Commencement and Convocation Ceremonies Collection

Collection

Identifier: BC14-01

Staff View

Collection Scope and Content Summary

This collection contains speeches, press, planning documents, honors and awards, programs, memorabilia, and recordings relating to the commencement ceremonies of Barnard Collge and Columia University. The collection also contains programs and recordings from convocation ceremonies of Barnard College.

Speeches were given by prominent women leaders, writers, and activists including Toni Morrison, Eleanor Elliott, Francine du Plessix Gray, Lillian Hellman, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright as well as Barnard leaders including Presidents Ellen Futter, Millicent McIntosh, Jacquelyn Mattfeld, Judith Shapiro, Deborah Spar, and College Trustees Helene Kaplan and Anna Quindlen.

Dates

Creation: 1893-2014; 2016-2018; 2023-2025

Creator

Columbia University (Organization)
Barnard College (Organization)

Access

This collection has no restrictions.

Publication Rights

No permission is required for reproductions of materials in the public domain or uses that fall within fair use exemptions to copyright as defined under U.S. Copyright Law.

Barnard College retains copyright of materials created as part of its business operations. To request permission to reproduce these types of materials, please contact us at archives@barnard.edu.

This collection may also contain materials created by others, for which copyright is not held by the College. In order to reproduce these materials, permission from the Archives is not required, but it is researchers' responsibility to determine and obtain any necessary permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or other rights.

Please see our Reproductions, Copyright, and Citing Archives page for more information and contact us at archives@barnard.edu with any questions.

Extent

10.84 Linear Feet (14 document boxes, 2 cartons; 2 oversized boxes)

79.8 Gigabytes (538 Files) : MP3, MP4

Language

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection consists of materials relating to the commencement and convocation ceremonies of Barnard and College Columbia University.

Collection Arrangement

To improve access to the collection, during reprocessing the archivist rearranged the collection into four series that align with the different records created during the Barnard College convocation and commencement process. Individual series were organized in various ways upon receipt; arrangement within these series was revised to be chronologiccal to improve consistency across parts of the collection. The collection is intellectually arranged in this collection guide according to these series, which largely follow the physical arrangement. The arrangement of the collection is as follows:

Series 1: Commencement and convocation audiovisual recordings
Series 2: Commencement and convocation programs
Series 3: Planning documentation and analog media
Series 4: Awards, memorabilia, speeches, photographs

Physical Location

This collection is located in the Barnard Archives and Special Collections, Barnard Library. To use this collection, please contact the Barnard Archives and Special Collections at 212.854.4079 or archives@barnard.edu.

Aquisition Information

This collection is comprised of a number of acquisitions transferred from both individuals and offices at Barnard College, including Communications, Dean of Studies, IMATS, and Events Management. For many acquisitions in this collection, the date and source is unknown.

Accruals

Additions are expected.

Related Collections

Additional photographs of commencement and convocation ceremonies can be found in BC17 - Photography Collection. Recordings of commencement and convocation ceremonies can be found in BC46 - Audio Collections and BC18 - Moving Image collection. College presidents' speeches for commencement and convocation ceremonies can be found in BC05-22 - President's Office Records.

Processing History

This collection was processed and the finding aid written by Hilary Price in July 2015. Additions to the collection were processed by numerous archivists, including Katelyn Landry in September 2024. The collection was intellectually re-arranged and siginificant digital accruals were added by Olivia Newsome in September 2025.

Descriptive Rules Used: Finding aid adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Encoding: Machine readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002.

Finding aid written in English.