Head Archivist Kevin Schlottmann shares collections newly opened or updated by RBML archivists.

Dawn Powell Papers
“Dawn Powell (1896-1965) was an American author of novels, plays, and short stories. The collection includes address books, appointment books, books, clippings, correspondence, diaries, ephemera, family materials, manuscripts, notes, notebooks, photographs, programs, research files, reviews, scrapbooks, sketches and drawings. ”

Kudos to Cathy for making sense of this fascinating but sprawling collection; for a tiny taste, here’s an excerpt from the finding aid:

“…portions of the collection were deposited and then either donated or sold to Columbia University in several different tax years during the period of 1995-2014, and this affected how the papers were organized, processed, and maintained by the Library until processing of all collection materials was completed in 2019.”

LGBTQ+ Columbia University oral history collection, 2016-2017
“The LGBTQ+ Columbia University oral history project was a collaboration between Columbia University’s LGBTQ Faculty Diversity Initiative and the Columbia Center for Oral History Research at INCITE. During 2016-2017, a six-interview pilot was undertaken to document LGBTQ history at Columbia University through life histories.”

Tunisian Transition oral history collection, 2015-2017
“The collection’s thirty-eight interviews document the Tunisian revolution (2010-2011) and the period of the transitional governments (2011-2014), with a particular emphasis on the technocratic government of Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa (January 2014-December 2015). Consistent with the composition of the technocratic government that it documents, the collection’s narrators come from a wide range of expertise: businesspeople, union leaders, NGO leaders, human rights advocates, and bureaucrats in the areas of security, education, economics, and more.”

Edward Morse Shepard Papers
“Correspondence, legal papers, and letter books of Shepard. The correspondence, which comprises the largest part of the collection, is rich in information about New York politics and social activities at the turn of the century. The letter books cover the years 1890-1911.”

This collection now has a box list, and the cataloged correspondents have been encoded as well.

Alice M. Ditson Fund records, 1940-2009
“The Ditson Fund was established at Columbia University in 1940, with a bequest of $400,000 from Alice M. Ditson, the widow of music publisher Oliver Ditson. Mrs. Ditson’s will stipulated that income from the bequest be used for non-academic fellowships, public concerts, and publications in support of music.”

A significant addition was processed by Emily Hawk, one of our primary source interns.

And, from our colleagues in the University Archives…

Minutes of the Board of Trustees
“This collection contains the minutes created by the Governors of King’s College, the Regents of the University of the State of New York, and the Trustees of Columbia College (and since 1896, University) in the City of New York, from 1755 to the present.”

Lionel Trilling Seminars
“Manuscripts, recordings and administrative files related to the Lionel Trilling Seminars which were established as a memorial to Professor Lionel Trilling in 1976.”

Office of the Registrar Records, 1857-1976 bulk 1890-1976
“This collection consists of the annual reports of the Office of the Registrar and a collection of matriculation registers”