RBML collects poetry and fiction, with an emphasis on literary translation and the diffusion of genres and movements (i.e. Romanticism) from the eighteenth century to the present (and earlier as opportunities present themselves). Book collecting emphasizes the current teaching and research needs of the Columbia campus and builds on collection strengths in eighteenth-century belles lettres, the novel, fine press and artist books, and twentieth-century small press production. Other strengths include “obscene” or erotic literature, poetry between the World Wars, the European realist novel, the Beats, African-American literature of the twentieth century, and contemporary poetry.  An effort is made to collect contemporary trade publishing that has significant artifactual value, such as a strong graphic or typographic element, unusual format, or intermedia component. Please see also our collecting statement on the performing arts.

Single-creator archival collections are not a strength of the RBML but exceptions are made for authors who are Columbia or Barnard alumni or faculty or whose careers touch another strength of the collection, such as those authors who are also publishers, who work in human rights, or who treat human sexuality. We hold the papers of William Bronk, Hart Crane, Stephen Crane and partial archives of several Beat authors, such as Jack Kerouac, Peter Orlovsky, Amiri Baraka, and Hettie Jones. The collection also includes the papers of important literary critics such as Mark Van Doren, Lionel Trilling, and Edward Said, and we will continue to collect the work of important literary critics and theorists, especially those based on campus or locally.