News

Jul 6, 2022

News

A royal symbol persists beyond the American Revolution: The Columbia crown, an artifact from the University's origins as King's College, has evolved throughout the school's 250-year history.

May 25, 2022

News

The Columbia campus has a long history in Morningside Heights: the University built its first structure in the neighborhood in 1892, the Bloomingdale Observatory, near the southwest corner of Amsterdam Ave. and 118th St.

May 11, 2022

News

View artifacts from the University's former one-block campus on 49th St. in Midtown, where Columbia was located for 40 years prior to its current home in Morningside Heights.

Apr 27, 2022

News

When University President Lee C. Bollinger steps down from his role in 2023 and Columbia inaugurates its next president, the Benjamin Franklin chair from the Rare Book & Manuscript Library will make an appearance at the ceremony.

Apr 6, 2022

News

The first students to reside on the Columbia campus in Morningside Heights were members of the 1895 varsity crew team, who were granted permission to use the former Bloomingdale Asylum grounds as training quarters.

Mar 9, 2022

News

University archivists reveal a second Low Library in Shanghai, China, at St. John's University, similarly made possible by a gift from former University President Seth Low and closely connected to Columbia.

Feb 17, 2022

News

To mark the return of in-person Commencement ceremonies, University archivists recall Commencements past, including the 1861 proceedings during which President Abraham Lincoln was awarded an honorary degree.

Feb 9, 2022

News

Archivists reveal the origins of the presidential keys to the University, which are presented to incoming Columbia presidents by the Chair of the Board of Trustees at each presidential inauguration ceremony.

Jan 26, 2022

News

Records from former Emeritus Professor of Economics Carl Shoup, including correspondence and photographs, offer a personal account of the Shoup Tax Mission to Japan in 1949-1950 and its ongoing legacy.

Jan 12, 2022

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University archivists share a small collection of notebooks, essays, and exam books from John Purroy Mitchel, CC 1899, who was a part of the second class to graduate from the University's Morningside Heights campus.

Dec 15, 2021

News

University archivists share an attendance ledger for daily chapel service, which was required to be "constantly performed" by the King's College charter. The ledger was kept by College janitor Stephen R. Weeks and dates to 1847-1854.

Dec 1, 2021

News

Records from the Department of Classics at Columbia document the long, storied history of the department through faculty meeting minutes that date to 1903, completed dissertations, and other archival materials.

Oct 26, 2021

News

As the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves meet in the 2021 World Series, University archivists look to past World Series greats and their connections to Columbia, including New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio.

Oct 20, 2021

News

With the return of Columbia's Clean & Go Green program, a campus-wide recycling drive that will take place in early December, University archivists offer advice to prepare archives and office records for recycling.

Oct 6, 2021

News

Moonlight inside the library: When Low Library opened in 1897, visitors enjoyed magical, artificial moonlight shows on Friday evenings, courtesy of a wooden sphere hung from the domed ceiling over the Rotunda reading room.

Sep 15, 2021

News

As Columbia University nears 125 years in Morningside Heights, University archivists look to the only building left on campus from its time as the Bloomingdale Asylum: Buell Hall.

Aug 31, 2021

News

Public Services staff in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library carry on a long-standing tradition of making the library's holdings available to patrons, a service once headed by the pioneering Dr. Mary A. Bennett.

Aug 2, 2021

News

With a roster of Columbia Lions participating in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, archivists showcase past Olympic competitors from medal-worthy collections in the University Archives.

Jul 23, 2021

News

University archivists recount how protests among student activists on campus inspired Margaret B. Young, widow of civil rights leader Whitney M. Young, to donate her late husband's papers to Columbia.

Jul 13, 2021

News

The University Archives shares photos from renowned photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, who took her first class in photography at Columbia in 1922 and whose work is now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jun 30, 2021

News

As Columbia prepares to return to "normal University life," according to the Office of the President, the University Archives offers a series of recommendations to transition offices and records back to campus.

Jun 23, 2021

News

Fifty years ago, in 1971, Columbia established the first LGBTQ student lounge on a college campus in Furnald Hall, a safe space for the gay community at the University.

Jun 15, 2021

News

To celebrate National Immigrant Heritage Month, the University Archives remembers Michael Pupin, or Mihajlo Idvorsky Pupin, CC 1883, University faculty member and inventor of coils to facilitate long-distance telephone calls.

Jun 9, 2021

News

The diaries of Hannah Maria Denning Duer, wife of Columbia College’s fifth president, William Alexander Duer, date from January 1838 to June 1862 and detail her time in College Hall on Park Place, the original home of King's College.

News

A Royal Symbol Persists Beyond the Revolution

Stargazing at the Bloomingdale Observatory

Before Morningside Heights: Columbia’s Second Home

The Benjamin Franklin Chair’s Big Day Out

A Dorm for Crew on “Cathedral Heights”

The Low Library in Shanghai

A President’s Degree and a Long-Lost Letter

Mystery Solved: The Presidential Keys to the University

Now Available | Shoup Tax Mission to Japan Records

Now Available | John Purroy Mitchel Papers

Mr. Weeks' Chapel Attendance Book

Now Available | Department of Classics Records

Play Ball | World Series Winners at Columbia

Clean & Go Green: Preparing Your Records for the Shredding Event

Moonlight Inside the Library

A Little House with a Long History

Making Holdings Available to Users: A Long-Standing Tradition

Columbia Olympians in the University Archives

How the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Papers Came to Columbia

Bourke-White at Columbia

Return to Campus: Records Management Considerations

A Safe Space Turns 50

From Immigrant to Inventor

Mrs. Duer’s Diaries

News

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A Royal Symbol Persists Beyond the Revolution

Stargazing at the Bloomingdale Observatory

Before Morningside Heights: Columbia’s Second Home

The Benjamin Franklin Chair’s Big Day Out

A Dorm for Crew on “Cathedral Heights”

The Low Library in Shanghai

A President’s Degree and a Long-Lost Letter

Mystery Solved: The Presidential Keys to the University

Now Available | Shoup Tax Mission to Japan Records

Now Available | John Purroy Mitchel Papers

Mr. Weeks' Chapel Attendance Book

Now Available | Department of Classics Records

Play Ball | World Series Winners at Columbia

Clean & Go Green: Preparing Your Records for the Shredding Event

Moonlight Inside the Library

A Little House with a Long History

Making Holdings Available to Users: A Long-Standing Tradition

Columbia Olympians in the University Archives

How the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Papers Came to Columbia

Bourke-White at Columbia

Return to Campus: Records Management Considerations

A Safe Space Turns 50

From Immigrant to Inventor

Mrs. Duer’s Diaries