Scope and arrangement
The Christiane C. Collins collection of West Harlem Coalition for Morningside Park and Urban Problems of the Contiguous Communities: West Harlem, Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights and Manhattanville documents the origins, demonstrations, and aftermath of the Columbia University student protest in the spring of 1968 and events through 1970. The collection focuses on the convergence of student activism and Black community concerns as they relate to urban planning, gentrification, and institutional racism, and the neglect of scarce natural resources in Black neighborhoods. In particular, the material documents the relationship between student and local activists and their unity over the issues of Columbia's proposed construction of a new gymnasium in Morningside Park, just north of the University's campus, and in Harlem, as well as other issues relating to Columbia's building expansion in Morningside Heights. The collection dates from 1941-1996 with the bulk dating from 1968-1970 when the student protest was at its peak.
Represented in the collection are the voices, opinions, and perspectives of all the major parties: the community, university/faculty, and media. Materials representing the community include articles from the Columbia Daily Spectator, The New York Times, and local Manhattan neighborhood newspapers; and other printed matter such as magazine and journal articles, reports, flyers, mimeograph leaflets, and proclamations. The records of meetings of the West Harlem Coalition for Morningside Park and the Architects' Renewal Committee in Harlem, and of other community groups dedicated to preserving Morningside Park and Morningside Heights, are also in the collection. Additionally, there is documentation on Columbia's handling of the 1968 student protest, policy decisions by the Faculty Executive Committee, and selected minutes of the University Faculty Senate on Black and community-related affairs. Other materials include deliberations and documentation of the role played by city officials from community and civic leaders, and City and University officials. Due to the wide variety of organizations, institutions, community groups and individuals represented in this collection, a great diversity of opinions is expressed. Numerous student groups voiced their political stance, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) being the most prominent. The student protest against the conflict in Vietnam as it related to Columbia University and nationwide is documented by news clippings and flyers.
The Christiane C. Collins collection of the West Harlem Coalition for Morningside Park and Urban Problems of the Contiguous Communities: West Harlem, Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights and Manhattanville is arranged in nine series:
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1956-1996
The Columbia University Building ExpansionOLUMBIA UNIVERSITY BUILDING EXPANSION series provides background information on the issues which united Black and white residents of Morningside Heights with many students and faculty members in opposition to Columbia University's administration. The series contains university newsletters and reports regarding plans for expansion, including the 1966 commencement of a $200 million capital and program campaign; correspondence; material pertaining to the proposed construction of the gym in Morningside Park; Columbia's alleged harrassment of tenants; housing issues for students and community residents; and the history of building construction on the Columbia campus. Of note is a 1967 report prepared by the Faculty Civil Rights Group entitled "The Community and the Expansion of Columbia University". Additional topics discussed in this series include eviction of tenants from Columbia-owned buildings and single room occupancy hotels (SROs); and the 1966 Ford Foundation $200 million grant, which included $10 million in funding for the Center on Urban and Minority Affairs (the Urban Center), the East Campus "superblock", and the Pharmacy Site. Flyers, prepared by SDS and various tenant groups that sponsored some of the meetings and calls for action, are filed in this series. Other material focuses on housing policies.
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1962-1975
This series contains files about St. Luke's Hospital and the construction of P.S. 36 in Morningside Park, among other projects.
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1960-1994
Both background and in-depth information relating to Columbia University can be found in this series. Most of the material focuses on Morningside Park, center of the gymnasium controversy, and includes a 1972 report entitled "A Master Plan Study of St. Nicholas, Colonial and Morningside Parks" prepared for the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Administration by City College's School of Architecture and Environmental Studies. There is also a history of Morningside Park dating to colonial times, including information on its landscapers, Olmsted and Vaux. The relationship with Columbia University, the involvement of community groups and their attempts to provide access for recreation to all, and the voices of political and civic leaders are expressed in this series. There are architectural drawings of proposed renovations of Morningside Park prepared by Bond Ryder Wilson and the Columbia 1972 master plan for Morningside Park, in addition to aerial photographs of Morningside Heights and Park. The long-standing problem of crime in the park is also represented. Christiane Collins's articles about Morningside Heights and Park, Riverside Park (including its renovation), and housing issues, and her extensive manuscript entitled "Morningside Park and Its Contiguous Communities: A Chronicle of Urban Conflicts" (1971), about the relationship between Morningside Park and the surrounding neighborhood, complete this series.
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1962-1986
This series includes a lengthy report detailing plans for the development of Harlem prepared by various city commissions and local organizations, including the City Planning Commission, Columbia University, and the Negro Labor Committee (1968). News clippings, flyers, and other printed matter discuss redevelopment projects and plans in Harlem, including the construction of the Harlem State Office Building, and rehabilitation of residential buildings and deteriorated areas. Other material pertains to East Harlem, Puerto Ricans in Manhattan, including the Young Lords and their bimonthly newspaper, Palante, and a poverty striken community in the East Bronx. Official reports in this series include Mayor Robert Wagner's legislative program on housing, and a report prepared by Columbia entitled "Columbia University in the City of New York: An Old Partnership", dealing with the University's relationship with city problems such as medical services, legal affairs, economic development, business, and architectural projects.
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1959-1994
This series documents a wide variety of activist organizations that worked for the development of Morningside Heights and Morningside Park. The Architects' Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) records encompass planning studies, memoranda to members, reports, correspondence, articles, flyers, and news clippings regarding its efforts to plan for the renovation of Morningside Park in conjunction with Lawrence Halprin and Associates, and a report about legal action taken against the Morningside Hotel, an SRO.
The records of the Take-Park Workshop, which was co-sponsored by the West Harlem Coalition for Morningside Park and ARCH, include readings, a workbook, and a report enumerating participants' recommendations to renovate the park. Additional records of the West Harlem Coalition include minutes of meetings held with the community planning boards and correspondence with member Bob McKay and local politicians regarding a feasibility and design study. Other material represented in this series include the Morningside Heights General Neighborhood Renewal Plan, under the auspices of the City of New York Housing and Redevelopment Board (consisting of reports, proposals for use of the neighborhood, and news clippings), and Morningsiders United (memoranda and printed matter concerning the maintenance of residential buildings and opposition to Columbia's encroachment and control of the neighborhood). There is also a planning and design workbook for community participation sponsored by Princeton University.
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1941-1986
This series provides additional background information on the causes which led to the spring 1968 Columbia University student strike. The history of the "new" gym, which was planned in the 1940s, and subsequent plans in the 1950s, are critiqued in the contemporary student newspaper. The correspondence of George Collins and then-Manhattan Borough President Constance Baker Motley, who were involved in planning for the gym in the 1960s, is located in this series. Most of the other material from the 1960s and 1970s, which is comprised of news clippings, details the community's objections to construction of the facility. Following Columbia's abandonment of its construction plans, various organizations and individuals conceived ideas for rehabilitation of the park, many of which are included here. There are also documents describing Columbia's agreement to pay reparations to renovate the defaced park gym site in the 1970s. Of special interest are I.M. Pei's plans for construction of a gym beneath South Field included with his master plan for the entire University, "Planning for Columbia University: An Interim Report", in which the famed architect proposed the use of campus land and buildings to their fullest potential. Finally, the plans and dedication of the new gym, named the Marcellus Hartley Dodge Center for Physical Fitness, dedicated in 1974, complete this series.
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1961-1987
The most extensive series in the collection culminates principally with the spring 1968 student strike, with documents also focusing on the spring 1969 and 1970 strikes.
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1967-1981
This series consists of proposals for the creation of a University Senate and a student assembly, minutes of meetings, correspondence, a directory of Columbia officers and staff, bulletins, and news clippings. These documents pertain to some of the issues that the Senate dealt with, including Columbia as a landlord and ways to improve the University's relationship with the community; the establishment of a Puerto Rican and Latin American Institute; and the development of the East Campus. The committee and subcommittees in this series include Community Relations, Physical Development (Professor Collins held membership in both), and Student Life.
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1961-1980
This series is comprised of material from three University presidents (Kirk, Cordier, and McGill) and one vice-president (Lawrence H. Chamberlain), and consists of the 1970-1971 presidential annual report, correspondence, financial reports, and commencement addresses. There are also public affairs notices regarding the investiture, retirement, and assessment of tenure of the presidents, as well as news clippings. For the vice-president, there is material about the physical expansion of the University.