Kevin Schlottmann, RBML’s head archivist, shares a selection of newly processed collections, updated finding aids, and materials reformatted to digital for use.

This month we feature the fruits of the Mellon-funded Audio and Moving Images initiative, a three-year project that officially concluded at the end of March.  There will be more content featured in the next couple of months, but below I share a set of newly digitized oral history collections that highlight the breadth and depth of interviews we steward.  As always, I also include below newly processed RBML collections and newly remediated finding aids.

Newly Digitized Oral History Collections

Washington Press Club women in journalism oral history collection, 1987-2006

The Washington Press Club Foundation women in journalism oral history collection documents the lives and careers of sixty-one women who made important contributions to journalism in the 20th century. The interviews were undertaken by the Washington Press Club Foundation and examined how the increased participation of women in the field of journalism changed the coverage of society. Interviewees worked in print and broadcast journalism.

Ronald Fraser student movements of 1968 oral history collection, 1984-1985

These interviews are Ronald Fraser’s contribution to the book 1968: A Student Generation in Revolt. They document the experiences of 1960s student activists in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

James Lawrence Fly project : oral history, 1967

Friends and associates recall James L. Fly (1898-1966), particularly his chairmanship of the Federal Communications Commission, 1939-44. The interviews were conducted by his daughter, Sally Fly Connell.

Japanese women project : oral history, 1982-1983

This project on the developing role of women in Japan before and since World War II centers on extended life histories of two notable Japanese women: Yukika Sōma and Makiko Yamamoto.

Abraham D. Beame Administration oral history collection, 1978-1980

The collection contains interviews conducted by Ruth D. Cowan on the administration of Abraham D. Beame, Mayor of New York City from 1974-1977.

Architecture project : oral history, 1949-1961

This material is drawn primarily from a 1961 program at Columbia University’s School of Architecture in celebration of the four great founders of contemporary architecture: Charles-Edouard Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Dag Hammerskjold project : oral history, 1962-1964

In these interviews, colleagues recall their association with United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, (1905-1961.)

Kirkland College project : oral history, 1977-1978

The interviews have been poetically described as, “The life and death of a small liberal arts college for women.”

They Are Their Own Gifts oral history collection, 1976-1978

The collection contains interviews with poet Muriel Rukeyser and choreographer Anna Sokolow that were used in the film They Are Their Own Gifts.

Newly Processed Collections

European 1968 Protest and Activism collection, 1967-1969

“Contains photographs and ephemera from the May 1968 student uprising in Paris, as well as material from the German 1968 student movement.”

Newly Created Finding Aids

Interviews from Paul Goodman Changed My Life (2011), 2004-2006

“Interviews from Paul Goodman Changed My Life (2011) contain 37 unedited, full-length interviews conducted between 2004-2006 with individuals, each of whom had an important connection to Paul Goodman at one point in their lives. The interviewees are from a range of fields, including Ned Rorem, Grace Paley, Noam Chomsky, Morris Dickstein, Richard Flacks, Sally, Susan and Daisy Goodman (Paul’s widow and two daughters), Vera Williams, Jacqueline Gourevitch, and Nicholas von Hoffman.”

Thomas Day Thacher Papers, 1917-1950

“Lawyer, judge, and in 1930-33 Solicitor General of the United States.”

Edmund Blunden papers, 1922-1986

“English poet and critic. Born November 1, 1896 and died January 20, 1974. A noted poet and scholar Blunden served in the Royal Sussex Regiment 1916-1919. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917.”

Herbert Wallace Schneider papers, 1923-1938

“Professor of philosophy at Columbia University, 1942-1958. Columbia University B.A., 1915; Ph.D., 1917.”

Soiuz Pazhei Records, 1830-1970

“Lists, subject files, photographs, etchings and printed materials relating to the Pazheskii Korpus (imperial Corps of Pages), a school for the sons of the Russian nobility founded in 1802, and the Soiuz Pazhei (Union of Pages), the emigré alumni organization founded in 1920.”

Frederick Lerner collection of Science Fiction Magazines, 1947-2008

“A collection of science fiction publications: Locus; Fantasy Book; Weird Tales; Science Fiction Chronicle; Realms of Fantasy; Science Fiction Age; Stardate; Starlog; Twilight Zone Magazine, etc.”

Nikolai Bukharin Collection, 1937

“Photograph (copy) of Nikolai Bukharin exhibited at the “Actors and Perpetrators” exhibition in the fall of 2017.Copy of a typescript of prison poems by Nikolai Bukharin “Preobrazhenie mira: stikhi o vekakh i liudiakh”, The Prison Manuscripts: Socialism and its Culture, a book by Nikolai Bukharin.”

Nataliia Valerianovna Usacheva Papers, 1890-1950

“Materials by A. N. Skriabin include: a brief letter to Usacheva; a poem he wrote to her; his autograph; piano exercises; and a brief composition. (All these appear to be in Skribin’s hand.) There are also clippings and a book (Aleknsandr Nikolaevich Skriabin, 195-1940: Sbornik k 25-letiiu so dnq smerti. M., L., 1940) about Skriabin. Also in the collection is a memoir by Usacheva about Usacheva’s second husband, Il’ia Gurliand, who was an assistant of Petr Stolypin and also a journalist. There are also two postcards from M. A. Maklakovoi to Usacheva, materials about V. A. Maklakov.”

Russian Freemasons in France Collection

“The collection is largely composed of Igor’ Krivoshein’s materials related to Freemasonry, including his manuscripts, personal documents, and printed materials. Also included are photographs and biographical materials, as well as materials relating more broadly to Russian Freemasonry.”

Stephen DeStefano Papers, 1982-2016

“Stephen DeStefano is a Queens-born comics and animation artist.”

Box list created for unprocessed collection

Nobert Guterman papers, 1920-1984

“This collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, notes and notebooks, printed reviews and photographs of Norbert Guterman (1900-1984), author and translator.”

Expanded description

A detailed name list was created for the correspondents in the alphabetized Amiri Baraka correspondence by one of our intrepid student workers.

Newly digitized AV content

Collections with newly digitized AV content include the Louis Ginsberg papers and the Herbert Lehman papers. More archival collections featuring digitized content will be featured in upcoming months.