Search

This collection contains copies of correspondence and official documents maintained by the Office of the Secretary pertaining to various agreements between Columbia University and other institutions and organizations between the years 1868 and 1997. These materials were transferred from Office of the Secretary under the auspices of DiAnn Pierce in the early 1990s. Related materials can be found in the Wills and Agreements from the Office of the President.

These files were received by the University Archives in July 1998. The files are alphabetically arranged office files from the Office of the Secretary with bulk dates ranging from 1967-1995; earlier dates usually refer to photocopies of earlier resolutions and correspondence collected by the office to answer a question posed in more recent years. Three files of "historical" materials were added to this collection in 2001 by staff members as they appear to date from the same time period as the other files and are of a similar nature. The files "Columbia Symbols," "Columbia's Name, Use of" and "Office of the Secretary - History" are listed alphabetically within this finding aid but can physically be found at the back of Box 15. With the exception of these three files just mentioned, none of the files have been refoldered, and none of the files have been weeded or have had metal fasteners removed as of June 2004.

The Office of the Secretary maintained binders of information containing indices to Trustee minutes and committee minutes, information regarding by-laws and statutes for both the Board of Trustees and Faculties and Departments as well as historical information on named professorships. These were removed from the binders and placed in folders by Raju Mann, a student worker, in the summer of 1999. Set numbers from the original binders were maintained. Each file has a code which is composed of a two-letter designation for the set, along with a sequential number of the file within the entire set. These appear in parentheses after the folder title in this list. Some additional by-law materials, charter and statute materials, and affirmative action procedures were added to the end of box 9 from files and a binder found in a box of publications obtained from the Office of the Secretary in March 2000.

These boxes, part of accession 2001-048 (originally received in March 2000), contain files from the Office of the Secretary regarding various prizes, honors, special convocations and lectures administered by that office and/or the Board of Trustees. The records have been arranged alphabetically and chronologically and are housed in three record cartons. Photographs have been removed to the Historical Photograph Collection (UA#0003).

In February 2004, The Office of the Secretary (with assistance from the University Archives and School of International and Public Affairs [SIPA]), compiled various documents regarding SIPA's Regional Institutes. Relevant materials from Trustee Minutes, Trustee Committee Minutes and Central Files were photocopied and arranged into indexed file folders for easy reference by that office. The original copy was kept by the Secretary's Office and a second copy was given to the University Archives. This box contains the Archives' copy of these subject specific documents as well as some relevant notes kept the University Archives as the research was conducted.