In April 1897, the Spectator reported on the “two mysterious hemispheres” which had appeared in the entrance of the Library being built on Columbia’s soon-to-be new campus in Morningside Heights. First, the two halves were joined to form a globe. And then, this wooden sphere was hung from the ceiling and could cast a soft, […]
Tag: University Archives
A Little House with a Long History
As Columbia University nears 125 years in Morningside Heights, we look to the one building left on campus from the days of the Bloomingdale Asylum: Buell Hall. Here we offer a timeline in the long history of this small, free-standing, red-brick cottage in the middle of campus. […]
Making Holdings Available to Users: A Long-Standing Tradition
Since August 2020, the RBML’s Public Services staff has taken up the heroic task of making our collections available to remote users all over the world. In 12 months, they have scanned over 80,000 pages. Yes, that’s eighty and three zeros. They have carried on a tradition once headed by the pioneering Director of the […]
Columbia Olympians in the University Archives
With a long list of Lions participating at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the University Archives looked for past Columbia Olympic competitors. Here are the medal-worthy collections used to rediscover these great athletes. […]
How the Whitney M. Young, Jr. papers came to Columbia
The finding aid to the Whitney M. Young, Jr. papers, 1960-1977 was recently updated and improved. Fittingly, Columbia acquired this civil rights leader’s papers thanks to student activists protesting at the President’s House in the early 1970s. […]