Kevin Schlottmann, RBML’s head archivist, shares these updates about finding aids that our archivist and collections management specialists converted from scanned PDF documents to more accessible digital use. The materials described offer a glimpse into the broad and deep collections that the RBML stewards. Also highlighted are examples of the other archival processing work, such […]
Category: Columbia University Archives
The Malleable Academic Calendar: Then and Now
The 2020-2021 academic calendar includes some changes adopted to address the COVID-19 outbreak. This is not the first time that Columbia’s class schedules have yielded to health and national emergencies. […]
News from RBML’s Archivists | May and June 2020
Columbia University Libraries (CUL) remain closed until further notice to aid in the containment of COVID-19. While unable to physically process materials, RBML’s archivists are working on offsite locations to update finding aids and create greater accessibility for our collections. Here, Head Archivist Kevin Schlottmann shares these updates. Please be safe, wear your mask and […]
The First Summer Session in 1900
Since the 1870s, the School of Mines had regularly offered summer instruction in geodesy, geology, mining and metallurgy. But on July 2, 1900, the University opened its doors for a new term, the Summer Session, with courses in a wide range of disciplines — botany, education, English, geography, history, etc. — and taught by Columbia […]
Anti-Racist and Black Liberation Archives in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The extrajudicial murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which followed the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and coincided with a global pandemic that has taken disproportionate toll on African Americans, reveals that systemic racism is a life or death matter–for the millions of people who suffer its effects, and for a nation that purports […]