Head Archivist Kevin Schlottmann shares collections newly opened by RBML archivists.

El Diario/La Prensa Photograph Morgue, 1970-2006
“El Diario/La Prensa is the largest and oldest Spanish-language daily
newspaper in New York City, and the oldest Spanish-language daily in
the United States. The El Diario/La Prensa Photograph Morgue contains
photographs and associated materials kept as reference, or morgue,
files by the newspaper’s staff. It documents events and personalities
significant to New York City’s Spanish-speaking communities between
approximately 1970 and 2006.”

Norman Witty Cinema Collection, 1917-2008
“A collection of rare periodicals, books, and printed ephemera on
topics related to cinema history, assembled by the cinema enthusiast
and rare book collector Norman Witty (1941-2013).”

Society for Classical Studies records, 1868-2018
The collection was confusingly numbered and had various accessions in
multiple places; the finding aid is now accurate and up-to-date.

Development Foundation of Turkey (DFT) collection 1966-2005
“DFT’s two-pronged approach with human resources deveopment and
technical assistance that developed a single coordinated system
covering income generation, promotion of technical and social skills,
awareness building about environmental protection, assistance for
sustainable management models, institutional development of
communities, and advocacy for the rural households could be of
interest to the Columbia Library Collection and may provide ample data
for researchers and students interested in achieving a better
understanding of the socio-economic development in rural Turkey since
1970s.”

Rita Raǐt-Kovaleva Correspondence, 1965-1981
A small amount of correspondence of Rita Rait-Kovaleva (1898-1989), a
prominent literary translator, with Sara Ginsburg and Lynn Visson.

The University Archives recently published two finding aids which will help researchers find Columbia College AB theses from 1878 to 1905 and Master’s Essays from the Department of History from 1971 to 1989.

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Moses receiving the Torah at Sinai (MS X893 J522, 7r)

The holiday of Shavu’ot is one of the lesser known holidays in the Jewish calendar.  It doesn’t involve obvious rituals, like eating flat crackers for a week, living in a hut in the backyard, blowing a ram’s horn, or fasting.  Shavu’ot celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, and is celebrated by Torah study and scholarship (among other things).  There is a common custom to stay up all night studying Torah (and its myriad commentaries).

There are many prayerbooks in our collection that are specific to Shavu’ot, and include selections of various parts of the Jewish canon, including the Hebrew Bible, the Mishna, and the Talmud.  The image above is taken from an illustrated volume of special prayers recited in the seven weeks between Passover and Shavu’ot.  It has been entirely digitized and is available online.

Because of the custom to stay up all night studying the sacred texts, various books were written specifically for the night of Shavu’ot.  The tiny text in the book on the right (magnified below, although still quite small) is the Tikun Lel Shavu’ot.  Its text is essentially an abridged version of the entire Jewish canon, including the first and last line of every section of the Hebrew Bible and the Mishna, as well as additional kabbalistic texts.  The word “tikun” means “reparation,” and according to mystical lore, reading this text on the night of Shavu’ot is an atonement for the Israelites sleeping late on the morning when Moses came down with the Tablets at Sinai. 

Another example of a book for Shavu’ot was the Azharot Le-Shavu’ot, which we have in many copies and formats.  The Azharot contain a poetic version of the 613 commandments, meant to be recited on Shavu’ot.  One particularly interesting Azharot, from Carpentras, in France, includes a story about “the miracle that occurred…when the Carpentras Jewish community was saved from harm after a troop of armed men entered within the walls. A special Purim was celebrated in Carpentras each [year] to commemorate this episode of 1512.”  Another Azharot in our collection is written in a Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) version.

As with many prayers, however, the special liturgy for Shavu’ot is often included in broader Mahazorim (prayerbooks) for special days throughout the year.  On the left is a Southern Italian Mahazor from the 15th century, open to the beginning of the section for Shavu’ot.  (This manuscript has been digitized in its entirety, and is available online.)

The Biblical book of Ruth is read during the morning service on Shavu’ot for various reasons.  Her conversion to and acceptance of Judaism is a parallel to the Israelites’ initial acceptance of the Torah at Sinai.  Additionally, her grandson, King David, was born and died on Shavu’ot.  Because Ruth’s collection of wheat from Boaz’s field ultimately led to her marriage, an image of Ruth with wheat is sometimes pictured on marriage contracts (ketubbot), like this one from Corfu, 1782.  (A digitized image of the entire ketubbah can be seen here)