This collection is composed primarily of correspondence, memoranda, course material, photographs, drawings and slides. The collection is broken down into personal and academic papers. The academic papers pertain mainly to Colquhoun's career as a writer and theoretician and professor at Princeton University's School of Architecture. The personal papers consist mainly of correspondences with friends and family, as well as notebooks, which Colquhoun kept from the 1940s. The visual materials (photographs and drawings) straddle the two categories. Many of the photographs were taken by Colquhoun himself, to be used later in his teaching, while the drawings consist of both student work and reproductions of works from his practice with John Miller. For the majority of the collection, Colquhoun's folder titles have been maintained and the material has been arranged chronologically. The collection is arranged into four series.

The Amiri Baraka Papers contains correspondence, writings, and the personal, political activism and teaching materials related to Amiri Baraka's career as a poet, writer, editor, activist, and teacher in the New York City Beat, Downtown, and Black Arts literary scenes from the 1960s through the 2000s. Included are manuscripts from Baraka's numerous books of poetry, non-fiction, fiction, plays, editorial work, and screenplays. The collection also features organizational and documentary materials relating to Baraka's university teaching and Newark, NJ-based Black radical activism, as well as audio/visual material, photographs, and printed material collected and created by Baraka.

This collection documents the professional work of film critic, professor, and author, Amos Vogel. The bulk of the records are concerned with numerous films that Vogel has screened for Cinema 16, the independent film society that he founded and directed for sixteen years, as well as administrative records, correspondence, photographs, and printed material.

Arthur Mitchell (1934-2018) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and founder and director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. This collection contains materials related to his career as a dancer with the New York City Ballet, and his later professional work with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and others. The collection includes administrative records, appointment books, correspondence, invitations, notes, notebooks, photographs, programs, and audio and video recordings.

The Bob Fass Recordings and Papers contains materials created by Bob Fass, host of the late-night program Radio Unnameable on New York City's WBAI radio station. The collection primarily consists of audio recordings of Radio Unnameable and other radio programs hosted by Bob Fass between 1963 and 2011. A small number of video recordings, photographs, correspondence, printed ephemera, and motion picture films are also included in the collection.

Chip Lord (1944–) is an architect, media artist, and Professor Emeritus of Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Lord is best known for his work with the art and architecture group Ant Farm, which he co-founded with Doug Michels (1943–2003) in 1968. This collection, gathered by Lord, includes correspondence and material produced between 1968 and 1978, when the group disbanded following a fire at their Pier 40 studio in San Francisco, CA. In addition, the collection includes correspondence and material produced in the following decades that document Ant Farm-related products, anniversary celebrations, exhibitions, lectures, and publications, as well as material documenting litigation (including several cases of copyright infringement over use of Cadillac Ranch), licensing, and royalties.

These papers contain correspondence; drafts, manuscripts and notes; transcripts of lectures and interviews; printed material; photographs; and audio and video tapes related to life and work of C. L. R. (Cyril Lionel Robert) James--a West Indian athlete, scholar, teacher, writer and political activist.

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.

Douglas Darden (1951-1996) was an American architect based out of Denver, Colorado. Darden was best known for his book Condemned Building, a collection of ten allegorical projects. This collection contains much of Darden's work for that book as well as the process work for his second book, Laughing Girls, which he was working on at the time of his death. It also contains a large portion of his early works and his professional papers in the form of documents, drawings, photographs, and slides.

This collection documents the life and career of Edgar Allen Tafel: New York architect, Frank Lloyd Wright historian, and one of the original apprentices of the Taliesin Fellowship from 1932. The collection primarily documents Tafel's professional activities and his later independent architectural career which was most prominent from 1965-1985. The collection is made up of nine series: Personal Papers, Correspondence, Writings, Professional Papers, Office Records, Project Records, Photographs and Slides, Audio-Visual Material, and Printed Material.

This collection encompasses the life and career of Fred Friendly as an author, educator, and television news producer.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and memorabilia of the American poet, Hart Crane, range in date over most of his active life. This collection includes over 500 letters written by Crane to members of his family and close friends and received by him from his family and contemporary authors including Eugene O'Neill, Sherwood Anderson, T. S. Eliot, Alfred Stieglitz, Waldo Frank, and Allan Tate. Among these is a group of letters written to Mrs. Crane upon Crane's death. There is correspondence and documents relating to his books, THE BRIDGE, WHITE BUILDINGS, and THE COLLECTED POEMS. Also present are most of the original manuscripts of Crane's major works ("The Bridge" "White Buildings" "West Indies Poems" etc) with corrections and additions in Crane's hand. Included here are a number of drafts of poems of his earlier period. The is also a copy of the 16mm motion picture "In Search of Hart Crane."

Henry Hope Reed (1915-2013) was an American author, architecture critic and advocate of classical architecture. Along with writing and giving New York City walking tours, Reed served curator of Central Park and co-founder of Classical America. This collection contains his writings, correspondence, photographs and extensive research files on classical architecture and the people, parks, buildings, streets and history of New York City.

The Hettie Jones Papers contains correspondence, writings, and teaching materials related to Hettie Jones' career as a writer, editor, and teacher in the New York City Beat and Downtown literary scene, from the 1960s through the 2000s. Included are manuscripts from Jones' numerous books of poetry and children's and young adult novels, as well as her 1990 autobiography, How I Became Hettie Jones. The collection also features materials from her time as co-editor of Totem Press and Yugen literary journal. A small amount of material pertaining to Jones' former husband, the poet LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, including unpublished early manuscripts and photographs is also here.

New York architect, historian, and attorney Andrew Alpern co-wrote Holdouts! The Buildings That Got In The Way with Seymour Durst. Holdouts! examines over 50 examples of New York City holdouts or building owners who refuse to make way for office buildings and other urban designing projects.

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

Jane C. Loeffler (1947–) is an architectural historian and author of The Architecture of Diplomacy: Building America's Embassies. A graduate of Wellesley College and Harvard's Graduate School of Design, she holds a Ph.D. in American civilization from The George Washington University and has published numerous articles in Architectural Record, The Foreign Service Journal, The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, The New York Times, and elsewhere. In addition, Loeffler has provided expert witness testimony before House subcommittees on the importance of design within public policy and was twice awarded by the State Department for her public service. This collection consists mainly of reference materials related to embassy design and its cultural significance, as well as the architectural history of the United States foreign building program.

This collection documents the life and career of J. Max Bond, Jr., one of the most influential and prominent African-American architects and educators in the United States. The collection primarily documents Bond's professional activities rather than his building projects; however, the collection does contain project records and office records. The collection is made up of six series: Office Records, Personal Papers, Faculty Papers, Professional Papers, Project Records, and Reference Materials.

Joan McClure (1914-2005) was a resident of the West Village in New York City for more than sixty years and active in many local civic and social issues. She was closely involved in the planning for the Westway highway along the Hudson River, the creation of a landscaped traffic island at Abbingdon Square, and the founding of the Village Halloween Parade.