New finding aids: School of Social Work Records, 1898-circa 2000s, bulk circa 1930s-1980s “Records of one of the oldest schools of social work in the United States, founded in 1898 as the New York School of Philanthropy and affiliated with the Charity Organization Society of New York City. The school merged with Columbia University in […]
Category: Columbia University Archives
Spot the Differences: Columbia University campus view from 1903
Becky Chapin from the Geneva Historical Society recently shared this postcard with the University Archives. The postcard features a great shot of a very early Low Library and the Morningside campus. It also includes University President Nicholas Murray Butler’s signature and date, May 23, 1903. Look very carefully at the picture and see how many […]
New Exhibition | Insistent Change: Columbia’s Core Curriculum at 100
In 1919 Columbia instituted a course of study known as Contemporary Civilization. It grew out of a War Issues course offered during World War I. Every student was required to take the course in order to provide a forum to analyze and discuss primary texts relevant to contemporary problems. Insistent Change shows how the course […]
Dining with Homer: University Commons in 1919
The University Archives exhibition cube currently features some photographs of the University Commons, the on-campus dining room in the old University Hall located behind Low Library. The Commons had served as a highly-efficient cafeteria while the student-soldiers of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) were on campus in 1918-1919. With the end of World War I, […]
From the University Archives | Negotiations over Columbia’s MLK Memorial
When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated over 50 years ago this week, Columbia University responded as most other institutions did – with shock and grieving. Flags were set to fly at half-mast until after Dr. King’s funeral and President Kirk sent a telegram on April 5, 1968 to Dr. King’s widow expressing […]