Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Personal and professional correspondence, including 25 long letters from Professor Henry F. Herbig; manuscripts (mainly speeches); specifications for patents in electrical fields; technical and personal photographs; and memorabilia. Included is a copy of the famous "shot in hand" x-ray photograph, ca. 1896, one of the first ever to be taken. This collection also contains the correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and memorabilia of Professor Pupin's daughter, Varvara Smith, and his son-in-law, Louis Graham Smith. His daughter's letters and documents deal with her financial difficulties, her administration of Pupin's estate and her claims against Columbia University. Louis G. Smith's letters deal with his anti-Communist sentiments and his manuscripts are mainly ideas for popular songs and plays. There are three letters (photostatic copies) to Smith from Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Included are correspondence, minutes of Board of Directors and committees, proceedings of annual business meetings, surveys, statistical reports, financial records, photographs, and printed materials. The correspondence files dating from 1927, contain letters from university press directors regarding meetings arrangements, cooperative programs, and other matters of mutual concern. There are no correspondence files for the years 1936 to 1943.