Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Rare Book & Manuscript Library

6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027, USA
rbml@library.columbia.edu
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is Columbia University’s principal repository for special collections. We collect, preserve, describe, promote, and provide access to the material evidence of diverse individuals and activities in alignment with the University’s research and teaching mission. We build and steward deep collections in select subject areas and connect them to a global audience through reference, teaching, exhibitions, publications, and public programs.

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Edward William Mammen papers, 1940-1946

5.5 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

Correspondence, manuscripts, notecards, tabulation sheets, microfilms, photographs, and photostats. The bulk of the collection is made up of his Columbia University doctoral dissertation, THE OLD STOCK COMPANY SCHOOL OF ACTING; A STUDY OF THE BOSTON MUSEUM, and related research materials. The dissertation, published in 1945, uses the Bostom Museum Stock Company to exemplify the nature of American dramatic arts in the nineteenth century vis-a-vis professional theater organizations and their dual purpose of producing shows and training actors. The research materials appear in a variety of formats: chronological lists on notecards recording the actors that performed in particular plays; tabulation sheets that fulfill many purposes, such as recording each actor's experience, the roles the actors played, and the years that they were active with the company. Photographs include those taken of theater sets, actors in costume, and pictures of the Museum building. Photostats and microfilms are almost entirely reproductions of advertisements and flyers

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Eleanor M. Tilton papers, 1770-1991

68 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

This collection includes nine letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson as well as letters of Louis Agassiz, Amos Bronson Alcott, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, John Lothrop Motley, Charles Sumner, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In addition, there are two incomplete manuscripts by Emerson and one document from the Liverpool Custom-house signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne as Consul for the United States. The collection also includes the corrected typescript, index, and page and galley proofs for Thomas Franklin Currier, A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (New York, 1953) which was edited by Professor Tilton. Also, some early correspondence and photographs of the Tilton family and friends. There are letters from the actors Annie Louise Ames, Richard J. Dillon, and Hans L. Meery to Tilton's grandfather, Bernard Paul Verne, as well as photographs, tintypes, and daguerreotypes of the Verne family and friends.

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Hector Berlioz papers, 1825-1994

27 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

Correspondence, manuscripts, papers, essays, etc. relating to Berlioz, and 19th century arts and literature. The correspondence includes original Berlioz letters and over 200 copies of letters relating to Berlioz and the romantic era, written by musicians, critics, historians, and literateurs of the past century. There are many photostats of letters and manuscripts obtained from the principal libraries of the world which hold original Berlioz material. The collection includes much printed material in the form of music scores, published letters, essays, clippings, biographies, music and book catalogues, program notes, and playbills.

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Helene Hanff papers, 1931-1995

2 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

Correspondence, manuscripts, notes, photographs, reviews, clippings, and other printed materials about Hanff, as well as books by and about her.

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Jacques Barzun papers, 1900-1999

225 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope
The correspondence, research, and teaching files of French-American cultural historian and Columbia University professor emeritus Jacques Barzun (1907-2012).
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Jerome Moross papers, 1924-2018

70.25 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

Correspondence, manuscript music scores, copies of scores, playscripts, scenarios, watercolor drawings and other stage designs, contracts, legal papers, programs, clippings and other printed materials, microfilms, records, tape recordings, and photographs. Among Moross's work are the musical play, "The Golden Apple"(1954), dance music for "Ballet Ballads"(1945) and for "Frankie and Johnny"(1938), the film score for "The Big Country"(1958) and for "The Cardinal"(1963), and his Symphony No. 1 (1943). There are some financial papers and production records for the staging of his works. Among the cataloged correspondents are Aaron Copland, Agnes George De Mille, Ned Rorem, Virgil Thomson, and Thornton Wilder.

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John Latouche papers, 1930-1960

2.5 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope

Correspondence, manuscripts, diaries, notebooks, copies of scores, drawings, programs, clippings and other printed materials, and photographs. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Leonard Bernstein, Carol Channing, and Douglas Moore.

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Leo Lerman papers, 1893-2012, bulk 1937-1994

105.54 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope
Personal and Professional papers of writer and magazine editor Leo Lerman. The papers include correspondence, professional papers, topical files, research files, and photographs.
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Lillie Ronvo Collection of Dance and Music Materials, 1915-2002, bulk 1952-1991

3.94 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope
Lillie Rovno was deployed by the United States military in Germany, Japan, Alaska, and Hawaii, and continued to travel the world in later years. A scholar of Russian culture interested in performance arts, Rovno collected materials on a broad array of art forms: Kabuki and Japanese visual arts, ballet, Jewish music, and Italian music. The collection includes numerous photos, some autographed, of prominent ballet performers from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and the U.S., with many of the photos documenting visits of Soviet ballet companies to the U.S. in the 1980s and early 1990s. The collection also contains musical scores from Italy, the U.S., and Israel, including Israeli songbooks from the early 1950s.
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Louis Napoleon Parker papers, 1869-1943

12.5 linear feet
Abstract Or Scope
This collection contains the papers of Louis Napoleon Parker, an English playwright, translator, and historical pageant producer active in the theater from the 1890s until the early 1940s. The collection includes holograph manuscripts, typescripts, and printed editions of Parker's plays, prose and poetry; theater programs and newspaper reviews; a small selection of sheet music; correspondence; personal documents, including datebook-style diaries; photographs; several books belonging to Parker; and his portrait in chalk by Cyril Roberts.
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