Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

This collection documents the efforts of the Committee for Health in Southern Africa, a human rights organization once based in New York State, in its attempts improve the health of the people of Southern Africa through research, education, training, and consultation.

The Dan Talbot Papers document the business operation of the New Yorker Films, an independent film acquisition and distribution company, dating from 1960s to 2008, as well as movie theaters in the Upper West Side Manhattan which he operated, dating from 1960 to 2007. It is of particular relevance to New Yorkers as the Talbots operated the New Yorker Theater, Cinema Studio, Metro, and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, on the Upper West Side, as popular venues to view independent and foreign films.

John Leonard (1939 -2008) was an American literary and cultural critic best known for his extensive writing on literature, television, media, politics and American culture and his work as head editor of The New York Times Book Review in the 1970s. The John Leonard papers include drafts of Leonard's reviews, essays, essay collections, and works of fiction and nonfiction. The collection also includes his correspondence with prominent literary and cultural figures, his research and business files, personal memorabilia, photographs, signed artwork, printed matter, posthumous tributes to Leonard, and audio-visual material.

Louis Johnson (1930 - 2020) was an African American dancer, choreographer, director, and teacher. This collection includes address books, administrative records, autobiographical writing, correspondence, costume designs, notes, notebooks, photographs, posters, programs, publicity, and audio and visual recordings.

New York City Opera (NYCO) was famously dubbed "The People's Opera" by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943. The Opera company's mission is to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically compelling opera at an affordable price. This collection documents the artistic productions and the daily administrative functions and operations attest to the mission of the company. The materials in this collection consist of administrative and financial records, production files, stage guides, scores, correspondence, programs, photographs, posters, scenery plans, memorabilia, printed materials, and audio and video recordings, dating from 1924 to 2019, with its bulk dating from 1965 to 1991.

The Richard Brick and Geri Ashur collection consists of materials related to film productions created and collected by Richard Brick and Geri Ashur, dating from 1968 to 2014. The materials document the career of Richard Brick as a filming professor, producer, and the first commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB). The collection also includes materials related to films by Geri Ashur. The bulk of the collection focuses on the motion picture films and production files of the films Richard Brick and Geri Ashur produced, as well as the administrative records that document Richard Brick's contribution to the filming industry in New York during his tenure as the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB).