Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Master's essays can be found in the Columbia University library catalog, CLIO. They usually have a call number that begins with COA. Please keep in mind that paper copies of master's essays for most academic departments ceased being collected by the Libraries on an annual basis in the late 1970s. Another way to search for older Master's Essay titles and authors is to consult a set of publications printed by the University listing authors alphabetically and arranging essays by department for a particular year. These are available from https://babel.hathitrust.org/ The University Archives paper copies of these publications can be requested (depending on what year you need) via the following three CLIO records: Master's Essays from 1891 through 1951 (call number COA A)- https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1998092 Master's Essays and Doctoral Dissertations from 1951/1952 through 1956/1957 (call number CW4 C724) - https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1998118 Master's Essays and Doctoral Dissertations from 1957/58 through 1970/1971 (call number CW4 C724) - https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1998119

Ph.D. dissertations are cataloged individually and can be found in the Columbia University library catalog, CLIO. Archival copies should be used only if there is no General Collections or electronic copy of this dissertation available. The exact number of dissertation in existence is not known. They usually have a call number that begins with COY, CWO CXO, CZO or LD1237.Another way to search for dissertation titles and authors is to consult a set of publications printed by the University listing authors alphabetically and arranging dissertations by department for a particular year. List of theses submitted by candidates for the degree of doctor of philosophy in Columbia University, available from Hathitrust: 1872-1910 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t3mw2mj11 1971-1974 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4187471 1974-1976 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4187472 1976-1977 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4187473 1977-1981 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4187474 1981-1987 - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4187475 The University Archives paper copies of the List of Theses can be requested via the following different CLIO records: Master's Essays and Doctoral Dissertations from 1951/1952 through 1956/1957 (call number CW4 C724, https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1998118) Master's Essays and Doctoral Dissertations from 1957/58 through 1970/1971 (call number CW4 C724, https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/1998119 ); Doctoral Dissertations from 1971/1972 through 1987/1988 (call number CW4 C725, https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/400172). After 1987/1988 you can find annual lists of Doctoral Dissertations in Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Convocation Programs which can be accessed via our Commencement Collection (https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-ua/ldpd_6386066)

Ostraca are pottery fragments and flakes of limestone with writing in ink. "Ostraka" is the plural; "ostrakon" is a single item; the word can also be spelled with a "c" as in ostraca and ostracon. Some contain Greek, but the majority is Coptic, and they range in date from the sixth to the seventh century CE. They include about one hundred school exercises (especially abecedaries), private letters, religious texts, receipts, etc. With few exceptions, the ostraka come from monasteries in Upper Egypt around Luxor. Columbia Libraries Ostraka range in date from 150 BCE to the ninth century CE; the majority is dated 6th – 7th century CE. Some of the ostraka come from early gifts and from Egypt Exploration Society distribution of Oxyrhynchos ostraka, but most of the ostraca were acquired at the behest of Professor A. Arthur Schiller in two lots from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1958 and 1961. They come largely from the unpublished material deriving from the Museum's excavations at Deir el Bahri and at the Monastery of Epiphanius, though some were purchases by and gifts to the MMA. Many of these Coptic ostraka are very fragmentary and little can be said about their contents. In 1991, 10 ostraca found near the ancient Mons Porphyites, in the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea, in Egypt, were donated by Roger Bagnall and added to the collection.