The Burke Library’s new exhibit, “Gratian’s Decretum and the Foundations of Christian Legal Education,” explores the history and development of one of the most important legal texts of all time: Gratian’s Concordia discordantium canonum (“Harmony from Discordant Canons”) – or, more simply, the Decretum – a twelfth-century legal textbook designed to reconcile aspects of […]
Looking Back & Looking Forward
As many will know, in September the Burke Library reopened its physical spaces and in-person services for affiliate students, faculty, and staff. It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back into the reading room, study spaces, and stacks. For the previous 17 months, though our physical facilities remained closed to patrons, the Burke staff continued to […]
Belonging As a Latinx Seminarian
Seminary was an unexpected “next-step” for my life. My recent Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) experience has pulled me towards exploring the world of theology at Union (UTS) as a first-year Divinity student. As I was reading through the UTS Student Digest newsletter, I saw a job that contained the words “Justo Gonzalez” and “Hispanic […]
The Return of Special Collections at Burke!
Earlier this Fall, The Burke Library proudly reopened its doors to the Columbia and Union communities after being closed for eighteen months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been wonderful to see so many new and returning friends use Burke’s study spaces, stacks, and general collections. Our staff is particularly proud to provide […]
“Gebetsanliegen” in the Catalog: a Metadata Mystery
Online catalogs make it possible to find specific materials from anywhere in the world— but what happens when an item doesn’t have its full title in its catalog metadata? (How would you find The Great Gatsby, if the title was just “The” in the catalog? You might try searching for terms like “Great” and […]
Updating Finding Aids: Improving the Discovery of Archives at the Burke Library
Like many archivists at CUL and beyond, I’ve found working remotely to be an opportunity to address back burner projects. Chief among these is the conversion of Burke’s 400+ finding aids, which were originally created as PDFs, into Encoded Archival Description (EAD) format — an XML standard for archival finding aids. You may be […]
Virtual Teaching with Rare Materials in the Era of COVID-19
Over the last year, much has changed at The Burke library. The era of COVID-19 has brought about a host of challenges, particularly the ongoing effort to connect students with our magnificent collection of rare materials. The Burke is currently closed to visitors, but manuscripts, rare books, and archival material are always richer and […]
Reclaiming Progressive Faith with Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons
Last fall, the Burke Library and the Union Theological Seminary Development Office hosted a virtual event on Zoom to promote a new book by UTS alum Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons (Class of 2016). He and his partner and husband live in Louisville, Kentucky, and he is currently a Fellow with the Faith and Progressive Policy initiative […]
Alone in the Stacks
The stacks at the Burke felt like a respite from the hectic outside world- every class period, every meeting I was in, every personal interaction started with a sly smile- each “how are you?” was performative in the way that everyone knows: that such a simple question cannot be answered in the midst of […]
Research During a Pandemic: Interview With Documentary Film Researcher Heather Merrill
As a librarian and movie-lover, I’m always excited to assist filmmakers with their research — and this Fall, the Burke received a request from a researcher working on a documentary film about the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church (the “Philadelphia Eleven”). The request came from Heather Merrill, an independent film researcher, […]