The first students to reside on the Columbia campus on Morningside Heights were members of the 1895 Varsity Crew Team. Just months after acquiring the land and two years before classes even started on the new site, the crew team was granted permission to use a house on the Bloomingdale Asylum grounds as training quarters. […]
Category: Columbia University Archives
Remembering the College Tavern
As Columbia marks 125 years in Morningside Heights, we look back to the early days in the neighborhood, before the subway reached this part of the island and when Broadway was known as “The Boulevard” (and was still unpaved). Back “when everything was new and bare, Mike’s tavern furnished a cozy retreat.” […]
The Low Library in Shanghai
Did you know that there was another Low Library in Shanghai? That this library was similarly made possible by a gift from Seth Low (and his brother)? And that it was also closely connected to Columbia? […]
A President’s Degree and a Long-Lost Letter
As Columbia gets ready to host Commencement in person once again (May 18 for the Class of 2022 and May 19 for the Classes of 2020 and 2021) and in honor of Presidents’ Day, we look back to Commencement 1861. During the Commencement exercises in June 1861, Columbia President Charles King announced that the College […]
Mystery Solved: The Presidential Keys to the University
At each presidential inauguration ceremony at Columbia, the Chair of the Board of Trustees presents the new President with the charter and keys to the University. In 1993, President George Rupp was notably struck by the very large crown-topped keys. Today we reveal the origins of the presidential keys to the University. […]