At the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML), we are fortunate to have dedicated and curious students who help us maintain and provide access to our collections. Just this past year, Itzel Franco (CC 2026) and Sarah Noon (GS 2024) helped us improve the condition and description of a brittle but valuable collection of records […]
Category: Columbia University Archives
President Barnard’s Other Legacy
Columbia College’s tenth president, Frederick A.P. Barnard, is best known for paving the way for the College to become a University and for his unsuccessful campaign in support of coeducation. But he has another legacy which is not as well remembered: Barnard made significant contributions in the education of deaf students and he was a […]
First Commencement
The current exhibition of King’s College Diplomas in RBML’s Chang Octagon features reproductions of diplomas awarded by what we now know as Columbia from 1763 to 1773. King’s College’s first President Samuel Johnson did not award diplomas at Commencement. His ceremonies included a more intimate ritual between the President, the graduate, and Johnson’s own Hebrew […]
King’s College Diplomas and John B. Pine
At the RBML, we recently installed a small exhibition on diplomas awarded by King’s College, as Columbia was known from 1754 to 1784. The exhibition in the Chang Octagon includes reproductions of diplomas awarded from 1763 to 1773. How did these materials make it to the University Archives? For some, we are indebted to the […]
Now on View: King’s College Diplomas
At the RBML, we recently installed a small exhibition on diplomas awarded by King’s College, as Columbia was known from 1754 to 1784. The exhibition in the Chang Octagon features reproductions of diplomas awarded from 1763 to 1773. It also includes related documents: a handwritten draft for an honorary degree, a program from the 1771 […]