Manuscripts and Collections

The Barnard College Archives maintains personal papers and collections created by individuals actively connected with the school, e.g., private papers of faculty members produced while working with or for the College, as well as throughout their career. In addition, we accept personal papers of our alumnae which are related to the College or raise awareness of and contributions to the higher education of women.

Helen Bacon Papers

Helen Bacon (1919-2007) came to Barnard as a visiting professor of classics for the 1961-62 academic year and stayed on as chair of the department of Greek and Latin until her retirement in 1989. She taught at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and the American Academy in Rome and was a visiting professor at Harvard and Vassar during her time at Barnard. She was elected president of the American Philological Association in 1985. Her papers contain articles, lecture notes, research materials, manuscripts, notebooks, and journals. The papers are currently inventoried. Special permission is required to access them.

Duer Family Papers

The Duer Family Papers are a select collection of materials from the Duer women: Caroline King Duer, Alice (Maude) Duer Miller, and Elizabeth Meads Duer. Alice (Maude) Duer Miller (1874-1942) was a Barnard trustee, elected to the board in 1922. Caroline King Duer (b. 1865) was her sister, and Elizabeth Meads Duer was their mother. Alice Duer Miller served as a Barnard trustee from 1922-1942 and collaborated with Susan Myers on Barnard College: The First Fifty Years, published in 1939. She graduated from Barnard in 1899 and did graduate work in mathematics at Columbia. Miller was an author, writing short stories, novels, screenplays, and poetry. She acted in the film Soak the Rich. Her narrative poem "The White Cliffs," which praised British resistance in World War II, became a bestseller. The film White Cliffs of Dover was adapted from the poem. She was married to Henry Wise Miller, whose biography of her and their life together, All Our Lives, was published in 1945.

Dr. Lucyle Hook Papers

Dr. Lucyle Hook (1901-2003) was a specialist in 17th-century English drama. She came to Barnard on a one-year visiting professorship, filling in for Barnard legend and drama professor Minor Latham. Although she did not intend to stay, her plans changed. After 21 years of service at Barnard, Hook was appointed professor emerita of English on July 1, 1967. In December 2010, the Archives inventoried the Dr. Lucyle Hook Papers, which contain her travel journals, photographs, manuscripts, and personal correspondence. Special permission is required to access the collection.

Mirra Komarovsky Papers

Mirra Komarovsky (1905-1999) immigrated with her family at age 16 to Wichita, Kansas, following the 1917 Russian Revolution. Komarovsky entered Barnard as student in 1922, graduating with the class of 1926. After receiving her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, Komarovsky returned to Barnard as a part-time lecturer in 1937. She remained at Barnard as professor emerita until 1992. Her papers contain copies of published works, source materials, professional correspondence, newspaper clippings, and notes. In May 2010, the Archives inventoried the Mirra Komarovsky Papers. Special permission is required to access the collection.

Millicent Carey McIntosh Papers

Millicent C. McIntosh (1898-2001) was the College's third dean (1947-1952) and its first president, elected in 1952. Her papers contain many of her personal and official letters, research notes, speech typescripts, and an early photo album. Special permission is required to access the papers.

Helen Rogers Reid Memorabilia

Memorabilia of Helen Rogers Reid, class of 1903 and an active member of the Board of Trustees, who served as vice president of the New York Herald Tribune in 1922 and president in 1947.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

American Woman's Association Papers

The Barnard College Archives is the repository of a substantial portion of the records of the American Woman's Association, an independent national organization. The collection includes administrative and committee documents, correspondence, programs, brochures, and several hundred photographs created between 1911 and 1974.

Overbury Collection

A collection of primarily first-edition literary works and letters by American women from the early Colonial days through the 1950s. The Overbury Collection was a gift of Barnard alumna Mrs. Fredrick Overbury (Bertha Steel Van Riper, class of 1896).

Barnard Rare Book Collection

The Barnard Rare Book Collection is a 477-volume collection of rare books and manuscripts that was placed on deposit at Columbia in the summer of 2010 and is presently housed in the Columbia Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Used in the past by faculty to support research and inform curricula, the collection spans centuries and continents, and hosts the works of early-modern philosophers like Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon together with the works of contemporary poets such as Charles Bukowski and Serge Gavronsky. Taken as a whole, these volumes showcase the breadth and richness of Barnard’s rare book collection, which ranges widely from classical texts printed during the Renaissance to 21st-century artists’ books. Seven bibles form a centerpiece of the holdings; of particular note is the two-volume 1866 Sainte Bible, with illustrations by well-known French artist, Gustave Doré. Featuring several folio editions (including a 1755 edition of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language) and a number of miniatures (complete with a 2-volume 1823 edition the Divina commedia of Dante Alighieri), the collection additionally has a strong showing of works in 18th century British drama, including some scarce compilations by female dramatists, among them Hannah More and Susanna Centlivre.

Margaret Mead Photograph Collection

The Barnard Archives recently acquired a donation of 20 photographs by Kenneth Heyman of alumna Margaret Mead, class of 1923, which is on permanent display in the Barnard Library Reading Room on the first floor of Lehman Hall.