ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


12

This Latin manuscript, a 15th 
century antiphonal used in the 
performance o f church services, 
w ent on view fo r the first time in 
December in an exhibition at 
Columbia University that marked 
the opening o f its new Rare Book 
and Manuscript Library. The 
display o f 121 treasures from  the 
collection is installed in the gallery 
o f the new library, pictured on the 
cover.

Rare book library opens at Columbia

Columbia University’s new Rare Book and Man­
uscript Library, built at a cost of $3 million atop
Butler Library, was unveiled to the public on De­
cember 6 w ith the opening of an inaugural exhibi­
tion of im portant holdings ranging from the Baby­
lonians to the Beats.

An illustrated history of the library and its col­
lections, entitled The Rare Book and Manuscript
Library o f Columbia University: Collections and
Treasures, has been published to celebrate the
opening. Although begun in 1761 with the found­
ing of the University, the Rare Book and Manu­
script Library was formally organized as a separate
unit of the libraries in 1930. It now houses some
500,000 rare books, 22 million manuscripts, and
thousands of art works and realia.

The 121 treasures described in detail in the com­
memorative book are on view through February
1985 in the inaugural exhibition, “Treasures from
the Collections.” Included are such ancient items
as a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian cylinder seal on
public view for the first time; modern manuscripts
including the 1956 hand-corrected typescript of
poet and alumnus Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl; a da-
guerrotype portrait of Edgar Allan Poe taken three
weeks before his death; autograph manuscript dia

 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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ries of George Washington for 1795 and 1798; and 
a 1458 Canon missae printed in Mainz.

Pat Battin, Columbia vice-president and univer­
sity librarian, wrote the foreward to the book and 
Kenneth A. Lohf, rare book and manuscript librar­
ian, provided a detailed account of the growth and 
scope of the library’s holdings. The section describ­
ing the treasures was edited by Rudolph Ellenbo­
gen, assistant librarian for rare books.

The exhibition marks the first tim e the Rare 
Book and Manuscript Library has had the facilities 
to host a major showing. Previously w ithout exhi­
bition space and located in various parts of Butler 
L ibrary, the library has now been unified in a 
structure especially designed for the display, pres­
ervation, and scholarly use of its holdings.

The new climate-controlled two-story structure, 
designed by the New York architectural firm of 
Cain, Farrell and Bell, is built on the sixth floor set­
back on Butler’s south side. Extensive interior use 
of glass walls and partitions and a skylight running 
the entire length of the 230-foot library give a sense 
of openness to a structure deliberately windowless 
except for two high circular windows on the east 
and west end walls. ■ ■