New Oral History Master of Arts Program at Columbia University [4/3/08] The Columbia University Oral History Research Office and the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) are proud to announce New York State approval of a new degree program, “The Master of Arts in Oral History,” located in ISERP.  The program will begin in the fall of 2008 and will be the first of its kind in the nation. Mary Marshall Clark, director of the Oral History Research Office, and Peter Bearman, director of ISERP and the Lazarsfeld  Center for Social Sciences, will co-direct the program. press release...

Columbia University Libraries Hosts 6th Annual Reference Symposium [3/27/08] The Columbia University Libraries Reference Coordinating Committee hosted the symposium, “Beyond the Desk” on March 14, in the Columbia Business School’s Uris Hall. This was the 6th “Reference in the 21^st Century” symposium that Columbia Libraries has hosted since 2001. This year, Columbia again invited representatives of large private academic research libraries in the Northeast to share ideas, plans, and concerns about reference services. press release...

Columbia Announces 2008 Bancroft Prize Winners [3/14/08] The authors of three acclaimed books, one a comprehensive study of the tobacco industry, one a reassessment of the Populist movement, and one a study of the role of frontier violence in eighteenth-century America, will be awarded the Bancroft Prize for 2008, Columbia University announced today.The winners are Allan M. Brandt for The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America (New York: Basic Books), Charles Postel for The Populist Vision (New York: Oxford University Press), and Peter Silver for Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company). press release...

Erica Jong's Fear of Flying Revisited at March 28th Conference [3/7/08] The Friends of Columbia Libraries is pleased to co-host a conference on Friday, March 28, 2008. The event, “Fear of Flying: Can a Feminist Classic Be a Classic?” will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the Social Hall at Union Theological Seminary, located at 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, and is free and open to the public. press release...

AG Foundation Grant Funds Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts [3/4/08] Agnes Gund, one of New York’s most generous patrons of the arts, has given the Columbia University Oral History Research Office a grant to record an oral history of women in the visual arts. The project will be named “The Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts” in honor of the recently deceased celebrated painter and printmaker. press release...

Columbia University Partners with Microsoft to Digitize Books [1/29/08] Columbia University and Microsoft Corp. are collaborating on an initiative to digitize a large number of books from Columbia University Libraries and make them available to Internet users. With the support of the Open Content Alliance (OCA), publicly available print materials in Columbia Libraries will be scanned, digitized, and indexed to make them readily accessible through Live Search Books. press release...

Mellon Foundation Grant Supports Web Resources Project [1/17/08] The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $156,000 to Columbia University and the University of Maryland to support the development of coherent, holistic models for incorporating web content into research library collections. press release...

Friends of the Columbia Libraries to Host Evening of Conversation with Author Erica Jong [11/15/07] The Friends of the Columbia Libraries will sponsor an evening of conversation with Erica Jong, noted novelist, poet, essayist, and best-selling author. Author and special guest Jay Parini will lead the conversation. The event will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 28, at The Kellogg Center, Room 1501 of the International Affairs Building on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus. press release...

Columbia University Launches Spatial Data Catalog [11/09/07] Columbia University’s Electronic Data Services (EDS) announced the launch of Columbia’s Spatial Data Catalog http://gis.columbia.edu/data.html, a new resource for identifying and locating Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-compatible datasets from Columbia’s spatial data collections. press release...

Russell Sage Foundation and Dr. Harriet Zuckerman Support Processing of Robert K. Merton Archive [11/08/07] Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently received two generous contributions to support the processing of the Robert K. Merton archive, a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation, and a gift from Dr. Harriet Zuckerman. press release...

Rare Book & Manuscript Library Acquires Papers of C. L. R. James [09/28/07] The papers of one of the preeminent political intellectuals of the twentieth century have been acquired by Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The Library is now the home of the papers of Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-1989), West Indian polymath and giant of 20th-Century intellectual history. During his long career in North America, the Caribbean, and Europe, James was a political organizer, Marxist theorist, historian, literary and cultural critic, novelist, playwright and short-story writer, teacher, cricketer, and sports commentator. press release...

Friends of Columbia Libraries to Host Evening With Oscar Hijuelos [09/25/07] The Friends of the Columbia Libraries will sponsor an evening next month with Cuban-American writer Oscar Hijuelos, in conversation with Gay Talese. The event will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 11, at The Kellogg Center, Room 1501 of the International Affairs Building on Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus. press release...

Rebecca Kennison Appointed Director of Center for Digital Research and Scholarship [09/25/07] Rebecca Kennison has joined Columbia University Libraries as Director of the new Center for Digital Research and Scholarship (CDRS), effective September 24. As Director, Kennison will work closely with faculty, researchers, and various library programs and centers to enhance the use of new media and digital technologies in the research and scholarly communications of the university. press release...

Rare Book & Manuscript Library Acquires Archives from Teachers College [09/07/07] Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently acquired six important archival collections from Teachers College related to the history of education and social reform, with a focus on New York. Among them are the records of four social agencies, Hudson Guild, Grosvenor Neighborhood House, the Children’s Village and the Wiltwyck School; and the papers of two individuals, Dan Carpenter, former executive director of the Hudson Guild, and Godfrey Dewey, noted spelling reformist. press release...

Mellon Foundation Grant Supports Papyrology Project [08/15/07] The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $500,000 to Duke University to support the development of a portal to provide integrated access to three major papyrological databases, the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri (DDbDP), the Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS), of which Columbia University is technological host, and the Heidelberger Gesamtverzeichnis der griechischen Papyrusurkunden Ägyptens (HGV), based at University of Heidelberg. press release...

Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning and the Columbia University School of Social Work Awarded $3.5 Million Grant [08/13/07] The Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL) and the Columbia University School of Social Work’s Social Intervention Group (SIG) recently announced the receipt of a $3.5 million, five-year research grant award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The goal of the collaborative project is to evaluate the outcomes of using multimedia and Web-based technology to disseminate an HIV prevention program. press release...

National Endowment for the Humanities Supports Rare Book & Manuscript Library [07/03/07] Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for $154,755 to support the arranging, processing, and digitizing of the records of the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry. press release...

Google Funds Video Project at Columbia’s Center for Digital Research and Scholarship [07/11/07] Google ™ has awarded Columbia University's Center for Digital Research and Scholarship a grant to support preparation and submission of video content from Columbia for the Google Video site. The Center will prepare up to 54 hours of new content, as well as convert 38 hours of MPEG2 content for the Google Video site. Lectures, interviews, and course content covering such diverse areas of science, economy, history and world affairs will be featured. press release...

Kenneth Crews Appointed Director of Copyright Advisory Office [07/03/07] Kenneth D. Crews, Director of the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University, has been appointed the Director of Columbia’s new Copyright Advisory Office, effective January 1, 2008. press release...

Mellon Foundation Awards $563,000 in Support of Graduate Student Internship [06/29/07] Columbia University Libraries has received a $563,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year pilot project that will award a series of internships to graduate students to collaborate with librarians in the organization and description of primary source collections. The project is scheduled to begin July 1, 2007. press release...

Columbia’s Oral History Research Office Hosts Summer Institute, June 11-22, 2007 [06/27/07] The Columbia University Oral History Research Office (OHRO) held its annual two-week international Summer Institute in Oral History from June 11 to June 22, 2007. The theme of this year’s Institute was “Telling the World: Oral History, Struggles for Justice and Human Rights Dialogues” and featured faculty and fellows from around the world. press release...

Erica Jong's Papers Acquired by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library [06/15/07] A large collection of archival material from Erica Jong, whose groundbreaking first novel, the international bestseller Fear of Flying, electrified readers around the world and added several phrases to the lexicon, has been acquired by Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The noted novelist, poet, essayist, and best-selling author has enjoyed a long association with both Columbia University and Barnard College. press release...

Avery Index Now Available to All Columbia Alumni and Friends of the Columbia Libraries [06/13/07] Gerald Beasley, Director of Avery Library, announced today that the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals has been made freely available to Columbia alumni as one of the electronic resources on the Alumni and Friends Gateway. press release...

Rare Book & Manuscript Library Acquires Papers of Art Critic Meyer Schapiro [06/01/07] Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library has acquired the papers of Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996) educator, art critic, and professor of fine arts. “More than America’s greatest art historian, Meyer Schapiro was an intellectual deeply engaged in the worlds of politics and philosophy as well as art, in active correspondence with major protagonists of twentieth-century thought and art. His papers document that complex engagement and will prove an extraordinarily rich resource for scholars in all fields that Schapiro touched,” said David Rosand, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History at Columbia. press release...

Columbia Univeristy's East Asian Library Launches Chinese Paper Gods Web Site [05/09/07] Columbia University Libraries has launched the new web resource Chinese Paper Gods, an online visual catalog of over 200 woodcuts used in folk religious practices in Beijing and other parts of China in the 1930s. The website is part of C. V. Starr East Asian Library's initiative to digitize its unique holdings and make them available online, to the benefit of scholars and other interested people who are unable to visit its collections in person. press release...

Columbia Announces 2007 Bancroft Prize Winners: Esteemed Historians Robert D. Richardson and Jack Temple Kirby to Receive Awards [04/20/07] The authors of two acclaimed books, one a biography chronicling the life of William James, and one an ecological history of the American South, will be awarded the Bancroft Prize for 2007, Columbia University announced today. The winners are Robert D. Richardson for William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism (Houghton Mifflin) and Jack Temple Kirby for Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South, (University of North Carolina Press). press release...

Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library Acquires Robert College Archive [04/04/07] Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library has recently acquired the archive of Robert College of Istanbul, the oldest American school outside the United States, active since 1863. Founded by two Americans, philanthropist Christopher Rhinelander Robert and Cyrus Hamlin, to offer an “American style” education under the Ottoman Empire, Robert College has been in operation longer than any other American-sponsored school outside the United States. press release...