New Exhibition | Dynamic Archives: renaming and identifying collections – News from Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Why would an archivist change the name of a collection? That’s the central question behind a new RBML exhibit.

Ben Duncan (left) and Dick Chapman (right) in their Oxford finest. | Photo courtesy John Howard, personal collection

Dynamic Archives features examples of archival collections and materials whose naming, identifying and meaning have had to keep up with historical, social and political perspectives, as well as translation practices and epistemologies.

Letter from Dick Chapman to Ben Duncan, Greenwich Village, January 1957 | Ben Duncan and Dick Chapman Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library

letter donating cassettes to archive — Lippman letter donating oral history interviews with “retardation” experts | Leopold Lippmann Collection, formerly “The Retarded Children Collection”

Chinese red and cream envelope — Envelope from Cai Yuanpei addressed to Li Shuhua, June 10, 1936 | Shuhua Li papers, 1926-1972, contextual descriptions updated

To learn more about how archivists think through challenging questions in changing times, visit the RBML front desk area’s exhibition cases.

Related posts and collection information

Celeste Brewer, “The Ben Duncan and Dick Chapman Papers Come Out,” RBML News, 16 April 2018.
Shuhua Li papers, 1926-1972
Zhaohao Wu letters, 1923-1929
Ben Duncan and Dick Chapman papers, 1939-2000
Leopold Lippman oral history collection (unprocessed)

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