Rare Books and Journals 
Personal Papers & Manuscripts Photographs & Prints Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection Freud Library Hyman Collection in the History of Anesthesiology Jerome Webster Library of Plastic Surgery
Personal Papers & Manuscripts Photographs & Prints Auchincloss Florence Nightingale Collection Freud Library Hyman Collection in the History of Anesthesiology Jerome Webster Library of Plastic Surgery
Columbia University Medical Center Archives
Archives and Special Collections is the repository for the institutional records of the Columbia University Medical Center that must be permanently retained because of their historical, legal, or evidential value. Working with University offices, the department collects, arranges, describes and makes available these records to Columbia administrators and responsible outside researchers.
At present, there are approximately 1,700 cubic feet of archival records spanning from 1791 to the late 20th century. There is material from all four health science schools, although records from the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Dental Medicine predominate. In addition, though it was never part of the Medical Center, the Archives contains some records of the defunct College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, founded in 1829 as the College of Pharmacy in the City of New York.
The largest group of records is from the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences, containing 598 cubic feet and dating from the 1880s into the late 20th century. The Executive Vice President's office has oversight over all health sciences education at Columbia. Because of this role, the office's records are unusually comprehensive, documenting a wide range of topics for all health science schools, centers and institutes.
In addition, Archives and Special Collections holds printed material relating to the Medical Center including school catalogs, yearbooks, annual reports, newsletters, alumni magazines, student publications, and promotional and fundraising materials. Many of these printed items can be found in CLIO, the library's on-line catalog with the location "Special Collections - M Collection." Others can be found in the card catalog on Lower Level 1of the library.
The department does not serve as the archives for Presbyterian Hospital (1868-1997), now part of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, but because of the close relationship between Columbia and Presbyterian dating to the creation of Columbia -Presbyterian Medical Center in 1911, much documentation relating to the hospital, including its early patient records, can be found in Archives & Special Collections. Records of the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, the other side of the New York-Presbyterian merger, are located at the Medical Archives of the New York Weill Cornell Center.
Researchers should be aware that many of the personal papers in Archives & Special Collections also contain material relating to the history of the Medical Center.
University archival records are closed to outside researchers for 25 years from the date of the creation of the record, but they are always open to the office of origin. Other types of records may be closed due to confidentiality requirements or legal reasons; please check the department's Access Policy.
Records for many archival holdings can be found in CLIO. Finding aids and box lists can be consulted at Archives and Special Collections or accessed on this web site under Finding Aids. Many Medical Center records are unprocessed, but staff will locate material relevant to a specific topic if possible. All material must be used in the department's Geraldine McAlpin Webster Reading Room.
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