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.
Electronic files are available in the Reading Room on a laptop where researchers can browse, keyword search, and view the records.
The collection consists of the records of university seminars in various fields for each academic year since their establishment. A typical file will include minutes of the meetings, but there may also be supporting documentation such as correspondence, reports, or copies of papers presented at a meeting.
In 2003, then Director Robert L. Belknap conceived and over several years implemented the project of scanning 50 years of the pre-digital meeting minutes of the seminars. Over a half million pages, representing the materials from from the academic years 1944-2000 were scanned by the University Seminars and transferred to the University Archives for preservation. Subsequent additions up to 2012 were added to the digital collection in January 2018.
Material is arranged alphabetically by name of the seminar.
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 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.
Electronic files are available in the Reading Room on a laptop where researchers can browse, keyword search, and view the records.
The University Seminars Archive is available for research purposes in the Reading Room of the Columbia Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, subject to the policies and procedures applicable to the use of RBML collections. However, copyright in individual items in the collection may be held by the University, by individual participants and contributors, or by others. Researchers seeking permissions to use materials from the collection should submit inquiries and permission requests to the Director of the University Seminars, Robert Pollack, via email pollack@columbia.edu.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); University Seminars Records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Additional records expected annually
Source of acquisition--University Seminars. Method of acquisition--gift; Date of acquisition--1945 and ongoing.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Records processed ptl 1996.
MODS metadata records and full-text index for searching were generated by the CUL LDPD in 2013-2015. Metadata and digital files became available in the reading room via a web presentation system in December 2015.
2012-10-19 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz.
2015-12-02 xml document instance updated by Adrien Hilton.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2023-07-23 Series IV: Transcripts was added by JKW.
In the nineteen thirties, Professor Frank Tannenbaum had discussed with Nicholas Murray Butler the idea of ongoing groups of Columbia professors and experts from the whole region to explore matters no single department had the breadth or the agility to study. Butler liked the idea as a quick way to mobilize the intellectual resources of the University about suddenly emerging problems, but World War II supervened and it was 1944 before his successor, Frank Fackenthal, approved the first five University Seminars. Three of these Seminars still meet: Peace, Religion, and The Renaissance.
The Seminars have continued to serve Butler's purpose, but they have also become an intrinsic part of the enterprise Columbia does better than any great university in the world, the ongoing education of its own faculty. Most of this education takes place within the academic departments, but Tannenbaum was continuing a tradition of General Education in a Core Curriculum that Columbia had been developing for thirty years. The Contemporary Civilization and the Humanities courses are famous for the breadth they give Columbia undergraduates, and astonishingly unrecognized as a boot-camp where econometricians acquire sophistication by conducting rough and tumble discussions of Plato.
This tradition positioned Columbia professors to invent the interdisciplinary regional institutes that trained graduate students to handle post-war complexities beyond their departments, but also forced political scientists, economists, and literary scholars to learn from each other. Over the past two thirds of a century, the Seminars have offered more and more specialists from Columbia and elsewhere the chance to learn and discover things together.
When Tannenbaum died in 1969, there were fifty Seminars. He and his wife, Jane Belo Tannenbaum, left the Seminars a million and a half dollars in their wills, to be invested and reinvested as a dedicated part of Columbia's endowment. Tannenbaum wrote a charter to "protect the spontaneity of the Seminars from an unstructured situation [in which] interference is inevitable, because the desire for general rules and uniformity is irresistible." The Director of the Seminars was not to be appointed by the President of the University but selected and instructed by a General Committee, consisting of Columbia's President, Provost, and the chairs of all the Seminars.
In the four decades since, the number of Seminars has grown to the eighty-four listed in this website. About half the Seminars that have been founded are still meeting, while half have merged, split, or dissolved. James Gutman followed Tannenbaum as Director from 1969 to 1975, followed by Aaron Warner, from 1976 to 2000, and Robert Belknap from 2001 to 2011, when his student Robert Pollack succeeded him.
Genre/Form |
---|
Annual reports |
Directories |
Lectures |
Newsletters |
Notes (documents) |
minutes (administrative records) |
Subject |
College teachers |
Scholars |
Seminars |
The Minutes and Notes series includes minutes, notes, and supplementary materials for the University Seminars. A typical file will include meeting notes, but may also include correspondence and invitations related to any given meeting of the seminar or papers presented at a meeting.
Box 113
Box 113
Box 361
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Box 4
Box 113
Box 196
1951-1971
Box 197
1971-1984
Box 198
1984-1998
Box 199
1998-2000
Box 113
Box 113
Box 113, 129
Box 5,140
1972-2004
Box 314
1971-1995
Box 315
1995-2000
Box 7
1977-2001
Box 327
1977-1995
Box 328
Box 8
1966-1996
Box 270
1977-1985
Box 273
1966-1984
Box 274
1984-1998
Box 275
1998-2000
Box 9, 216
Box 320
1970-1995
Box 305
1995-2000
Box 113
Box 188
1962-1986
Box 189
1986-1997
Box 113
1994-2001
Box 6
1962-1979
Box 209
1962-1980
Box 257
1963-1978
Box 114
1966-1967
Box 114
Box 283
1966-1987
Box 114
Box 114
Box 10
Box 11
Box 140
Box 213
Box 214
Box 358
Box 359
Box 114
1991-1997
Box 370
1990-2000
Box 339
Box 115
Box 46, 142
Box 12
1967-1994
Box 252
1968-1995
Box 253
1992-2000
Box 115
Box 374
Box 365
1981-2000
Box 115
1983-2000
Box 323
1973-1990
Box 115
1982-1996
Box 324
1990-2000
Box 250
1962-1992
Box 251
1992-2000
Box 13, 140
1971-2000
Box 16
1957-2000
Box 17
1957-2000
Box 140
1957-2000
Box 217
1957-1982
Box 218
1982-1996
Box 219
1996-2000
Box 336
1983-1994
Box 337
1994-1998
Box 14
1965-1983
Box 15
1965-1983
Box 237
1961-1971
Box 238
1971-1981
Box 239
1981-1990
Box 240
Box 116
Box 261
1966-1995
Box 262
1995-2000
Box 116
Box 116
Box 385
1997-2000
Box 116, 140
Box 116, 127
1967-1997
Box 203
1960-1986
Box 204
1986-2000
Box 116
Box 116, 128
1982-1983
Box 340
1982-1992
Box 173
Box 20
1957-1988
Box 21
1957-1988
Box 162
1974-1992
Box 163
1992-2000
Box 28
Box 27
1972-1996
Box 316
1971-1995
Box 317
1995-2000
Box 22, 91
1954-1974
Box 164
1954-1967
Box 165
1967-1981
Box 25, 116
1973-2001
Box 303
1970-1995
Box 304
Box 26
1984-2001
Box 356
1975-1995
Box 357
1995-2000
Box 23
1968-2001
Box 24
1968-2001
Box 141
1968-2001
Box 284
1967-1984
Box 285
1984-1995
Box 286
1995-2000
Box 264
1964-1985
Box 265
1985-1995
Box 266
1995-2000
Box 117, 141
1997-2001
Box 229
1969-1974
Box 230
1974-1980
Box 231
1980-1988
Box 232
1988-1993
Box 233
1994-1996
Box 234
1996-2000
Box 29
1989-2001
Box 30
1989-2001
Box 31
1989-2001
Box 117
Box 186
Box 32
1956-1969
Box 207
1955-1965
Box 208
1965-1986
Box 33
1962-1988
Box 34
1962-1988
Box 141
1962-1988
Box 166
1962-1974
Box 174
1974-1994
Box 175
1994-2000
Box 117
Box 291
1990-1995
Box 292
1995-2000
Box 117
Box 35
Box 117, 127, 141
Box 117, 141
Box 332
1982-1985
Box 333
1995-2000
Box 117
1961-1965
Box 254
1964-1975
Box 341
Box 118, 126
Box 118, 127, 142
1968-2000
Box 267
Box 268
1995-2000, 2005-2006
Box 118
Box 36
1955-1992
Box 179
1961-1965
Box 180
1975-1987
Box 181
1987-1995
Box 118, 386
Box 38
1978-2000
Box 325
1974-1995
Box 326
1995-2000
Box 318
1973-2000
Box 31,142
1978-2001
Box 118
Box 118
Box 118, 43
Box 82
1983-1985
Box 83
1983-1985
Box 84
1983-1985
Box 85
1983-1985
Box 144
1983-1985
Box 258
1963-1977
Box 259
1977-1995
Box 260
Box 118
1975-1976
Box 210
1975-1995
Box 118
1989-1994
Box 344
1989-1997
Box 372
Box 269
1964-1987
Box 39
1964-2001
Box 40
1978-2001
Box 41
1978-2001
Box 42
1978-2001
Box 142
1978-2001
Box 212
1977-1882
Box 213
1982-1991
Box 214
1991-1995
Box 215
1995-2000
Box 119
Box 382
1993-1999
Box 119
Box 306
1970-1995
Box 307
1995-2000
Box 119
1983-1992
Box 119
Box 44
Box 119
Box 119
Box 119, 142
1987-1999
Box 338
1986-2000
Box 45, 142
1974-2001
Box 321
1973-1998
Box 322
1998-2000
Box 46, 142
1968-2001
Box 299
1968-1995
Box 300
1995-2000
Box 119
1992-1995
Box 371
Box 48
1971-1986
Box 49
1971-1986
Box 50
1971-1986
Box 310
1971-1974
Box 311
1974-1977
Box 312
Box 51
1948-2000
Box 52
1948-2000
Box 53
1948-2000
Box 54
1948-2000
Box 167
1948-1954
Box 168
1954-1959
Box 169
1959-1963
Box 170
1963-1967
Box 171
1967-1984
Box 172
1984-1993
Box 117, 120, 142
Box 120, 142
Box 55, 120
1971-1999
Box 308
1971-1995
Box 309
1995-2000
Box 120
1971-1972
Box 313
1971-1983
Box 145
Box 145
Box 145, 143
Box 57
1958-1977
Box 248
1995-2000
Box 249
1995-2000
Box 380
Box 121, 143, 47
1956-2001
Box 200
1961-1991
Box 201
1991-2000
Box 56, 143
1971-1995
Box 348
1971-1982
Box 349
1982-1992
Box 350
1992-1997
Box 351
Box 121
Box 220
1957-1962
Box 221
1962-1965
Box 222
1965-1968
Box 223
1968-1971
Box 224
1971-1974
Box 225
1974-1978
Box 226
1978-1985
Box 227
1983-1993
Box 389
1993-2000
Box 58
1981-2000
Box 59
1981-2000
Box 60
(See also: Modern China)
Box 61
(See also: Modern China)
Box 62
(See also: Modern China)
Box 63
(See also: Modern China)
Box 64
(See also: Modern China)
Box 121
1996-2001
Box 276
1966-1995
Box 118, 127, 142, 277
Box 241
1965-1971
Box 242
1971-1975
Box 243
1975-1979
Box 65
1977-2001
Box 66
1977-2001
Box 143
1977-2001
Box 244
1979-1984
Box 245
1984-1989
Box 246
1989-1995
Box 247
Box 121, 373
Box 121, 360
Box 67
1983-2000
Box 68
1983-2000
Box 143
1983-2000
Box 330
1983-1991
Box 331
1991-2000
Box 383
Box 381
Box 122
1968-1976
Box 298
1968-1978
Box 67
1979-1998
Box 68
1979-1998
Box 69
1979-1998
Box 70
1979-1998
Box 143
1979-1998
Box 362
1973-1988
Box 363
1988-1995
Box 364
1995-2000
Box 122, 329
Box 123
Box 387
1998-2000
Box 182
1951-1966
Box 123, 143
Box 183
1966-1976
Box 184
1976-1992
Box 185
1992-2000
Box 71
Box 72
1944-1970
Box 73
1944-1970
Box 74
1944-1970
Box 75
1944-1970
Box 76
1944-1970
Box 77
1944-1970
Box 78
1944-1970
Box 79
1944-1970
Box 148
1945-1948
Box 149
1948-1954
Box 150
1954-1960
Box 151
1960-1965
Box 152
1965-1972
Box 153
1972-1986
Box 154
1986-1995
Box 158
1995-2000
Box 124
Box 124
1984-1986
Box 367
1982-1990
Box 342
Undated
Box 82-85, 144
1968-2001
Box 190
1968-1971
Box 191
1971-1975
Box 192
1975-1980
Box 193
1980-1922
Box 194
1988-1995
Box 195
Box 124, 80
1971-2000
Box 345
1971-1985
Box 346
1985-1995
Box 347
1995-2000
Box 86
1967-1993
Box 87
1967-1993
Box 88
1967-1993
Box 288
1967-1983
Box 289
1983-1995
Box 290
1995-2000
Box 205
Box 206
Box 90
1959-1988
Box 89, 124
Box 235
1992-1995
Box 236
1995-2000
Box 124
Box 124
Box 91
Box 92
Box 369
Box 187
Box 81
Box 178
1950-1951
Box 93
1950-1952
Box 125
Box 94
1959-1979
Box 176
1957-1968
Box 177
1968-1985
Box 155
Box 125
1976-1977
Box 156
1995-2000
Box 124, 144
1996-1997
Box 384
Box 95, 125
1946-2000
Box 157
Box 96
1955-1970
Box 202
1955-1971
Box 125
Box 159
1945-1949
Box 160
1949-1955
Box 161
1955-1966
Box 126
1957-1959
Box 126
Box 388
Box 97, 127, 144
1982-1999
Box 334
1982-1998
Box 335
1998-2000
Box 99
1968-1999
Box 100
1968-1999
Box 144
1968-1999
Box 293
1968-1975
Box 294
1975-1993
Box 295
1993-2000
Box 301
1970-1995
Box 302
1955-2000
Box 126
2000-2001
Box 98
Box 271
1964-1986
Box 272
1986-1999
Box 302
1999-2000
Box 126, 366
Box 287
1968-1988
Box 126
1985-1986
Box 101
1958-1981
Box 146
1944-1971
Box 147
Box 116, 127
Box 103
Box 127
Box 38
Box 102
Box 118, 127, 142
Box 107
1962-1979
Box 255
1962-1969
Box 256
1969-1983
Box 128
Box 128
Box 263
1964-1998
Box 109
1967-1993
Box 128
Box 106
1967-2001
Box 107
1967-2001
Box 144
1967-2001
Box 278
1966-1971
Box 279
1971-1976
Box 280
1976-1985
Box 281
1985-1995
Box 282
1995-2000
Box 108
(See also Southeast Asia in World Affairs)
Box 108
Box 128, 144
1993-1997
Box 211
1995-2000
Box 128
Box 128
Box 128
Box 128
1984-1985
Box 368
1984-1989
Box 128
Box 110
1977-2001
Box 111
1977-2001
Box 112
1977-2001
Box 352
1974-1980
Box 353
1980-1988
Box 354
1988-1995
Box 355
1995-2000
Box 228
Box 296, 319, 198
Box 129-139
Box 129-139
Box 129-139
Box 129-139
Box 129-139
Box 129-139
Box 136
1974-1975
Box 137
Box 138
Box 139
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 433
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 434
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 391
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 390
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 391
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 392
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 393
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 394
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 395
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
Box 396
This series contains transcripts of various seminar meetings held in the 1960s and 1970s. Materials are organized alphabetically by seminar title and then arranged chronologically within each seminar. Lecture titles and/or speacker names are noted where available. Materials were transferred to the University Archives from the Oral History Archives in 2023.
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
"Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and the Indus Valley" by Mr. George I. Dales
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
Box 397
1974 January 9
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
Report from Iron Mountain by Dr. James Morey
Box 398
2 copies of same discussion/lecture.
Box 398
Box 398
Box 398
undated
Box 398
ca. 1970s
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
1972 February 14
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 399
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
ca. 1974-1975
Box 400
Box 400
1964 October 8
Includes an overall introduction to transcripts from 1964-1965.
Box 400
1964 November 12
Box 400
1964 December
Box 400
1965 January 14
Box 400
1965 February 11
Box 400
1965 March 11
Box 400
1965 April 8
Box 400
1965 May 13
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Speaker: Michael Beaujour
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Box 400
Held at Faculty House
Box 400
Frank Tannenbaum Lecture delivered by Harrison E. Salisbury. Lecture was titled "American Society after 20 Years of Radical Change"
Box 400
Discussion was presided over by Professor Frank Tannenbaum
Users on-site in the RBML reading room, or users in the group with authenticated access, can view the digital materials using this custom portal: https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/restricted/universityseminars.
Digitized materials cover 194 seminars for the academic years 1944-2012, and represent exact digital copies of paper originals in the collection, scanned in 2003-2010, as well as born digital content created since 2009.
Off-site and unauthenticated users can browse the metadata of the digitized content in the Digital Library site here: DLC site.
Users wishing to reserve the RBML reading room laptop for on-site access can do so using via their Special Collections Research Account or by contacting rbml@library.columbia.edu.