William H. Donald’s Account of the Xi’an Incident

The Xi’an Incident/西安事變 is also known as one of the most controversial historical events in 20th Century Chinese history. This event led to the united forces between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists in 1936 December prior to the all war against Japan aggression in China during WWII. In the midst of the incident, William […]

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Extras Between The Sheets

The work of archival and rare book processors is truly fascinating and never-ending. At RBML, we take great pleasure in exploring beyond the obvious and discovering curious and surprising artifacts left behind between pages and amidst letters for years, decades, and even centuries.  These treasures come in varying formats, subjects, and meanings, some of them […]

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Dan Talbot, a New Yorker and His Love for Independent Films and World Cinema

The Daniel Talbot papers are processed and the finding aid is now available. “I distribute and show films for a living–sometimes precariously. But when I ‘discover’ a new director, I want to sing out to everyone that something new has come along–a work of art that is fresh, different, exciting. The really good stuff makes […]

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Event | Intoxicating the Archive – Preserving Narcotic Heritage and including Marginalized Voices in Collections and Libraries

  “Intoxicating the Archive” critically explores how the memories and struggles of people who use drugs and those of other marginalized and/or activist groups in history are represented in archives, museums, and collective memory at large. While often being invisible at first, drug cultures have left traces in many archives and collections. However, finding and […]

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On Outdated and Harmful Language in Library of Congress Subject Headings

  Note: We always welcome corrections and other feedback on our finding aids. Please contact us at rbml@library.columbia.edu if you notice anything in a finding aid, including a subject heading, that needs attention. A colleague recently asked an excellent question:  why do the subject headings in our finding aids frequently use outdated terminology? It seems […]

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