Welcome to the start of Columbia’s 2018 summer session!
We recently processed a collection of Columbia Men’s Residence Hall Registers and Ledger Books. The registers served as a directory of residents for each of the earliest dorms on the Morningside campus. Organized by last name and first initial, the books list the room number, mail box number, check-in and check-out dates, and a forwarding address. The “office boys” kept these registers at the front desk to note when residents arrived, when keys were returned, as well as for handling deliveries and other requests. On the inside pages, the books include contact information for area hospitals, cab companies and messenger services.
In Summer 1929, Federico Garcia Lorca enrolled at Columbia University. He was talking class in English at the University Extension (now known as the School of General Studies). He can be found in the Furnald Hall register assigned to room 617 and mailbox 137. After the summer session, he gave his forwarding address as John Jay Hall.
In the 1929-1930 John Jay Hall register, Lorca moved in on September 21, 1929 to room 1231. He moved out by February 1, 1930 and gave a forwarding address of 542 West 112th Street. The forwarding address is for a building located on West 112th and Broadway, which advertised vacancies in the Columbia Daily Spectator, the student newspaper. In fact, there is an ad for “two finely furnished sunny corner rooms, with bath, in newly decorated apartment – 10 E” for $50 to $60 a month. While the apartment number is not clear in the register book, it could possibly be that 10 E from the listing. — Columbia University Archivists