Alumni Registers
The following is only a selection of websites and documents available online which can help you learn about the history of the University. You can find the original paper copies and additional resources by searching in the library's online catalog CLIO.
Alumni Directories
Graduates at Commencement, 1964
Over the years, the University Archives has collected a number of alumni registers and directories, both from the University as a whole and from the individual schools (Architectures, Business, Columbia College, Engineering, General Studies, Journalism, Law, etc.). These are all non-circulating materials available only at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RBML) reading room.
For the most part, Alumni Directories list students who have graduated, who are still alive and who have shared contact information. In addition to the large Columbia University volumes, there are individual school or program directories. Alumni Registers list former students, including those who are no longer living. To see the University Archives holding and to request volumes, please see the Alumni Directories and Registers finding aid. If you cannot find the volume for the school or program you are interested in, please contact the University Archives at uarchives@columbia.edu.
Alumni Registers
Class of 1894 at reunion, 1914.
Columbia University Alumni Register 1754-1931
Containing 99,721 names of both graduates and non-graduates from 1754 through 1931, this register may include for each former student: name, academic connection with Columbia (degree, class, school), one address and occupation as of 1931. The volume also contains information about honorary degree recipients and types of degrees offered by the University through 1931.
Before the Alumni Register of 1932, there are earlier editions of the Register or sometimes called the Catalogue. These include the names of all the graduates of the University and their degrees, organized by school and by year and a list of honorary degree recipients. Volumes also contain geographical and alphabetical indexes of graduates. Here is a list of some of the catalogues which have been scanned and are available online.
In addition to the Alumni Registers, below are some other sources for Columbia alumni and officers.
- Catalogue of matriculants who have not graduated, 1758-1897. Supplement to the General Catalogue of 1894. New York: Published for the University, 1897.
- Association of the Alumni of Columbia College. Alumni Directory, Revised to January 1897. Printed by the Order of the Association, 1897.
- Thomas, Milton Halsey. Columbia University Officers and Alumni 1754-1857. Compiled for the Committee on General Catalogue. New York: Columbia University Press, 1936.
- Fuld, Leonhard Felix. King's College Alumni. New York, 1913 (biographical sketches, organized by class year, for classes 1758 to 1775, material originally appeared in the Columbia Quarterly.)
- The New York School of Social Work, Columbia University. Graduate directory, 1898-1956. New York: International Press, 1956.