Columbia University Libraries (CUL) remain closed until further notice to aid in the containment of COVID-19. While unable to physically process materials, RBML’s archivists are working on offsite locations to update finding aids and create greater accessibility for our collections. Here, Head Archivist Kevin Schlottmann shares these updates. Please be safe, wear your mask and […]
Workshops | OHMA Series on Anti-Oppression and Oral History
In this current moment of performative corporate, nonprofit and individual Black Lives Matters statements, what does it actually mean for Black, Indigenous and People of Color lives to actually matter? Beyond slogans, our oral history colleagues in the Oral History Master’s Program are going deep with a new summer series on Anti-Oppression and Oral History. […]
The First Summer Session in 1900
Since the 1870s, the School of Mines had regularly offered summer instruction in geodesy, geology, mining and metallurgy. But on July 2, 1900, the University opened its doors for a new term, the Summer Session, with courses in a wide range of disciplines — botany, education, English, geography, history, etc. — and taught by Columbia […]
Juneteenth, Freedom, and Emancipation Archives in the RBML
June 19th, known as Juneteenth, has long been a key African American holiday — a day to commemorate emancipation and freedom from enslavement. The date was first celebrated in Texas, in 1865, to mark the end of slavery after the Civil War. In the RBML, archival documents related to African American freedom reflect the […]
Anti-Racist and Black Liberation Archives in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The extrajudicial murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which followed the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, and coincided with a global pandemic that has taken disproportionate toll on African Americans, reveals that systemic racism is a life or death matter–for the millions of people who suffer its effects, and for a nation that purports […]