This collection is located onsite.
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection finding aid is meant to facilitate access to a number of related publications. The Univeristy Archives holdings have been collected and organized so that users can easily request materials to view in the RBML reading room. For a few items, if there is an existing digital copy, a link has been provided.
Series I: Yearbooks, 1869-2023
This series contains the student yearbooks: these are published every year and include information about the students enrolled and the activities students engage in such as athletic teams, debating societies, publications, performing arts groups, fraternities and other social organizations. Early yearbooks provide only lists of names. For earlier "yearbooks" with photographs of individual students, please see the Class Photograph Albums Collection, 1956-1902. Please note that yearbooks for the CUIMC health sciences campus schools (College of Physicians & Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, College of Pharmacy, School of Nursing) are archived at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library. The School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine yearbook holdings are available online. The volumes of the Columbia Optometrist, the yearbook of the School of Optometry, are available from offsite storage. Barnard College yearbooks, the Annual and later the Mortarboard, are available from the Barnard Digital Collections. For the Law School, please contact the Special Collections Librarian at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library. For Teachers College and additional Horace Mann School yearbooks, please visit contact the Special Collections librarians at the Gottesman Library.
Series II: Facebooks, 1954-2008
Facebook is the more common name of the freshman student directory. This publication is similar to a yearbook with photographs of the individual students, short biographical sketches (high school and hometown), and campus directory information; but it is created to familiarize new students with their fellow classmates when they are still relatively new to campus. The date on the cover can refer to the date of publication, that is, the year when students arrived; but it can refer to the future class graduating year: the Class of 1983 facebook was published in fall 1979. The earlier volumes feature only the Columbia College freshmen, but starting in 1973, Engineering students are included and starting in 1979, Barnard students. The majority of the volumes in this series feature undergraduate students but there is a small selection of facebooks from the School of International and Public Affairs from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, with students in their first and second year in the MIA and MPA programs. All volumes are organized chronologically. Please note that the School of Journalism also used to publish facebooks and those can be found in the Graduate School of Journalism Facebooks, 1950-2008.
Series III: Class Books, 1861-1991
Samuel A. Blatchford's history of the Class of 1867 was the first published "class history." A class history summarized the class's progress and adventures during their four years at Columbia. These are sometimes called class books, class histories, and even senior year books. These volumes can also include student lists (e.g., student organization rosters), commencement speeches, class poems and songs, biographical sketches of individual class members, and, in some, photographs. Not all classes have a dedicated volume. For some classes, there are also the minute books kept by the class secretary, Class Day programs and invitations, class directories, reunion or anniversary editions, etc. Volumes are organized by graduating class and chronologically.
This collection is arranged in three series: Series I: Yearbooks; Series II: Facebooks: Series III: Class Books.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located onsite.
This collection has no restrictions.
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.
Book Citation: Title, Year, Call #, University Archives, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries.
For earlier "yearbooks" with photographs of individual students, see the Class Photograph Albums Collection, 1956-1902.
Please note that yearbooks for the CUIMC health sciences campus schools (College of Physicians & Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, College of Pharmacy, School of Nursing) are archived at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library. The School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine yearbook holdings are available online. The Columbia Optometrist, the yearbooks of the School of Optometry, are available from offsite storage.
Barnard College yearbooks, the Annual and later the Mortarboard, are available from the Barnard Digital Collections. For the Law School, please contact the Special Collections Librarian at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library. For Teachers College and additional Horace Mann School yearbooks, please visit the Teachers College online repository PocketKnowledge.
Additions are expected.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yearbooks, Facebooks, and Class Books are a good source of information about former students, student activities, and the composition of the student body over the years. The University Archives collections include an extensive run of yearbooks from Columbia College (The Columbiad and later The Columbian) dating from 1869 to the present, as well as a representation of yearbooks from other schools of the University and a complete run of those for the Midshipmen's School (Side Boy), which was on campus during World War II. Incomplete runs of yearbooks for the School of Engineering and Applied Science (The Miner and later The Engineer), the Graduate School of Journalism, and the Graduate School of Business are also available.
In addition to yearbooks, the University Archives also holds incomplete runs of Columbia College Freshman Directory or Facebooks (1950s-2007), Graduate School of Journalism Facebooks (1950-2008), Columbia College Senior Class Books (1867-1920), and reunion publications for Columbia College classes. The senior class books often contain more detailed information about graduates than what is noted in the corresponding yearbook.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.