Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Papers of Carman spanning his entire career beginning with his student days at Syracuse and Columbia Universities. His Columbia files include professional correspondence, lecture notes, course-related materia, and a bibliographical card index of American and European history. Dean Carman's abiding interest both in the academic and general communities is reflected in numerous special files which include correspondence to him as book review editor of HISTORICAL OUTLOOK, 1925-1929, as participant in Columbia's AMERICAN CULTURE SERIES, ca. 1935-1942, and STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE, ca. 1935-1945. There are numerous files relating to his membership on the New York City Board of Higher Education, 1938-1964, the New York State Board of Mediation, 1941-1955, and the Japan American Committee on Intellectual Exchange. The many folders on American colleges attest to the Dean's concern for the quality and improvement of undergraduate education in the United States. Included are some of the working papers for PREPARATION FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE LIBERAL ARTS (published 1953), and THE RESURVEY OF PREPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IN THE LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE (published 1961). Among the few and incomplete book manuscripts there is a typescript of LINCOLN AND PATRONAGE (published 1943) with handwritten addition and correction.

This collection includes letters from members of the academic community at Columbia and elsewhere, former students, Columbia College alumni, members of the Van Amringe family, and friends. These letters deal with the official, alumni, and personal matters. There are two letter books for 1894 when he was Dean of Columbia's School of Arts (later known as Columbia College, the undergraduate school). The manuscripts include holograph and typescript copies of speeches made by Van Amringe at various Columbia functions, at alumni affairs, and at meetings of civic, charitable, and academic organizations; course notebooks while he attended Columbia College; diaries of daily appointments, 1909-1914; intimate prose and poetry written by Van Amringe and members of his family; a pencil sketchbook and notebook containing three plays by his daughter Emily Bulow Van Amringe. The collection includes numerous clippings, brochures, invitations, and other Columbia and personal memorabilia.