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These files have been compiled by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library from its origin in 1930 through the present day. The material derives largely from gifts, and the occasional purchase; much of the subject file in particular is made of ephemera included in the American Type Founders, Co. Library, purchased in 1942. Prospectuses and information sent by fine presses and book artists are added to the relevant files in an ongoing fashion. The files cover subjects from the beginning of printing to the current day.

The collection consists of the editorial and production archives of Random House, Inc. from its founding in 1925 to the 1990s. The correspondence and editorial files include many of the prominent novelists and short story writers from 20th-century American and European literature: Saul Bellow; Erskine Caldwell; Truman Capote; William Faulkner; Sinclair Lewis; André Malraux; Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. Among the poets there are files for W. H. Auden; Allen Ginsberg; Robinson Jeffers; Robert Lowell; and Stephen Spender. In the area of theater there are files for Maxwell Anderson; Moss Hart; Lillian Hellman; Eugene O'Neill; and Tennessee Williams. Random House transacted business with many fine presses and noted typographers and the archives contain files for Nonesuch Press, Grabhorn Press and Golden Cockerel Press, as wll as for Bruce Rogers, Valenti Angelo, and Edwin, Jane, and Robert Grabhorn.

The University Artifacts Collection contains objects, textiles, buttons, trophies, ribbons, plaques, plates, and other three-dimensional items used as well as created by or for the University since its founding in 1754 as King's College. Some items were created for specific individuals or classes.

Books and Reading through the Lens of the Picture Postcard: The collection includes printed postcards, real photo postcards, cyanotypes, sepia tones, undivided backs, divided backs, full bleed borders, white borders, lines and chromes, and largely encompasses the full range and style of printing processes used for modern postcards from approximately 1900-1960. It is arranged by author and title, subjects, and genres and constitutes 1,027 cards. One of the genres reflects a unique phenomenon which illustrates portrait studio and reproduction photography postcards of individuals and groups reading books. The collection includes women reading books, men reading books, women reading books to children, grandmothers reading with kids, children reading books and all the variations. There are also risqué postcards, nudes reading books, etc. Other topics include books publishers, bookseller cards, librarians, and bookmobiles. There are beautifully illustrated postcards featuring some of the leading artists: Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth and Frank Schoonover. The post cards are organized in 4 series: 1. Publishers/ Book Store Advertizing Postcards (with Authors and titles); 2. Reading Books; 3. Scenes of Reading; 4. Reading: Mixed Groups of Men and Women Reading. (A detailed list of all the postcards is kept within each series binder).

This collections contains the professional research, writing, publications, and correspondence produced and collected by Rattner through her study of the architect James Renwick, Jr. The bulk of Rattner's research addresses the life and works of Renwick, but other research topics represented in her papers range from the Renwick family genealogy to the institutional architecture of New York City. Types of research material include personal research notes (in notecard format, both typed and holograph), correspondence (1963-2001), newspaper and magazine clippings, Xerox copies of archival material and secondary sources, transcribed articles and correspondence, brochures from historic sites, photographs and slides of buildings and sites, sketches, historic structure inventory forms, landmark nomination forms, landmark designation reports, and postcards.