Columbia University Archives: Course Descriptions
University Archives
Columbia University Archives
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Butler Library, 6th Floor
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027
Phone: (212) 854-3786
Fax: (212) 854-1365
E-mail: uarchives@columbia.edu
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Related Collections
Barnard College
The Barnard Archives and Special Collections serves as the final repository for the historical records of Barnard College, from its founding in 1889 to the present day. For more information, please contact archives@barnard.edu.
Health Sciences Library
The Archives and Special Collections at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library of Columbia University can help you find information about the schools of the Medical Center: College of Physicians & Surgeons, School of Nursing, College of Dental Medicine (formerly the School of Dental & Oral Surgery), Mailman School of Public Health, and the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences. For more information, please contact hslarchives@columbia.edu.
Course Descriptions
How to find course descriptions
In-Person Resources
Sometimes, when you are applying for graduate school or the patent bar, the institution requires a description of the courses you completed as a student at Columbia. This information is not included in your transcript, which is maintained by the Office of the Registrar. In these instances, the University Archives can provide you with the tools to find course descriptions and other curricular information.
The Bulletins of Information or Announcements contain the course information for each school or division. You can request to access a school or division's paper volumes at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) Reading Room using the Columbia University Bulletins finding aid.
How to request a Bulletin:
In order to use the University Archives collections at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML), visitors are required to register their own Special Collections Research Account before their 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 schedule an appointment and request materials directly from the Columbia University Bulletins finding aid.
There are additional schools, divisions and programs not included in this collection. This finding aid was created to facilitate access to the most requested volumes and also includes links to either the archived websites or the downloadable files for online access. If you cannot find the volume for the school or program you are interested in, please contact the University Archives at uarchives@columbia.edu.
Online Resources
Earlier Bulletins (1880s-1970s)
Very many bulletins have been scanned by other institutions and are available via HathiTrust. While the holdings are extensive, they are also not complete in two important ways. There are missing years and, within volumes, there are pages that are not accessible. For links to these scanned bulletins (arranged by school), please check check out the Online Bulletins page.
More Recent Bulletins (1970s-present)
Most schools, divisions and programs now publish their course information exclusively online. Some schools keep past course description information on their web sites:
- Columbia College Archived Bulletins - since 2011-2012
- Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science Previous Years' Bulletins - since 2005-2006
- Graduate School of Architecture and Architectural Planning (GSAPP) - from 1970-1971 to 2005, 2013-2014 to 2015-2016, and 2017-2018
- Teachers College (TC) - since 1999-2000 and earlier Bulletins can be found as part of Teachers College Digital Collections.
Web Archives (1997-present)
To access those years after the end of paper publication or to access information online, you will most likely need to search the web archives. The Columbia University Libraries have been capturing columbia.edu domain websites via the Archive-It service since June 2010 and have been able to add captures of our website going back as far as 1997. As schools moved course description information from annual published paper catalogues to online-only distribution, we have found that our web archiving efforts often provide the only publicly available access points to old, online course descriptions. However, if a school only posted online course descriptions in the CourseWorks system, that content has not been collected due to the secure nature of the site.
To learn how to access Columbia's web archives and/or to learn how to use the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, visit the Web Archives section in the University Archives website. If you still have questions or can’t find what you are seeking, please contact uarchives@columbia.edu.
About the image
Banner above names of Greek and Roman male authors at Butler Library with names of female authors: Sappho, Marie de France, Christine de Pizan, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Bronte, Dickinson, Woolf, 1989 (Scan #0627). Historical Photograph Collection, University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries. For more information on this project by Laura Brown GS 1989, look for the additional coverage in the Columbia Spectator Digital Archive.