For the Fall 2022 semester, the LitHum reading list was expanded to include The Exultation of Inana by the Sumerian poet and high priestess Enheduanna, 2285-2250 BCE. Inscribed clay tablets from circa 1750 BCE with the text of this work are currently on display as part of the Morgan Library exhibition She Who Wrote: Enheduanna […]
Category: Columbia University Archives
When Physics and Classical Archaeology Converged
In 1895, at the memorial service for Augustus Chapman Merriam, Professor of Archaeology and Epigraphy, one of the speakers was Ogden Nicholas Rood, Professor of Physics. He started his remarks by stating: “One would suppose that there was no possible connection between archaeology and physics.” But both professors shared a commitment to scrupulous and deliberative […]
Federico García Lorca: #DormLife in 1929
What was Columbia dorm life like in the 1920s? To hear one student, the views from the dorm rooms are great, the food is plenty, but laundry is pricey. Federico García Lorca was a student at Columbia during the summer session and fall semester in 1929. In his letters home, he described his life on […]
Now Available | Thomas McGoey Papers
The Thomas A. McGoey papers have been processed and are available to users. Over a long career at Columbia, McGoey served as Director of Residence Halls and Dining Rooms, Business Manager, Vice President for Business, and Special Consultant to the President. He worked for 5 University Presidents and for more than 35 years. But before […]
Research at the RBML: Elisha Baker looks in to Columbia’s 19th-century real estate ventures
The Columbia Board of Trustees minutes offers a trove of information about the school’s financial and institutional history— and its long involvement in New York City real estate. Elisha Baker examined the Trustees records to suss how and why Columbia moved uptown to Morningside Heights: how did they decide what real estate to purchase? Whom […]