The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library and the Friends of the Columbia Libraries are pleased to sponsor a lecture event "Celebrating the Andrew Alpern Collection of Drawing Instruments" next month with talks by Andrew Alpern, architectural historian and by James O'Gorman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Art, Wellesley. Mr. Alpern will describe an outstanding collection of early architectural drawing instruments that he recently donated to the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. Professor O'Gorman will address the significance of such instruments in his talk "Instruments, Books, Architects, and Portraits: Picturing an Emerging Profession." The event will take place on Thursday, November 4 at 6:00 p.m., in Room 523 of Butler Library, on Columbia's Morningside campus.
Andrew Alpern, an architect, architectural historian and attorney, is author of nine books and scores of articles on historic architecture of New York including Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History. James O'Gorman is Professor Emeritus of the History of American Art at Wellesley College and author of more than a dozen books on architecture and art history, including Connecticut Valley Vernacular: The Vanishing Landscape and Architecture of the New England Tobacco Fields. For more information about the Alpern Collection, please see https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/avery/alpern.html.
A reception and book signing will immediately follow the presentation. For more information regarding this event or to attend, please respond to cul-events@columbia.edu. To view a listing of events, visit: http://alumni-friends.library.columbia.edu
The Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library is one of the most comprehensive architecture and the fine arts library collections in the world. Avery collects a full range of primary and secondary sources for the advanced study of architecture, historic preservation, art history, decorative arts, city planning, real estate, and archaeology. The Library contains more than 550,000 volumes including more than 40,000 rare books. Avery’s Drawings and Archives collection includes 1.5 million architectural drawings and records. The Avery Library is home to the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, the only comprehensive American guide to the current literature of architecture and design. For more information, please visit: https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/avery.html.
Columbia University Libraries/Information Services is one of the top five academic research library systems in North America. The collections include over 10 million volumes, over 100,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, graphic and audio-visual materials. The services and collections are organized into 22 libraries and various academic technology centers. The Libraries employs more than 550 professional and support staff. The website of the Libraries is the gateway to its services and resources: library.columbia.edu.
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