New from RBML’s Archivists | August 2019

rows of archival boxes in a white room
Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

Head Archivist Kevin Schlottmann shares collections newly opened or updated by RBML’s Archivists.

New finding aids

Yehudah Joffe papers, 1893-1966, bulk 1920-1945
“The collection consists of Joffe’s correspondence, manuscripts/notes, and newspaper clippings. Joffe’s correspondence in Yiddish in English is both personal and professional, covering communication with institutions he was working at or hoping to work at. Joffe’s manuscripts contain drafts for lectures and notes on university seminars and lectures he attended under Prof. Roman Jakobson and others. Joffe’s newspaper clippings contain a selection of clippings relating to Prof. Peck, his undergraduate advisor, and miscellaneous clippings.

Agudath Israel Records, 1933-2008, bulk 1940-1947
” This collection consists of autograph signed letters, typed signed letters, postcards, telegrams, printed material, programs, newspaper clippings, and written public announcements pertaining to the Agudath Israel movement in America, Eretz Israel/Palestine, and Lithuania. Most materials are dated during the 1940s (wake of WWII). Most letters are addressed to Rabbi Aaron Ben Zion Shurin. The materials are mainly in Hebrew and English with some in Yiddish. Most materials concern the role of Orthodox Jewry in the wake of the Holocaust.”

Andrew Alpern Collection of Edward Gorey Materials
“A collection of original artwork, published books, printed ephemera, and branded merchandise by the writer and artist Edward Gorey (1925-2000), assembled by Andrew Alpern.”

Peter Gay Papers
Finding aid was put online from a PDF.
“Gay was Professor of History at Columbia University, 1962-1968.”

Paul Bowles Papers
Finding aid online in preparation for digitization

Copyright Advisory Office (CAO) records, 2008-2013
“Columbia University Libraries Copyright Advisory Office was established in 2008 as a means of addressing issues surrounding the use of scholarly materials by faculty and students in the course of research, teaching and communicating scholarship. It was the first such office in the Ivy League. This collection consists of the records of its first director, Kenneth D. Crews.”

Summer Session records, 1898-1940
“Columbia offered its first summer session in 1900 with 29 courses and 417 registered students, under the guidance of Director of Summer Session Nicholas Murray Butler. The following year, 1901, Columbia offered 43 courses to 581 students. In 1904, the Summer Session was granted permanent status (no longer needing the yearly Trustee renewal) and it was formally incorporated into the University statutes. This collection contains the 1898 correspondence from faculty members telling President Seth Low whether or not they would be interested in offering classes during the summer as well as other administrative records of the Summer Session.”

Finding aids with significant additions

Sid Ramin Papers
“Sid Ramin was a composer, conductor, and arranger for Broadway and Hollywood musicals and for television shows, including All My Children, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Gypsy, and West Side Story.”

Opened collections

Alvin and Heidi Toffler papers
Boxes 1-83 were closed; all restrictions removed
“Correspondence, telephone logs, lecture/administrative files, manuscripts, research files, personal papers, reviews, press clippings, tearsheets, and memorabilia relating to the many projects futurists Toffler and his wife worked on from 1950 to 1985.”

Updated finding aid

The Leah Salisbury Collection
Box numbers added for the cataloged correspondence and manuscripts