This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
All administrative records of the University are restricted for 25 years from the date of creation.
Additions are expected.
The volumes in Box 1 were transferred from the Office of General Counsel, John Mason Harding, to the Office of the Secretary, Marion Elizabeth Jemmott, for the University Archives on June 11, 1986. Boxes 2-4 were originally part of the Columbia University Trustee Administration records, 1920s-1950s (BIBID 6943416).
The Office of the General Counsel ("OGC") provides legal services to Columbia University. OGC attorneys advise the Trustees, Officers, Faculty, and Staff, all in their official capacities, on various issues impacting the University. Columbia first established an in-house legal department in 1974. Before 1974, an outside law firm acted as counsel to the University. Any member of the University Community seeking legal services called directly on outside counsel. Since 1974 OGC represents the legal interests of the entire University, including such geographically separate entities as the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Rockland County, Nevis Laboratories in Westchester County, Reid Hall in Paris, and the entire Columbia Medical Center (formerly Health Sciences campus) in Washington Heights.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Office of the General Counsel records; Box and Volume numbers; University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
This collection was processed by Joanna Rios in February 2022. The addition was processed by Joanna Rios in November 2024.
For additional information about the transactions in these volumes, please consult
This collection consists of records from the Office of the General Counsel regarding the site of Rockefeller Center and Baker Field, the dormitory authority bonds and the modernization of Presbyterian Hospital. There are also the collected documents of the general counsel from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
"Attorney's Reports" are the reports made by the Attorney for the University to the Trustees' Committee on Legal Affairs. Each volume includes a list of matters by title and/or a subject index, including actions, endowment funds, estates, insurance, labor relations, legislation, taxes, etc. These "reports" are not narrative or yearly summaries of work. These are materials collected in bound volumes which include correspondence, drafts, forms, etc.
Includes correspondence, clippings, etc. with a subject index: Addresses, Buildings and Grounds (unclaimed baggage, G.A. Sakele, National Circulating Co.), Bursar (lost check), Claims (J. McKeen Catell, May K. Case and insured claims) Collection of students' indebtedness, Commencement, Contracts (CU Press, Students' Hall (later known as John Jay), coal), Estates (Lillias M. Bearns, Norton Perkins, Alice Jerome Lawrence, Amos F. Eno, Theodore Simon), Real Estate, Statutes, etc.
Cases include Herzog (Labor Law), Goldstein v. Mills (Tax Exemption), Estate of Euretta J. Schlegel (Abated Legacies), Estate of Cortlandt F. Bishop), etc.
From the Agreement dated October 1, 1928, between the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York and John D. Rockefeller
Loan Closing Documents
Sale Closing Documents