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The materials that comprise the Vertical File have been collected and added to from a variety of sources by former Avery Librarians. The vertical file contains clippings, pamphlets, reprints, and other miscellaneous materials relating to persons, places, organizations, and topical subjects relating to architecture, housing, and city planning. The purpose of the vertical file was to arrange and store small items, memorabilia, and ephemeral material on a variety of topics to facilitate access by researchers. For the most part, the vertical file contains printed items only. Manuscript material and other unique items were, generally, not placed in the vertical file. In some cases, manuscript material has been removed from the Vertical File and placed in its corresponding collection.

Papers of Howe, including family, personal, and professional correspondence; bills and receipts; photographs, itineraries, and brochures of his numerous American and European trips; four diaries for the years 1901, 1905, 1909, 1910; sermons, scripture readings, and other materials related to his ministry; addresses and writings; Howe-Barber genealogical materials, including galley proofs for his biography JEDIAH BARBER.

Largely architectural drawings, photographs, and furniture designs for Butler Library and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City. Also, architectural drawings and photographs for other buildings at Columbia, including Bard Hall, Kent Hall, National Hall, South Hall, and Low Library; as well as drawings for buildings elsewhere in the United States and El Salvador.

The collection consists of Columbia College Treasurer Gouverneur M. Ogden's correspondence and deals chiefly with routine matters of college business and finance. The letters are tipped and mounted onto the blank pages of 7 volumes. There are three volumes of letters from F.A.P. Barnard, President of the College, 1 volume of letters from trustees and members of the faculty, and 3 volumes of College business letters. A letterbook of outgoing correspondence was added in 1984.

Letters written by Dr. Watts, his family, friends, patients, and colleagues. There are also many documents including Dr. Watts' appointment as an army surgeon July 6, 1812 signed by President Madison. Included amongst the documents are announcements of faculty teas, meetings of the trustees, faculty letters, and a catalogue of the officers and students of Columbia College, 1867-1868.

Correspondence and papers of Low. Both sides of the correspondence are almost intact from 1890 on, with copies of outgoing letters for the two previous decades. There are also four letterpress copybooks, numerous scrapbooks of clippings relating to Low's career and activities, a large number of photographs and other memorabilia, and printed and manuscript copies of many of Low's speeches. Also, contains ten boxes of Annie Low's (Mrs. Seth Low) business and financial correspondence, invitations and regrets, requests for donations, and bills for the period 1914 to 1930.

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.

Correspondence, mansucripts, transcripts, documents, photographs, and printed materials assembled by Vance for his dissertation, a biography of Myles Cooper (1737-1785), clergyman, Loyalist, and second president of King's College (now, Columbia University) from 1763 until 1775. There are transcripts of very many letters and manuscripts by and about Myles Cooper and King's College along with pertinent photographs and printed materials which Vance collected from American, English, and Scottish sources. There are also materials about Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) and Isaac Sears (1730-1786) whose biographical entries Vance wrote for the DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN BIOGRPAHY. Among the correspondents are Gertrude Atherton, Nicholas Murray Butler, Marcus Benjamin, Dixon Ryan Fox, and Dumas Malone.

An artificial collection of phonograph records, reels of audio tape recordings, and motion picture films recording a variety of Columbia University academic and extra-curricular activities and events such as lectures; speeches, some at award ceremonies; commencement; installation of Nicholas M. Butler and Dwight D. Eisenhower as presidents of the university; King George VI of England during his visit, 1939; speech of England's Queen Mother, Elizabeth in 1954; homecoming; football, the band; academic and alumni conferences; and radio programs under the auspices of Columbia. Many of the recordings are of Eisenhower. Other prominent personalities include John Foster Dulles, Herbert Hoover, Isidor Rabi, Eleanor Roosevelt, John R. Dunning, and the Shah of Iran.

A collection of diaries (49 vols.) kept by Franz Schrader and his wife, Sally Hughes Schrader. Much of the material relates to academic life in general, the Dept. of Zoology at Columbia University, and field trips made by the Schraders to Mexico, Guatemala, and British Honduras. Also, Franz Schrader's angling diary, 1906-1971.