2013 Conference Objects

Islam in the Columbia Curriculum, 1886-2012: From Oriental Languages to Area Studies and Religious Studies

Riedel, Dagmar A.

The one-day conference was held on Thursday, 31 January 2013, in the Faculty House of Columbia University, 400 West 117th Street, New York, N. Y. 10027. It explored the history of Islamic Studies in North America in general, and at Columbia University in particular. Its starting point was the observation that Islamic Studies slipped into the Columbia curriculum when in the late 1880s Oriental languages were first added to the fledgling university’s course offerings.

The conference was open to the public, but registration was requested, as seating in the Faculty House was limited.

The conference accompanied a brick-and-mortar exhibition in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Columbia professors Richard Gottheil (1862-1936) and A. V. Williams Jackson (1862-1937). The exhibition showcased books and ephemera in Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Persian, Sanskrit, Sumerian, and Turkish, exploring the interdependence between the development of library resources and the establishment of Columbia’s first Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies programs. The exhibition was on view in the Chang Octagon in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML) from 19 December 2012 until 31 March 2013.

Conference and exhibition are archived here as pdf-files:
Files 1-3 document the origin of the project and provide historical context: a 2005 proposal for improving access to Columbia Libraries’ Near Eastern special collections; the 2010 proposal for a brick-and-mortar exhibition about the history of Columbia’s Islamic collections; and an outline of the history of Islamic studies at Columbia, 1886-1959.
Files 4-6 provide detailed information about the brick-and-mortar exhibition, including all labels, some documentary photographs, and the exhibition poster.
Files 7-11 include the conference program and conference poster, as well as Dr. Riedel’s official introduction and the slides of her presentation.

Organizer: Dagmar A. Riedel (Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University)
Graduate Student Assistant for the conference: Hannah K. Barker (Department of History, Columbia University)
Liaison for the brick-and-mortar exhibition: Jane R. Siegel (RBML, Columbia University)

The conference was sponsored by the Columbia University Seminar on Religion and Writing (#751), the American Institute of Iranian Studies, and the Friends of the Columbia Libraries.