Correspondence, manuscripts, memorabilia, photographs, phonograph and tape recordings, and printed files. Included are Cerf's personal correspondence files, 1929-1945, and the diaries and scrapbooks which he maintained from his school days throughout his active career. The diaries, in date-book format, contain terse notes on Cerf's meetings with authors and friends, on his travels and publishing activities; the scrapbooks contain correspondence and photographs, as well as memorabilia and printed items, and were annotated by Cerf and his wife, Phyllis Fraser Cerf Wagner. Also in the collection are manuscripts and proofs for Cerf's books including "The Laugh's on Me""Treasury of Atrocious Puns""The Sound of Laughter""Stories to Make You Feel Better", and "At Random: the Reminiscences of Bennett Cerf", which was edited by Phyllis Cerf Wagner and Albert Erskine, 1977. The papers also include condolence letters written at the time of Cerf's death, photographs and photo albums,certificates and awards, and miscellaneous printed material, including Random House and Modern Library catalogues. Among the major correspondents are: Truman Capote, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Edna Ferber, Moss Hart, J. Edgar Hoover, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon B. Johnson, John Lindsay, Joshua Logan, John O'Hara, Jacqueline Onassis, Richard Rodgers, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gertrude Stein, Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman, and Robert Penn Warren

Correspondence, minutes of meetings, financial records, publications, notes, subject files, awards, speeches, reports and audiovisual materials document work by the Church Peace Union, its successors Council on Religion in International Affairs and Council on Ethics and International Affairs, and related organizations such as the World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches. The first installment of the CCEIA archival materials came to the RBML in 1974, with numerous additions over the years. A major addition in 1982 contained primarily the records of the Board of Directors and their semi-annual meetings, as well as the various programs and institutes of the Council, for the years 1972-1982, along with selected 1930s materials. 1986 addition contains presidential correspondence files, minutes of the Board of Trustees and committees, special projects, programs and conferences files, and the business and editorial files of "Worldview". Correspondents include John Foster Dulles, Jane Addams, Fiorello La Guardia, and Paul Tillich. 1990 and 2000 additions includes files of CCEIA presidents and vice presidents, paper and audiovisual materials on Merrill House Conversation Programs; Educational programs; International Monetary Fund/Lecture series; The Annals Of The Academy Of Political & Social Science; Washington Consultations; Colloquia for the Clergy; Church State Project; Asian Development & The Carribean Initiative; Korea: Year 2000 Project; fundraising files, printed materials and files of the Department of Publications.

Personal correspondence, speeches, subject files, photographs, and printed and miscellaneous material of Hogan. The correspondence, speeches, and other material relate primarily to his activities as District Attorney, and to his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate, 1958. The papers also reflect Hogan's deep concern for Columbia University, as a Trustee and a member of numerous alumni committees. Among the major correspondents are Harry J. Carman, Dwight David Eisenhower, Robert F. Kennedy, Arthur Hays Sulzburger, and Herbert Bayard Swope.

Correspondence, manuscripts, lectures, notes, diaries, notebooks, reports, financial records, blueprints, photographs, and printed materials of Y.C. James Yen and the IIRR concerned with the development, sharing, and financing innovative methods of teaching, improving agriculture, health and family planning, and education in impoverished villages. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Pearl Buck, William O. Douglas, Nelson Rockefeller, and DeWitt Clinton.

The correspondence, research, and teaching files of French-American cultural historian and Columbia University professor emeritus Jacques Barzun (1907-2012).

John Leonard (1939 -2008) was an American literary and cultural critic best known for his extensive writing on literature, television, media, politics and American culture and his work as head editor of The New York Times Book Review in the 1970s. The John Leonard papers include drafts of Leonard's reviews, essays, essay collections, and works of fiction and nonfiction. The collection also includes his correspondence with prominent literary and cultural figures, his research and business files, personal memorabilia, photographs, signed artwork, printed matter, posthumous tributes to Leonard, and audio-visual material.

The Juan J. Linz papers contain correspondence, personal documents, awards, photographs, notes, writings, speeches, lectures and courses notes, research files, press coverage and interviews, and printed material, dating from 1920s to 2010. The materials also include one box of materials on Columbia Student Unrest in 1968. The collection provide an insight on Juan J. Linz's family and childhood as well as his education and his work as a political scientist and a professor.

Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, documents, photographs, audio tapes, and printed material of Louis G. Cowan. The files document Cowan's activites at CBS and Brandeis University, and in many other capacities. Approximately one-third of the collection consists of records and studies of the Broadcast Institute of North America. The papers also reflect a number of Cowan's various interests such as posters; the earliest item in the collection, a letter from General Charles P. Stone, 1885, is indicative of Cowan's active interest in the history of the Statue of Liberty. Among the prominent correspondents are Jacob Bronowski, Hubert H. Humphrey, William Phillips, and Jonas Salk.

Personal and professional correspondence, including 25 long letters from Professor Henry F. Herbig; manuscripts (mainly speeches); specifications for patents in electrical fields; technical and personal photographs; and memorabilia. Included is a copy of the famous "shot in hand" x-ray photograph, ca. 1896, one of the first ever to be taken. This collection also contains the correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and memorabilia of Professor Pupin's daughter, Varvara Smith, and his son-in-law, Louis Graham Smith. His daughter's letters and documents deal with her financial difficulties, her administration of Pupin's estate and her claims against Columbia University. Louis G. Smith's letters deal with his anti-Communist sentiments and his manuscripts are mainly ideas for popular songs and plays. There are three letters (photostatic copies) to Smith from Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Plimpton Family Papers is primarily comprised of correspondence, personal and professional documents, writings and photographs generated by or for George Arthur Plimpton and Frances Taylor Pearsons Plimpton, their son, Francis T.P. Plimpton, and his wife Pauline Ames Plimpton. Also included are documents and photographs produced by or for other Plimpton, Pearsons and Ames family members, from seventeenth century ancestors to late-twentieth century descendants.