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This collection is arranged into two series.
When the King's College building opened in 1760, students were to "lodge and diet in the College." There was a steward to keep the students' rooms clean and to make their beds. Students would have breakfast, dinner and supper at the College Hall, but they were not allowed to have meat with their suppers. After the use of the Park Place campus as a military hospital and then as barracks for the British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, the College was left with a building in need of repairs and gentle handling. The Statutes of 1785 included strict house rules to protect the building: a student could not deny the President of the College entrance to his room once a week to make sure the room was clean and in decent condition. By the early 1800s, the deteriorating facilities on the Park Place campus could no longer offer students quarters.
When Columbia College moved to its temporary, second campus on 49th Street and Madison Avenue, there were no residence halls. Students, for the most part, were left "to the comfort, the security, and the salutary influences of their home" according to Nathaniel Fish Moore, Columbia College President (1842-1849). However, with more competition for undergraduate attendance and the growth of the College, President Frederick A.P. Barnard argued for residences for the students. The college was a "day school" and the alumni wanted to foster more of the "college life" and "college spirit" they saw in the other residential colleges.
After the move to the Morningside campus, there was finally space available to build. Also, residence halls became more of a necessity as transportation to the area was not as convenient as the old campus: the subway did not reach 116th Street until seven years after the campus opened. In 1898 there was a proposal to build four residence halls on the Green along 120th Street. However, this never happened as there was no funding for this project. Based on the successful model of the Teachers College's private dormitories, there was a short-lived experiment of Knowlton Hall on Broadway and 124th Street. The building was privately owned but there was a Columbia faculty member living in the building to supervise the students, in exchange for free room and board. Unfortunately, there was not enough interest by the students and the building was sold to new owners.
President Nicholas Murray Butler finally found the financial support needed to create a dormitory system in Marcellus Hartley Dodge, CC Class of 1903. Dodge and his aunt, Helen Hartley Jenkins, funded the construction of Columbia's first residence hall. Along with donations from other alums celebrating Columbia's 150th Anniversary and the college money, the first two residence halls opened in 1905: Hartley Hall and Livingston Hall (named after the Class of 1765 alum and one time Chancellor of the State of New York Robert Livingston, but renamed Wallach Hall in 1981). Ten-floors high and with rooms for 600 men, the dorms were open to all Columbia students (not just undergraduates) and proved popular. In 1906, students living on campus could take "table board" at the Commons in University Hall and, as residents, they could have assigned seats throughout the year but this option was not popular. Students would have to wait another 20 years before having a dorm with a dining hall on campus.
In 1913, another ten-story dorm, Furnald Hall, opened to meet the growing demand for campus housing. The hall was named after Royal Blackler Furnald, Class of 1901, and allowed another 300 men to live on the perimeter of South Field. During World War I lower enrollment figures impacted the use of residence halls. Furnald Hall, which had been offered over the summer session to women students, was turned into a women's residence hall for five years (1917 to 1922).
One of the last McKim, Meade & White commissions, John Jay Hall, opened in October 1926. Elevator service was not complete at the time and students had to walk up the 15-story "skyscraper" then the highest building on campus. John Jay Hall, named after the Class of 1764 alum and first Chief Justice of the United States, combined student housing with student life. It was the home to the first dining hall and included meeting rooms and offices for student groups and publications such as the Jester and the Columbia Daily Spectator. Undergraduate students were finally able to be housed together in Hartley Hall and the lower floors of John Jay. The four halls combined allowed for over 1350 men to live on South Field. Columbia did not build another men's residence hall until New Hall (renamed as Carman Hall in 1965) in 1959.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Residence Hall records; Box and Folder; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
This collection was processed by Zuleimy Alcantara CC 2019 and Joanna Rios in Fall 2017. Finding aid written by Joanna Rios in January 2018.
The collection consists of registers and/or ledgers used in the management of the Morningside campus's first residence halls. The majority of the books served as front desk registers for each hall. Organized by the resident's last name, the books include such information as the room number, mail box number, move-in date, move-out date, and a forwarding address. The remaining books document the management of the buildings: applications, repairs, desk lamps, packages received, burglary reports, daily blotter, etc. There are also record books for when vacant rooms were rented not for the academic year or for the summer session but for short-term stays (with a daily and weekly rate) known as "transients." The records begin from the opening of the first two residence halls on campus, Hartley and Livingston Halls (opened in 1905) and include the early years of Furnald Hall (1913) and John Jay Hall (1926).
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.
This series contains the books that served as front desk registers for each hall. Organized by the resident's last name and first initial, the books include such information as the room number, mail box number, move-in date, move-out date, and a forwarding address. Furnald Hall served as a women's residence hall from 1917 to 1922. For women residents, the books include full first names. The books were maintained by the "office boys" (and after 1933, student clerks) and the inside covers sometimes include phone numbers for cab companies, other residence halls, area hospitals, Western Union messengers and the post office address. They may also include an occupancy summary and a list of "men who left with key, charged $1.00 for key deposit." The records begin from the opening of the first two residence halls on campus, Hartley and Livingston Halls (opened in 1905) and include the early years of Furnald Hall (1913) and John Jay Hall (1926). There is an instruction manual from the student clerk days 1933-1938 (box 6 folder 19) that explains the various duties of the desk staff.
The series contains the books documenting the management of the buildings. The application books note the applicant's name, date received, deposit paid, and room requests, from specific room numbers to which side the room faced (Amsterdam or campus side). There are books on the repair work done and the attending fees for holes in wall, ink stains on table or floor, posters on wall, dirty or soiled wall, chairs broken, cigarette burns in floor, etc. For John Jay Hall, there is an elevator service log. There is a goods received log for packages, boxes, flowers, medicine, books, and other goods from such stores as Wanamaker's, Brill Bros, Bloomingdale's, Brentano's, and Gimbels. There are also record books for when vacant rooms were rented not for the academic year or for the summer session but for short-term stays (in 1928, $1.50 per day, $9.00 per week) known as "transients."
Room Inquiries and Application Logs
This ledger volume includes the charge sheets for the Men's Residence Halls from July 13, 1929 to June 30, 1930. The sheets list residents, residence hall, room number and fee for the session or semester.
(Director Herbert B. Howe's memos to student clerks on the procedures at the desk: keys, cash box, mail, parcels, game room, checking-in residents and transient guests, etc. The volume starts in 1933, which according to Howe is "the first year that we have attempted to run the Hall offices with a student personnel.")
Includes elevator service log
Lamps, storage, linens, keys, furniture, etc.
Office Copy (Herbert B. Howe). A collection of letters, poetry and other writings by Frederick Nubling, better known as Papa Nubling. A colorful and devoted staff member, according Dean Herbert E. Hawkes, Nubling worked at Columbia for 17 years as a manager of the dormitories. His office was located from 1917-1926 in Hartley Hall and from 1926-1934 in Livingston (later Wallach) Hall. Howe collected the writings in a volume and donated the work to Columbiana in 1935. This office copy includes some additional original letters from Nubling to Howe.
Hartley, Livingston and Furnald Halls