Columbia University Archives: 49th Street Campus

Faculty Papers

Below is a selection of archival collections or personal papers of professors who were part of the midtown campus.  Archival collections are non-circulating and can only be viewed in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reading room (RBML). You can find a more complete list of the Faculty Papers, organized by department or discipline, in the Faculty Search research guide.

• John W. Burgess, Professor of Political Science and founder of the Faculty of Political Science (now part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences).
• Charles F. Chandler, Professor of Chemistry and first Dean of the School of Mines (now the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences).
• Thomas Egleston, Professor of Metallurgy and a founder of the School of Mines (now the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences).
• Henry Smith Munroe, Professor of Mining
• Ogden N. Rood, Professor of Physics
• Edwin R.A. Seligman, Professor of Economics
• Munroe Smith, Professor of Law and History
• J. Howard Van Amringe, Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Columbia College

In order to use the University Archives collections at the RBML, you will be required to register your own Special Collections Research Account before your visit and to validate the account in person with government-issued photo identification or Columbia ID card. Once you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to request materials directly from the finding aid: click the check box located on the right for the box(es) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list document and click “Submit Request” button in the red-rimmed box at top. This should lead you directly to your Special Collections Research Account to complete the request form.

For more information on how to access our collections, check out our Research & Access website. If you have any questions about how to find materials or how to access materials, please contact uarchives@columbia.edu.

Course Work

Below are collections that include materials produced by students on the 49th Street campus.

• Columbia College A.B. Theses Collection, 1878-1905
  This collection consists of the undergraduate theses admitted for graduation by students of Columbia College from 1878 to 1905. A thesis or essay was required of all graduating seniors in order to receive a diploma until 1905. Of particular note is the 1887 thesis submitted by Mary Parsons Hankey, who enrolled in Columbia's Collegiate Course for Women, and was the first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Columbia College.

• Alumni Class Records
  The Alumni Class records are made up of two types of records: those from the students' college days and those from their time as alumni. The first type of records includes class day programs, menus, minutes, dance cards, invitations, chapel attendance rosters, college acceptance letters, class schedules, etc. The second type is mostly reunion programs, menus, invitations, minutes, newsletters, necrologies, directories, class histories, and the correspondence kept by class secretaries. There are clippings from student publications (Columbian yearbook, Acta Columbiana and Spectator newspaper) but also from the alumni magazine and newspapers. Clippings can be loose or collected in scrapbooks. Some classes are much better documented than others. Materials are organized by class year.

• Columbiana Manuscripts
  This is a wide-ranging collection but it has a wealth of materials from the late 19th century. There are mineral catalogues or specimen inventories, but there are also lecture notes, letterbooks and individual correspondence, student clubs or activities records, and diaries, both original and copied excerpts.  

• Lecture notes collection
  This collection contains student notebooks and other course related materials. The majority of the students represented in the collection were students at the 49th Street campus. There are Arts or Columbia College, Mines and Law School students represented.

Student Publications

There are two kinds of student publications: those that feature students as individuals: biographical information and, sometimes, images. And there are those publications that feature students are writers: newspapers and literary magazines. Archival collections are non-circulating and can only be viewed in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reading room (RBML). 

Yearbooks

• Class Photograph Albums
  Before there were yearbooks, Columbia students would assemble class photograph albums: albums with photograph cards of the president, faculty members, and graduating students, for each year, from 1856 to 1890. The albums vary in size; the size of the photos may vary; and some photos include names, some include autographs, and some are unlabeled.
   
• Columbiad/Columbian and the Miner/the Engineer
  The earliest yearbooks published date back to the midtown campus (1865 for the School of Arts, 1878 for the School of Mines). A few of these have been digitized. You can find our yearbook holdings in the Yearbooks, Facebooks and Class Books finding aid.
   
• Class Histories
  A class history summarized the class's progress and adventures during their four years at Columbia. These are sometimes called class books, class histories, and even senior year books. Samuel A. Blatchford’s history of the Class of 1867 was the first to publish a class history. After 1867, the Class of 1871 and the Class of 1874 (both available online) revived the format. Not all classes have a dedicated volume; but some classes published multiple editions after reunion years. These volumes can also include student lists (e.g., student organization rosters), commencement speeches, class poems and songs, biographical sketches of individual class members, and, in some, photographs. Not all classes have a dedicated volume. For some classes, there are also the minute books kept by the class secretary, Class Day programs and invitations, class directories, reunion or anniversary editions, etc. 

Literary Works

• Cap & Gown and Acta Columbiana
  The first student literary publication was Cap & Gown, back when students wore caps and gowns to lectures. This monthly publication started in 1867 and included students’ takes on campus affairs and literary works. When the School of Mines joined the editorial board of the publication, the name was changed to Acta Columbiana in 1873. Paper issues are available at the University Archives.
   
• The Columbia Spectator
  The Columbia student newspapers started in 1877 and documents life in the 49th Street and Madison and the eventual move to Morningside Heights. The newspaper has been digitized and is easily searchable.
   
• The Blue and the White
  This student literary magazine ran from 1890 to 1893 and the issues are available online.
   
• The Columbia Literary Monthly  
  In 1893 the Columbia Literary Monthly made its first appearance. Issues have been digitized and available online. After the move uptown, this publication was renamed Morningside.
   
• University Quarterly
  This short-lived periodical collected stories from different colleges and universities in 1860-1861. There are pieces written by Columbia students (J.H. Van Amringe and Sigourney Knox) and faculty members. These issues have been digitized.

In order to use the University Archives collections at the RBML, you will be required to register your own Special Collections Research Account before your visit and to validate the account in person with government-issued photo identification or Columbia ID card. Once you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to request materials directly from the finding aid: click the check box located on the right for the box(es) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list document and click “Submit Request” button in the red-rimmed box at top. This should lead you directly to your Special Collections Research Account to complete the request form.

For more information on how to access our collections, check out our Research & Access website. If you have any questions about how to find materials or how to access materials, please contact uarchives@columbia.edu.

Alumni Recollections

The Columbia alumni from the old 49th Street campus made some valiant efforts to maintain their connections to each other and to their Alma Mater. Many of their recollections were printed in Columbia publications: the Columbia Alumni News and the Columbia University Quarterly. All of the articles below are available online.

1850s

• Messenger, Thomas H. (CC 1860). Anthon and Arsenic - Recollections of the Fifties. Columbia Alumni News, 15 January 1915, Vol. VI, 246-247.
• Trenor, Thomas (CC 1859). College Days of a Century Ago. Columbia Alumni News, 1 December 1916, Vol. VIII, 219-220.
• Van Amringe, J. Howard (CC 1860). Columbia College 1858-1864. Columbia University Bulletin. June 1897, 142-150.

1860s

• Fish, Stuyvesant (CC 1871). Alumni Luncheon Address. Columbia Alumni News, June-July 1921, Vol. XII, 528-532.
• Hooper, William Berrian (CC 1869). Columbia Half a Century Ago, Columbia Alumni News, 23 April 1915, Vol. VI, 556-559.
• Hooper, William Berrian (CC 1869). What the Students Did in the Sixties. Columbia Alumni News, 14 May 1915, Vol. VI, 613-617.
• King, Charles (CC 1865). When Van Am Was Torpedoed. Columbia Alumni News, 26 March 1915, Vol. VI, 473-477.
• Low, Seth (CC 1870). Columbia at Forty-Ninth Street. Columbia University Bulletin. June 1897, 137-141.
• Matthews, Brander (CC 1871). Undergraduate Days at Columbia. Columbia University Bulletin. June 1897, 150-153.
• Mitchell, Edward P. (CC 1869). Alumni Luncheon Address. Columbia Alumni News, July 1919, Vol. X, 1023-1025.
• Straus, Oscar Solomon (CC 1871). Glimpses of Columbia a Half Century Ago. Columbia Alumni News, 15 December 1922, Vol. XIV, 135-136.
• Van Amringe, J. Howard (CC 1860). Columbia College 1858-1864. Columbia University Bulletin. June 1897, 142-150.
• In 1917, the Columbia Alumni News invited alumni prior to 1870 to send in for publication any information about Columbia in the (Eighteen) Sixties.  The collected letters were published as part of Columbia in the Civil War: Reminiscences and Historical Details Recalled, Columbia Alumni News, 9 November 1917, Vol. IX, pages 155-160.

1870s

• Fish, Stuyvesant (CC 1871). Alumni Luncheon Address. Columbia Alumni News, June-July 1921, Vol. XII, 528-532.
• Gordon, William Seton (CC 1873). Recollections of an old grad. Columbia Alumni News, 26 April 1912, Vol. III, 544-548.
• Gordon, William Seton (CC 1873). On Being Educated – Some Notes from the Fifty-year Class. Columbia Alumni News, July 1923, Vol. XIV, 498-500.
• Gordon, William Seton (CC 1873). Columbia in the Seventies. Columbia Alumni News, 18 February 1927, Vol. XVIII, 363-365.
• Matthews, Brander (CC 1871). [Columbia] College in the Seventies. Columbia University Quarterly, March 191, Vol. XIX, 129-144.
• Straus, Oscar Solomon (CC 1871). Glimpses of Columbia a Half Century Ago. Columbia Alumni News, 15 December 1922, Vol. XIV, 135-136.

1880s

• Arrowsmith, Robert (CC 1882).  Antiquities—Rome and Forty-ninth Street. Columbia Alumni News, 30 January 1925, Vol. XVI, 223.
• Chew, John Marshall (CC 1883). Columbia in 1883. Columbia University Quarterly, September 1908, Vol. X, 462-466.
• Jackson, Abraham Valentine Williams (CC 1883). Voices that Called Eastward Ho! Columbia University Quarterly, June 1931, Vol. XXIII, 151-158.
• Pupin, Michael Idvorsky (CC 1883). An Immigrant Student at Columbia in 1879. Columbia Alumni News, 15 December 1922, Vol. XIV, 137-140.
• Young, Clarence (CC 1888).  Recollections of Columbia at 49th Street, written in March and September 1940. Dwight D. Miner papers on the history of Columbia University, Box 1. 

1890s

• Wade, Herbert Treadwell (CC 1893). Forty-Ninth Street in 1893. Morningside in 1918. Columbia Alumni News, 24 May 118, Vol. IX, 1029-1034.

Images & Drawings

• You can find photographs, drawings, and other reproductions in the Historical Photograph Collection. These includes photos of the buildings, neighborhood, interior, class photos on the grounds, and even the demolition of the old campus buildings. For more information on how to access photograph, please consult the Photographs research guide.
   
• Views of Columbia College: Madison and Park Avenues, 49th and 50th Streets. New York: Library Bureau, 1886
  This booklet contains photographs of the Columbia College buildings on Madison and Park Avenues between 49th and 50th Street. This was Columbia's second of its three homes. The photos include the exteriors of the buildings (Hamilton Hall, School of Mines) and some of the interiors (Library, Collections Building).
   
• The Buildings and Grounds Collection has some information about this campus and the buildings on 49th Street collected by Columbiana curators over the years. 
   
• Columbiana Manuscripts, 1572-1986
  See Item 55 of this collection, "Forty-Ninth Street Campus Plans of the Buildings of Columbia College by H.F.J. Porter, Superintendent, 1888." This is a collection of hand-drawn floor plans for the buildings on campus. 
   

• Charles Coolidge Haight architectural drawings and papers, 1874-1914
  At the Avery Drawings & Archives, you can find this collection of drawings and paper from the architect of the buildings on the 49th Street campus. Haight designed the School of Mines (1874) and the Library/Law School building (1883).

In order to use the University Archives collections at the RBML, you will be required to register your own Special Collections Research Account before your visit and to validate the account in person with government-issued photo identification or Columbia ID card. Once you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to request materials directly from the finding aid: click the check box located on the right for the box(es) you need, and then scroll back to the top of the container list document and click “Submit Request” button in the red-rimmed box at top. This should lead you directly to your Special Collections Research Account to complete the request form.

For more information on how to access our collections, check out our Research & Access website. If you have any questions about how to find materials or how to access materials, please contact uarchives@columbia.edu.