


Columbia University’s libraries are at the heart of one of the world’s top research and learning communities, situated in the most exciting city in the world. We connect people with unique collections, create inspiring learning experiences, and offer cutting-edge support for research of all kinds. Whether you’re a student, a professor, an alum, or a visiting researcher, we’re here to help you discover and grow.
Our collection is a deep dive into human history and ideas with materials in over 450 languages and original sources that stretch back more than 4,000 years. We steward more than 7 million print volumes, plus provide access to over 9 million ebooks and nearly 2,000 databases. And thanks to our global network of library partners, if we don’t have it, we can help you get it.
We also offer expert support for teaching, learning, and research at every level. Whether you’re a student starting your first project, a faculty member designing a course, or an external researcher exploring our collections, our experts are here to help. Through personalized consultations, classroom instruction, workshops, and online tools, we provide guidance that enhances discovery and deepens understanding. Whatever your academic or professional goals, the Libraries are committed to supporting your success.
We are committed to curating and nurturing collections that drive transformative research, teaching, and learning at Columbia. With a clear focus on advancing the University’s mission, we thoughtfully shape and steward collections that not only honor our rich academic legacy but also amplify underrepresented voices and overlooked histories. Our dynamic and evolving collections are designed to reflect a full spectrum of human knowledge, ensuring broad access to diverse heritage materials that inspire innovation, critical thinking, and discovery.
We can’t wait to work with you.
The Digital Library Collections (DLC) website is a gateway to digital reproductions and descriptions of photographs, posters, drawings, objects, ephemera, and manuscripts as well as other archival material from Columbia’s rare and special collections. The DLC repository includes more than 879,000 files comprising over 304,000 unique items, a portion of which are restricted to onsite viewing in the Libraries. It will continue to grow as more of our earlier digital projects are loaded in, as more of our special collections are digitized and described, and as hybrid and born-digital archival collections are acquired. The DLC website does not at present include scans of our rare or out-of-copyright digitized books or digitized newspapers, however; these and other historical digital content can be located by searching our CLIO discovery system.
Digital content in the DLC website comes almost exclusively from Columbia University Libraries’ distinctive collections, namely:
It is important to note that many collections in the DLC also have separate customized websites where the same content is displayed within a broader or thematic context. Where this is the case, links are provided so that content can be viewed in either context.
Columbia University is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes only. For instructions about obtaining reproductions of or republishing the items found in this site, please see the Terms of Use page.
More information about Columbia’s archival collections, including collection finding aids, may be found within our Archival Collections Portal.
Browse 1968, Columbia in crisis content
Browse Albert Field Collection of Playing Cards content
Browse Amiri Baraka Papers and Audio-Visual Collection content
Browse Art Properties — Columbia’s Art Collection Online content
Browse Avery’s architectural ephemera collections content
Browse Avery’s architectural novelties content
Browse Barack Obama Presidency oral history collection content
Browse Barney Rosset and China content
Browse The Biggert collection of architectural vignettes on commercial stationery content
Browse Carlyle family photograph albums content
Browse Carnegie Corporation of New York Digital Archive content
Browse Children’s drawings of the Spanish Civil War content
Browse Chinese paper gods content
Browse Community Service Society photographs content
Browse Composers Forum Concerts Collection content
Browse Construction and evolution of Union Theological Seminary Campus content
Browse Core curriculum: Contemporary civilization. content
Browse Core curriculum: Literature humanities. content
Browse Ditson Fund Recordings Archive content
Browse Dramatic museum realia content
Browse Early modern futures content
Browse Frances Perkins content
Browse The Frank Lloyd Wright Digital Archive content
Browse G.E.E. Lindquist Native American photographs content
Browse Greene & Greene architectural records and papers collection, ca. 1896-ca. 1963 content
Browse Hán-Nôm Sino-Vietnamese Textual Library content
Browse Hubert H. Harrison papers content
Browse Hugh Ferriss, (1889-1962) content
Browse Italian Jewish Community Regulations content
Browse James Hal Cone papers content
Browse Jeffrey H. Brodsky oral history collection content
Browse Jewels in her crown content
Browse John H. Yardley Collection of Architectural Letterheads content
Browse Joseph Pulitzer and The World content
Browse Joseph Urban stage design models & documents stabilization & access project content
Browse Judging a book by its cover content
Browse Korean independence outbreak movement content
Browse Lehman special correspondence files content
Browse Mahrous Mustafa Bseiso Land Deeds Collection content
Browse McKim, Mead & White photo albums content
Browse Mechelen Hospital Archive content
Browse The melting pot content
Browse Music at Columbia content
Browse Nathaniel Fish Moore photograph exhibition content
Browse New York Juvenile Asylum Records content
Browse The New York real estate brochure collection content
Browse Oral History Archives at Columbia content
Browse Our tools of learning content
Browse The papers of John Jay content
Browse The people in the books content
Browse Photographs from the Frederick Fried Coney Island collection content
Browse Political ecologies in the Renaissance content
Browse The reading of books and the reading of literature content
Browse Roar, lion, roar — a celebration of Columbia football content
Browse Russian and early Soviet sheet music content
Browse Russian Imperial Corps of Pages content
Browse Sebastiano Serlio — On domestic architecture content
Browse Sergei Diaghilev and beyond content
Browse Seymour B. Durst Old York Library content
Browse Thomas de Waal Interviews content
Browse Tibetan Studies Special Collections at Columbia University content
Browse Time-Based Media content
Browse The unwritten history : Alexander Gumby’s African America content
Browse The Varsity Show content
Browse Wilbert Webster White papers content
Browse “Wild Boar in the Vineyard”–Martin Luther at the birth of the modern world content
Browse World Telegram and Sun Essay Contest papers content
Browse Yiddish at Columbia content
