News

Oct 13, 2026

News

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquires the archive of David Jacobs, a writer, theorist, and activist whose personal papers illuminate the Bay Area counterculture network of the 1970s as co-creator of Point Blank!, a group heavily influenced by Situationist ideology.

Oct 12, 2026

News

"The Odyssey in Books," a pop-up exhibition on October 15, invites viewers to explore how "The Odyssey" has been reimagined over millennia through materials that range from papyrus fragments of the poem to modern works inspired by the epic.

Oct 9, 2026

News

Abigail Edwards (CC’26) shares her work to process and make accessible the Hunt-Berol Sheet Music Collection, a "rich trove" of music published between the 18th and 20th centuries that was donated to Columbia in 1961 by collector and musician Arthur Billings Hunt.

Oct 6, 2026

News

University archivists share the history behind several stunning pieces of ironwork on the Morningside campus by master blacksmith Samuel Yellin, including the Class of 1888 gates that once stood 119th St. and Amsterdam Ave.

Sep 30, 2026

In the media

Displaying the gems of Jester: Columbia College Today highlights "artwork from a golden age of Columbia’s renowned humor magazine," which is on display in "Drawn by a Columbian," an exhibition in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Sep 29, 2026

News

Laura Berrios Figueroa (GSAS’28), a participant in the Graduate Student Internship Program in Primary Sources, details her work to process the papers of Dolores Prida, a Cuban-born playwright and self-described theater worker, journalist, and poet, among many other roles.

Sep 24, 2026

In the media

Columbia News profiles "Drawn by a Columbian," an exhibition on view at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library that showcases the work and artistic legacies of several well-known cartoonists and artists who began as illustrators for University student publications.

Sep 23, 2026

News

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library Curatorial Shorts series features conversations about new acquisitions, research findings, and other library news. Upcoming offerings include a discussion of processing the Toni Morrison editorial files in the Random House records by Processing Archivist Celeste Brewer.

Sep 21, 2026

In the media

Columbia College Today highlights Edward Koren ('57CC), a longtime contributor to the New Yorker whose work is now featured in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibit, "Drawn by a Columbian," among other well-known artists who began their careers at Columbia.

Sep 16, 2026

In the media

Director of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library Courtney Chartier and former Curator for Performing Arts Jennifer B. Lee delve into the impressive archives of actress and singer Patti LuPone and author, playwright, and screenwriter Tony Kushner with Columbia News.

Sep 4, 2026

News

As one of the oldest institutional oral history collections in the US, the Oral History Archives at Columbia (OHAC) has many resources to help you understand, access, and engage with the range of oral history methods and primary sources available to the Columbia community.

Aug 26, 2026

News

Did you know that an Irish elk was part of the Columbia Geological Museum? The museum, once held in Schermerhorn Hall and used for instruction and research, boasted fossil fish, stones, and "upwards of 10,000 specimens" of coal, minerals, and more.

Jul 29, 2026

News

Jessica (Jingyun) Lin, GSAS‘26, an intern in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library Graduate Student Internship in Primary Sources, delves into the papers of the "grandfather of climate science," Wallace Smith Broecker.

Jul 29, 2026

News

The locomotive laboratory: When the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University opened in 1897, there was ample classroom and laboratory space for engineering students - as well as a full-size locomotive engine in a mechanics lab beneath Havemeyer Hall.

Jul 20, 2026

In the media

Columbia Spectator revisits "Notes I Have Now and Then Made: Items from the Lydia Davis Papers," an exhibition that featured the papers of short-story writer Lydia Davis, '70BC, on display in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library through April 2026.

Jul 4, 2026

Social, Video

"The Livingston Diploma dates back to the birth of the United States and Columbia University as we know it today. Celebrate the Fourth of July and America 250 by learning more about this very special artifact" from Professor of History Christopher Brown and University Archivist Jocelyn Wilk.

Jun 24, 2026

News

In the northeast corner of the Morningside campus, the sculpture Le Marteleur by Constantin Meunier, a gift from the Class of 1889 at the former School of Mines, greets visitors to the engineering school, though the statue has moved multiple times since its installation - and not always easily.

Jun 15, 2026

In the media

Elfquest creators Richard and Wendy Pini, who donated $500,000 to establish the Wendy and Richard Pini Comics and Cartoon Endowment at the Libraries, receive the 2026 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, awarded by Comic-Con to "people in comics and the popular arts who have worked to help others."

Jun 10, 2026

News

In April of 1776, the Committee on Safety ordered the King’s College governors (or trustees) to close the College in six days so the building could be used as a hospital. Meet the Class of 1776, who instead completed courses from a home on Wall Street.

Jun 9, 2026

News

An A-to-Z guide to the Libraries' Oral History Archives: 'J' is for journalists - the Black Journalists oral history collection, more precisely, which preserves an extraordinary legacy of 93 voices that chronicled the African American press from the late nineteenth century through the early 1970s.

Jun 1, 2026

In the media, Video

Columbia University's Revolutionary War history told in a diploma: University archivist Jocelyn Wilk shares a recent acquisition in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library - a 1775 diploma from King's College, the predecessor to Columbia.

Jun 1, 2026

In the media

As the United States marks its semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, Columbia News reflects on the story of a University that began before the nation itself. Discover archival treasures in the Libraries that help readers explore the past through rare documents and collections.

May 27, 2026

News

Days after the Regents of the former King's College decreed that the school would be known as Columbia College, the committee made its first faculty appointment: a professor of the French language. University archivists address why a French instructor was the very first professor at Columbia.

May 26, 2026

In the media

What 1976 reveals about 1776 (and 2026): The American Bicentennial at Columbia, revisited. Columbia News reports on a new exhibition in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library that explores how the University marked the United States’ 200th birthday in 1976.

News

New Acquisitions | David Jacobs and the Situationists

Pop-Up Exhibition: The Odyssey in Books

Hunt-Berol 19th-Century American Sheet Music

Samuel Yellin at Columbia

Displaying the Gems of Jester

The Pains and Gains of the Dolores Prida Papers

See ‘Drawn by a Columbian’ at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Events | Curatorial Shorts at the RBML

Drawing Interest

Discover Tony Kushner’s and Patti LuPone’s Archives at Columbia University

Orienting to Oral History Resources at Columbia

Columbia’s Irish Elk

The Dangerous Playground

The Locomotive Laboratory

Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibits ‘Notes I Have Now and Then Made: Items from the Lydia Davis Papers’

Livingston Diploma | Columbia Facebook

The Hammerman: A Moving Statue

2026 Clampett Humanitarian Award Goes to Richard and Wendy Pini

King’s College Class of 1776

A to Z of Oral History: J is for Journalists

Columbia University's Revolutionary War History Told in a Diploma | Columbia Close-Up

The U.S. Semiquincentennial and Columbia University

1784: Columbia College en Français?

What 1976 Reveals About 1776 (and 2026): The American Bicentennial at Columbia, Revisited

News

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New Acquisitions | David Jacobs and the Situationists

Pop-Up Exhibition: The Odyssey in Books

Hunt-Berol 19th-Century American Sheet Music

Samuel Yellin at Columbia

Displaying the Gems of Jester

The Pains and Gains of the Dolores Prida Papers

See ‘Drawn by a Columbian’ at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Events | Curatorial Shorts at the RBML

Drawing Interest

Discover Tony Kushner’s and Patti LuPone’s Archives at Columbia University

Orienting to Oral History Resources at Columbia

Columbia’s Irish Elk

The Dangerous Playground

The Locomotive Laboratory

Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibits ‘Notes I Have Now and Then Made: Items from the Lydia Davis Papers’

Livingston Diploma | Columbia Facebook

The Hammerman: A Moving Statue

2026 Clampett Humanitarian Award Goes to Richard and Wendy Pini

King’s College Class of 1776

A to Z of Oral History: J is for Journalists

Columbia University's Revolutionary War History Told in a Diploma | Columbia Close-Up

The U.S. Semiquincentennial and Columbia University

1784: Columbia College en Français?

What 1976 Reveals About 1776 (and 2026): The American Bicentennial at Columbia, Revisited