Columbia University Archives: LGBT Student Groups

Archival collections are non-circulating and can only be viewed in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library's reading room (RBML). 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 schedule an appointment and request materials directly from the finding aid.

• John D. Cannon papers 1900-1984
  The collection consists of correspondence, memos, publications, reports, press clippings, press releases, sermons and speeches retained by the Rev. John D. Cannon, University Chaplain at Columbia University, 1966-1969. In the course of his tenure at Columbia, Rev. Cannon was considered a new breed of clergyman, whose liberal politics and theology fostered a strong orientation toward progressive social action. In this regard, he was closely identified with many campus protest organizations. Rev. Cannon supported the creation of the Student Homophile League, now the Columbia Queer Alliance, protested the Vietnam War and racial inequality.

  • You can learn more about Chaplain Cannon from this 2019 Columbia News profile by Gary Shapiro: "The LGBTQ Legacy of Former Columbia Chaplain John Dyson Cannon."

• Office of Multicultural Affairs records 1972-2017
  This collection consists of materials from the student activities on the Columbia campus sponsored by or supported by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. It includes fliers, posters, proposals, and handouts. There are also materials related to Stephen Donaldson and the dedication of the namesake Lounge.

• The Historical Photograph Collection is our largest collection of images and includes portraits of individuals (ca. 34,000 items), images of buildings and grounds (ca. 12,000 items), various university events, student activities and student life, athletics, academics, university symbols, university administration, and campus activity during WWI and WWII. Series XI: Student Activities and Student Life contains images of Columbia student clubs, fraternities, performing groups, publications and student traditions from the 1890s to the 1970s. Search the finding aid for keywords and you can find, for example, the Student Homophile League, ca. 1970s (Box 196)

There are a number of publications which have been digitized and are now easily searchable online.

• Columbia Daily Spectator
  You can search the issues of the student newspaper, either by date or by keyword, by visiting the Columbia Spectator Digital Archive. The paper provides articles, opinion pieces and even cartoons to give you a sense of the LGBT issues on campus during the publication's long run (1877 to the present).

• Columbia University Record Archive
  Beginning as the University Record (September 1973-May 1975) and continuing to this day as the Columbia University Record (July 1975-present), this important university-wide publication, now scanned and fully searchable, is an incredibly rich resource of past Columbia activities, events, scientific research, trustee and faculty appointments, awards and honors, libraries news, departmental achievements, budget and financial reporting, faculty and staff updates, as well as containing informative profiles of campus personalities from 1973 to June 2016.

• Columbia College Today
  The College's alumni magazine has been scanned and it offers yet another perspective of events on campus: not the student paper, not the University paper, but one aimed at former students. Here you will find articles on "The Homosexual Controversy" (about the establishment of the Homophile League, Fall 1967), "Gay Liberation" (about the Gay People at Columbia student group, Summer 1971); "A Place to Relax?" (about the Gay Student Lounge in Furnald Hall, Winter 1972). Here you can find an index to the full run of the magazine (still in production) and links to the digitized issues. 

• RBML News
  The News blog from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library regularly publishes articles about the materials in our collections. For example, there is a piece on the history if the first LGBTQ student lounge on a college campus (here at Columbia). This blog is a great way to learn about the archival collections at Columbia and how they can be used. Earl Hall at Columbia University was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, following its nomination by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project and in recognition of Earl Hall as a venue for meetings and dances of the Student Homophile League, the first gay student organization in the country. Professor Andrew Dolkart conducted some of his research here in the University Archives collections in support of the application.

• Stonewall and Beyond: Lesbian and Gay Culture
  This online exhibition was created in 2004 by Stephen P. Davis with the assistance of Robin Dale, Dave Roberts and Jeffrey Busch. Based on a physical exhibition originally on display from May 25 to September 17, 1994 at Columbia University's Butler Library, it was drawn from the collections of Columbia Libraries as well as from the private libraries of the guest curators. The original display was planned to coincide with "Stonewall 25," the international celebration of the 25th anniversary of the U.S. gay and lesbian civil rights movement, held in New York City in June 1994.

  Case 11 of this online exhibition is about the Lesbian and Gay Studies Group at Columbia.

• Columbia AIDS Memorial
  Originally exhibited as Case 12 of the Stonewall 25 Exhibit (see above), this site has become a permanent memorial. Originally  maintained by GABLES-CU (Gay, Bisexual and Lesbian Faculty, Staff and Supporters at Columbia University), it is now under the auspices of Columbia University Libraries. The names in this list have been identified in obituaries, articles and by friends as Columbians who have died of AIDS.  The list surely reflects only a tiny percentage of Columbians overall who have died from the epidemic, which itself only a tiny percentage of those worldwide who have died of AIDS.

• Pride of Lions 
  In 2019, Columbia New celebrated LGBTQ history and scholarship from across the University with this site which collected news stories and profiles. For example, you can learn more about Chaplain John Cannon from this profile by Gary Shapiro: "The LGBTQ Legacy of Former Columbia Chaplain John Dyson Cannon." The site also includes links to more recent Columbia LGBTQ stories.