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An artificial collection of phonograph records, reels of audio tape recordings, and motion picture films recording a variety of Columbia University academic and extra-curricular activities and events such as lectures; speeches, some at award ceremonies; commencement; installation of Nicholas M. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower as presidents of the university; King George VI of England during his visit, 1939; speech of England's Queen Mother, Elizabeth in 1954; homecoming; football, the band; academic and alumni conferences; and radio programs under the auspices of Columbia. Many of the recordings are of Eisenhower. Other prominent personalities include John Foster Dulles, Herbert Hoover, Isidor Rabi, Eleanor Roosevelt, John R. Dunning, and the Shah of Iran.

This collection includes research materials, publication manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and architectural drawings related to the academic study, teaching, and writings of architect and urban historian Richard Plunz. The bulk of the collection contains research papers, administrative records, notes, and sketches, as well as reproductions of architectural drawings by other architects for various properties owned by the New York City Housing Authority, gathered by Plunz and his Urban Design Research Group students during their studies on the concept of "defensible space" in New York City public housing. Also included in this collection are notes and draft manuscripts for "Design and the Public Good" [Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1982], Plunz's compilation of writings by architect and educator Serge Chermayeff, as well as general research files about and correspondence with Chermayeff. Lastly, a small body of reproduced drawings documents various historic structures on Ellis Island, the 39th St. Ferry Terminal building in Manhattan and Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

Research materials, including notes, audio tapes, and original items, related to his multiple projects on Columbia and Barnard history.