Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Papers of the American Bureau for Medical Aid to China consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, minutes, committee files, membership records, financial records, fund raising records, motion pictures, audio tapes, phonograph records, photographs, posters, publications of ABMAC and other printed materials. Also included are the files of related Chinese relief organizations: Aid Refugee Chinese Intellectuals, 1954-1969; American Emergency Relief, 1941-1946; United Services to China, 1941-1977. Of particular interest are approximately 6,000 photographs of Chinese medical colleges, hospitals, laboratories and personnel and 45 phonograph records including speeches by such ABMAC supporters as Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek, Pearl S. Buck, Wendell Willkie, Fiorello LaGuardia and a number of movie stars

Correspondence files and financial papers. The files include correspondence, contracts, clippings and programs, ledgers and financial accounts, submission books, and calendars and memorandum books. Authors for whom there are extensive files include the following: Truman Capote; Patrick Dennis; John Dos Passos; Lloyd C. Douglas; John Hersey; Alice Tisdale Hobart; Paul Horgan; William Humphrey; Frances Parkinson Keyes; Margaret Mitchell; Alan Paton; Kenneth Roberts; Lillian Smith; John Steinbeck; George R. Stewart; Ben Ames Williams; and Kathleen Winsor

Correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, photographs, phonograph and tape recordings, and printed files. Included are Cerf's personal correspondence files, 1929-1945, and the diaries and scrapbooks which he maintained from his school days throughout his active career. The diaries, in date-book format, contain terse notes on Cerf's meetings with authors and friends, on his travels and publishing activities; the scrapbooks contain correspondence and photographs, as well as memorabilia and printed items, and were annotated by Cerf and his wife, Phyllis Fraser Cerf Wagner. Also in the collection are manuscripts and proofs for Cerf's books including "The Laugh's on Me""Treasury of Atrocious Puns""The Sound of Laughter""Stories to Make You Feel Better", and "At Random: the Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf", which was edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Albert Erskine, 1977. The papers also include condolence letters written at the time of Cerf's death, photographs and photo albums,certificates and awards, and miscellaneous printed material, including Random House and Modern Library catalogues. Among the major correspondents are: Truman Capote, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edna Ferber, Moss Hart, J. Edgar Hoover, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon B. Johnson, John Lindsay, Joshua Logan, John O'Hara, Jacqueline Onassis, Richard Rodgers, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gertrude Stein, Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman, and Robert Penn Warren

Office files consisting of correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other documents relating to the operation of the Museum. Included are numerous biographical and topical folders on the theatrical subjects such as David Belasco, Costumes, French stage models, Helen Hayes, etc. Masks and Puppets account for 29 folders.

This collection includes tape recordings and some phonograph records of the numerous conferences, seminars and other events held during 1953 to 1954 in celebration of Columbia University's 200th anniversary. In addition there are 31 tape reels of the CBS Radio Network's series "Man's Right to Knowledge." Also included are Bicentennial press releases, typescript and galley proofs with manuscript corrections for two volumes in the Columbia University Bicentennial Series: RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM IN THE AMERICAS and THE UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE.

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and printed materials of Lamont. Letters from George Santayana (1863-1952), with Lamont and others, a few early manuscripts, interviews and other notes on Santayana, and general correspondence about him. A series of letters from John Dewey to Lamont, discussing his ideas on humanism and religion. Extensive correspondence with the family of John Masefield including approximately 100 letters from Judith Masefield to Lamont, primarily written shortly after the death in 1967 of her father the poet John Masefield, and dealing with his life and work. Also, a few of her own writings; a number of the letters are descriptive of historical England and her concern for contemporary events. Among the letters from other family members are fifteen from Lamont's nephew, Jack Masefield, and 53 from his cousin Sir Peter G. Masefield, 1970-1983, conveying news about Judith as well as interest in the publication of John Masefield's letters from the World War I years and their continuing appreciation of Lamont's work on Masefield. There is discussion on the publication of Masefield's letters to Corliss' mother, Florence Lamont, printed in 1979.

Manuscript materials which include correspondence, business papers, composition scrapbooks and musical scores; books; clippings; records; and photographs.