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.
Start Over Repository Rare Book & Manuscript Library Subjects Abolitionists

Elinor Rice Hays papers, 1867-196- 1 linear feet (2 boxes)

Hays, Elinor Rice, 1901-1994
This collection consists of copies of correspondence, articles, diaries, memoirs, and other manuscripts by and about the Blackwell family. Also, a small group of papers, including correspondence, documents, photographs, and printed papers, about the Rice family of New York.
  1. Rare Book & Manuscript Library

John Brown manuscripts, 1839-1943 11 linear feet (22 boxes numbered 1, 1A, and 2-21)

Villard, Oswald Garrison, 1872-1949

Material gathered by Oswald Garrison Villard in the researches for his biography JOHN BROWN, 1800-1859: A BIOGRAPHY FIFTY YEARS AFTER. A large part of the materials is copies of correspondence both contemporary and of a later period, concerning John Brown and his associates, especially in the Kansas Territory and at the Harper's Ferry raid. Of the original letters in the collection, many are from descendants and family of John Brown and the men who accompanied him on his raid. There are clippings, pamphlets, proof sheets, and other printed matter. Photographs number 181 items.

  1. Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Joseph Parrish Thompson and Leonard Bacon papers, 1845-1928 3.5 linear feet (2 document boxes 1 flat box)

Thompson, Joseph P (Joseph Parrish), 1819-1879
This collection is made up of the personal and professional files of Joseph Parrish Thompson, documenting his work in the Congregational church and as the editor of The Independent. Thompson's correspondence with fellow Congregational minister and co-editor of The Independent Leonard Bacon makes up a significant portion of the material. The collection also contains files pertaining to Thompson's children and grandchildren and some family correspondence of Leonard Bacon.
  1. Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Sydney Howard Gay papers, 1748-1931 43 linear feet (87 boxes)

Gay, Sydney Howard, 1814-1888

Letters written to Gay from political and literary contemporaries such as Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner, and William Bryant; reports in letter form from his reporters at the front during the Civil War; and personal correspondence including many letters from his wife, Elizabeth Neall Gay. Letters written to Mrs. Gay from family friends and business associates including many from her husband. Correspondence of other members of the Gay family including Walter Gay, Sarah Gay, and Allan Gay. Diaries, notebooks, and journals of Sydney Howard Gay.

  1. Rare Book & Manuscript Library