Blog post by Cathy Ricciardi, Processing Archivist The paperback book business had started in the 1930s, but really took off after World War II. The paper rationing that had been in place during the war was over. New methods allowed for paperbacks to be produced cheaply and distributed to a public that could now buy […]
Tag: Archives
Processing the Myrna Casas papers
By Michelle Lopez, SCSU student and RBML Fall 2025 archives intern In 2020, the Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired the papers of Puerto Rican playwright, director, educator, and cultural leader Myrna Casas (1934–2022). A major figure in Caribbean and Latina theater, Casas’s work addressed questions of identity, politics, and women’s experience through realism, satire, […]
Staging the World with Josefina Báez
By Emily Oliveira, Latin American and Iberian Cultures PhD student The challenging thing about processing Josefina Báez’ papers is that processing definitionally requires categorization—and Báez is a person who resists categorization. In no particular order, she is a sui generis Dominican dancer, writer, performer, Mantra Yoga initiate, actress, theorist, and teacher, among a sea of […]
Archivist’s Pick: A Glance at the Chinese Republican Era and Beyond
At the RBML, we recently installed a small exhibition in the Archivist’s Pick Cubes on materials related to Chinese history and culture, pertaining to the people of the Chinese Republican era (1912-1949) and beyond. These materials were acquired through Columbia affiliates such as alumni, professors, and their family and friends. Many were Chinese intellectuals, diplomats, […]
William H. Donald’s Account of the Xi’an Incident
The Xi’an Incident/西安事變 is also known as one of the most controversial historical events in 20th Century Chinese history. This event led to the united forces between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists in 1936 December prior to the all war against Japan aggression in China during WWII. In the midst of the incident, William […]