923, Gehrig signed with the New York Yankees in the summer of 1923.

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Championing the Causes of Chinese Americans: The William Yukon Chang Papers

by Thai Jones on September 23, 2019

By Hong Deng Gao

This month, on September 4, William Yukon Chang (鄭玉安), died at the age of 103. Born in Honolulu in 1916, Chang earned a B.A. in Journalism from St. John’s University, Shanghai. In 1947, he left his job as the editor and columnist of The China Press, a daily English-language newspaper, in Shanghai, and moved to New York City.

From 1955 to 1972, he almost singlehandedly wrote, edited, and published the Chinese-American Times (CAT), a monthly English-language newspaper that drew the world’s attention to what was going on in New York’s Chinatown. The newspaper also provided a venue through which Chinese American communities everywhere — from Maryland to Tennessee, from Oregon to Vancouver — could read and write about their own lives.

A typical front page of the Chinese-American Times.

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s recently acquired William Yukon Chang Papers contains a variety of rich materials on Chang’s extraordinary life and career. Chang’s grandparents emigrated to Honolulu from China. His family prospered from raising coffee and running a grocery store. They sent Chang to attend college in Shanghai after he had graduated from McKinley High School in Honolulu. Just before the Communist takeover, Chang left his job at The China Press and hitched a flight to the U.S. En route through Minnesota with an American friend, Chang met Tang Kou Mei (湯國梅), the first daughter of the Nationalist general Tang Enbo (湯恩伯) and an exchange student at St Mary’s College, Winona. The two got married in 1952 and raised three daughters, Dallas, Marina and Priscilla. Continue reading →

EVENT: Roar, Lion, Roar: Panel Discussion & Reception, Thursday 10/17, 6pm

by Jocelyn Wilk on September 18, 2019

To mark the official opening of “Roar, Lion Roar: A Celebration of Columbia Football,” an exhibit in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library’s Chang Octagon, a moderated panel will discuss the arc of Columbia football from its inception in 1870 to present day. The discussion is being held in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the establishment of College Football, and panelists will include former Columbia players and staff.

Organized by the University Archives, the event starts with the panel discussion in Butler 203 at 6pm and will end with a reception in the RBML on the Library’s sixth floor, where panelists and audience members can view the exhibit.

Registration is required and can be done by clicking here.

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ROAR, LION, ROAR: A CELEBRATION OF COLUMBIA FOOTBALL

Focusing on players, coaches, playing fields, and the games won and lost, this exhibition traces the arc of Columbia’s football program from its inception in 1870 to the present day. As one of the oldest college programs in the country, Columbia Football has a rich and fascinating history which the University Archives is delighted to share and celebrate through this display of historical materials from our collection.

EVENT: “¡Actívate! Activism + Representation in Latinx Comics”–Thursday, 9/19, 6 pm

by Karen Green on September 12, 2019

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Comics@Columbia will host a panel discussion on the history of Latinx-American comics, and the roles that activism and representation have taken in them.

Cartoonist and CUNY professor Sara Gómez Woolley will moderate the conversation with comics artists Sandy Jimenez (World War 3 Illustrated) and Nicole Virella (City of bones), along with comics writers Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez (La Borinqueña) and Julian Voloj (Ghetto Brother). The event is co-sponsored by Be’chol Lashon.

The event will be held on Thursday, September 19, at 6 pm, in Butler Library room 523. A reception and signing will follow. Click here to register for this event. Continue reading →