This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Correspondence, printed materials, draft agreements and copies of final agreements. The bulk of the correspondence relates to various aspects of how to establish this new School of Journalism. Some correspondence makes suggestions regarding curriculum, others are applications or recommendations for teaching positions, some are invitations and acceptances of Advisory Board positions and others are about the negotiations with Joseph Pulitzer. Among the notable names that can be found in these files of correspondence are Franz Boas, John William Burgess, Nicholas Murray Butler, James M. Cattell, Charles Eliot (President of Harvard University), George Homer (Mr. Pulitzer's lawyer who wrote up the agreements), Frederick Keppel, Seth Low, Joseph Pulitzer, John Pine, George D. Rives. In the alphabetical correspondence files, there is a typescript copy of a letter written from Nicholas Murray Butler to President Theodore Roosevelt (28 July 1903) asking Roosevelt to join the Advisory Board.
The files are arranged in one series. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1903-1904 and is arranged alphabetically, as it was originally found. Other correspondence was already separated by who wrote to whom, so that arrangement has also been maintained. This means one will find correspondence for certain individuals in the general alphabetical file as well as in a name specific file.
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 on-site.
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.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); School of Journalism Founding Documents; Box and Folder; University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Central Files, 1890-1984 [Bulk Dates: 1890-1983]
Graduate School of Journalism Photographs, 1918-2002
Graduate School of Journalism Records, 1912-1999
Historical Subject Files, 1870s-2012. [Bulk Dates: 1968-1972]
No additionals are expected.
Materials were originally found within Historical Subject Files Collection.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers processed Jocelyn Wilk 8/--/2006.
Finding Aid written Jocelyn Wilk 8/--/2006.
2012-06-09 xml document instance created by Jocelyn Wilk.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
The School of Journalism was established through monies left to Columbia University in the will of Joseph Pulitzer who passed away in 1911. As he wrote in his will"There are now special schools for instruction for lawyers, physicians, clergymen, military and naval officers, engineers, architects and artists, but none for the instruction of journalists. That all other professions and not journalism should have the advantage of special training seems to me contrary to reason." [pp. 3-4"Extracts from the Will of Joseph Pulitzer, died, October 29, 1911"]. The original agreements regarding the establishment and organization of the school were made in 1903 and 1904, but the school did not actually open until 1912 -- a year after Pulitzer died. The School of Journalism began as an undergraduate school offering a B.Litt. Degree to its graduates, but in 1935 the School became the first in the nation to adopt a program exclusively at the graduate level.
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.
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