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
Map | Hours | Directions
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.
To start your research into Columbia student life, here are the most frequently consulted sources:
These collections are only available in person at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) reading room.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 the materials directly from the finding aids.
The Columbia Jester was the student humor magazine established in 1901. The publication has been printed mostly continuously through 1997 and was revived in 2001 and again in 2005. The March 1912 issue was digitized as part of the Seymour B. Durst Old York Library collection at the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. A mostly complete run of the paper copies (with links to digital issues) is available at the University Archives.
The Blue and White, Columbia's undergraduate magazine, originally ran from 1890 to 1893. These early issues have been digitized for preservation.
Publication resumed in 1998 and the Blue and White Archive provides access to digitized copies from 1998 to 2013. To see content from 2014 to the current issues and podcasts, please visit the magazine's website.
Paper copies of the publications 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, researchers 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 finding aid.
There are dedicated research guides for the LGBT student groups, Varsity Show, and the 1968 student strike.
Historical Subject Files
This collection consists of clippings, press releases, programs, and other printed matter compiled over the years by curators of the Columbiana Collection and staff of the University Archives. The files contain an assortment of information on numerous topics related to Columbia University history and are a very good reference source and starting point for research on many areas of Columbia's past. Look for the series on Athletics, Demonstrations, Publications, Social Issues, Student Life, and Women at Columbia.
Columbiana Manuscripts
This collection consists of a wide range of documents but student groups are well represented. You can find minutes, rosters, correspondence and constitutions of various student clubs including the Bicycle Club, Shakespeare Club, Romance Club, Dramatic Club, Debating Society, Glee Club musical scores and materials related to the Philolexian and Peithologian Societies.
Columbia University Committee on Student Organizations records, 1905-1919
The collection consists mostly of correspondence as well as constitutions, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, and request forms, generated by the Committee from 1905 to 1919. Correspondence relates to general administrative matters including eligibility requirements, governance of the Committee, correspondence with student organizations regarding eligibility of members as well as filing of eligibility blanks maintained by the Committee.
Central Files (Office of the President records) is a great source to investigate the changing nature of student activities and student relations with the administration, and how student organizations reflect upon the University. Between 1900 and the 1940s in particular, Columbia sought ways to centralize the administration of nonacademic services. Look for Frederick Goetz (who served as comptroller to student organizations); King’s Crown (the alumni body which oversaw the budgets of certain student organizations); the Committee on Student Organizations (which wrote regulations governing the selection of speakers by student organization); and the Registrar (all student organizations needed to complete a form with the purpose and membership of the organization, forms from 1940-1962 are in boxes 568-570).
While many campus groups records can be found in the Historical Subject Files, here are some collections of records from specific student activities on campus:
Archival collections are only accessible in person at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) reading room.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 finding aid.
These collections of former student papers and letters are only available in person at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) reading room.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 finding aid.
These collections of former student notes and course work are only available in person at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) reading room.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 finding aid.
Frederick Alfred Wurzbach Jr. papers, 1913-1919 – This collection consists of Wurzbach's notebooks, lab books, exams, essays, grade reports and lecture notes as an undergraduate student at Columbia College. (CC 1917)
John Purroy Mitchel papers, 1870s-1900s – This collections consists of John Purroy Mitchel's college papers, notebooks, essays and exam books. There are also penmanship handbook and exercise books. (CC 1899)
Kevin M. O'Connor Student Life Collection, 1988-2022 – This collections includes Fliers, printed matter, clippings, programs, correspondence, artifacts, and A/V content documenting the student experiences of Kevin M. O'Connor and his friends between 1988 and 1992. Content includes materials related to life in his suite dubbed the Existential Despair Suite (EDS), events at the Postcrypt Art Gallery and Coffeehouse housed in the basement of St. Paul's Chapel, and the Columbia Outdoor Orientation Program (COOP).
Howard Stoner Course Materials Collection, 1994-2017 – This collection contains syllabi, hand-outs, and other teaching materials collected by Howard Stoner, a New York City-based advertising executive who audited over 70 courses at Columbia and Barnard between 1994 and 2017.
To start your research into dormitory life at Columbia:
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. OOnce you have created your Special Collections Research Account, you will be able to schedule an appointment and request materials directly from the finding aid.
Postcard of the Alma Mater statue, circa 1915-1930. (Scan #4737) Will Csaplar Postcard Collection, University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.