Robert Branner, professor of Art History at Columbia University, was a scholar of French Gothic architecture, sculpture and illuminated manuscripts. Branner's papers include material related to the art history courses he taught, and to the scholarly research he conducted regarding 13th and 14th century illuminated manuscripts.
The collection contains various documents relating to the practice of enslavement in the Americas. It includes three documents related to the case of Joseph Pochin and John Milner who were accused of murder on the island of Jamaica, ca. 1681; a group of police reports for the city of New Orleans, August-November 1833, listing all arrests, mainly concerned with Afro-Americans sentenced to the chain gang; and other documents.
The University Artifacts Collection contains objects, textiles, buttons, trophies, ribbons, plaques, plates, and other three-dimensional items used as well as created by or for the University since its founding in 1754 as King's College. Some items were created for specific individuals or classes.