Rare Book and Manuscript Library

The Rare Book and Manuscript Library is principal repository for special collections of Columbia University. Located in New York City on the university's Morningside Heights campus, its collections span more than 4,000 years, from early Mesopotamia to the present day, and span a variety of formats: cuneiform tablets, papyri, and ostraca, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, early printed books, works of art, posters, photographs, realia (such as mathematical instruments and theater models), sound and moving image recordings, and born-digital archives. Areas of collecting emphasis include American history, Russian and East European émigré history and culture, Columbia University history, comics and cartoons, philanthropy and social reform, the history of mathematics, human rights advocacy, Hebraica and Judaica, Latino arts and activism, literature and publishing, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, oral history, performing arts, and printing history and the book arts.

For the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign library, see The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign).

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

New York City, New York, United States of America

University library

1 July 1930

Columbia University Libraries

Administration

Archives Processing (oversees the arrangement and description of manuscripts and archives)

Collections Management (responsible for the intake and ongoing care of all collections regardless of format)

Curatorial (devoted to collection development, instruction, and outreach relating to core areas including Medieval & Renaissance collections, Russian & Eastern European émigrés (the Bakhmeteff Archive), American History, Literature, Rare Books, oral history (Oral History Archives at Columbia), the performing arts, and comics and cartoons.

Public Services (manages the reading room, online and in-person reference and duplication requests)

University Archives (charged with preserving and providing access to Columbia University's history)

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is currently organized into five units:

Jewels in Her Crown

Rare Book & Manuscript Library: Collections and Treasures

Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, A guide to the manuscript collections in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University, Boston, Massachusetts : G.K. Hall & Co., 1992

Ashton, Jean. “An Introduction by Jean Ashton, Director of RBML.” In Jewels in Her Crown: Treasures from the Special Collections of Columbia's Libraries. USA: Columbia University in the City of New York, 2004.

Jacob Bailey Moore, Henry Thayer Drowne, Memorial Sketches of Stephen Whitney Phoenix. Boston: Press of David Clapp & Son, 1883.

“Columbia Gets Printing Books Type Founders Exhibit Is Now on Deposit At the Library,” Columbia Daily Spectator, Volume LX, Number 8, 5 October 1936

Columbia University Archives website timelines.

“Columbia is given $1.4 million fund.” The New York Times. November 18, 1973.

Hyde, Mary C. “History of the Library friends and the Phoenix Story of Columbia.” In Library Columns. Volume XX. No. 3. 1971.

Lohf, Kenneth A. “Collections of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library.” In The Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University: Collections and Treasures, 11–32. New York: Columbia University Libraries, 1985.

Douglas Martin, Obituary for Kenneth A. Lohf in The New York Times. May 18, 2002.

Bruce P. Montgomery, "Archiving human rights: A paradigm for collection development." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 22.2 (1996): 87–96.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0099-1333(96)90174-3

Oral History Interview with Rare Book Librarian Jane Siegel. 2016.

Somerville, Robert. “Some Remarks on the Early History of Columbia University’s Collections of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts.” In Rare Book and Manuscript Occasional Publication 1: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at Columbia University, edited by Beatrice Terrien-Somerville, page 1, 6. New York City: Columbia University Libraries, 1991.

Rare Book and Manuscript Library