The Mina Rees Library holds a small number of archival collections and rare books that have been donated since the Graduate Center's founding in 1961. General overviews of the collections are provided on this page, and detailed finding aids for archival collections are available in CUNY Academic Works. Rare books are listed in the library's catalog and are available for on-site use only. Access is by appointment only.
Please contact us to schedule an appointment or learn more about our special collections. Email library@gc.cuny.edu or call us at 212-817-7040.
The Activist Women's Voices Oral History Collection, 1995–2000 contains interviews, transcripts, cassette tapes, and project documentation from the Activist Women's Voices Oral History Project, which was committed to documenting the voices of unheralded activist women in community-based organizations in New York City. The archive was established in 1995 under the direction of Professors Joyce Gelb and Patricia Laurence with the aim of creating linkages between activist women in the New York City community and student and faculty researchers at the City University of New York. The project was funded by AT&T, the Ford Foundation, the Ms. Foundation for Education and Communication, and the New York Council for Humanities. The collection consists of interviews, transcripts, cassette tapes, and project documentation. Recordings are available to the Graduate Center community (GC network credentials required).
Born in Bavaria, Joseph A. Buttinger became a socialist and at 24 served as the secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. Imprisoned for several months in 1934 because of his political beliefs and anti-Nazi activities, he finally fled Austria for Paris when Germany annexed the country in 1938 and, in 1940, came to the United States. He helped form the International Rescue Committee, an organization dedicated to helping refugees fleeing from oppression. Only formally educated through sixth grade, Buttinger nonetheless became a scholar and analyst on Vietnam, writing several well-received books. He died in 1992.
Buttinger gave the last part of his utopia collection to the Graduate Center in 1971. There are a total of 1,204 titles in the collection, with the majority in English. However, there are large parts of the collection in French (247 titles) and in German (229 titles). The oldest book was published in 1631 and written by Sir Francis Bacon. Buttinger’s broad interpretation of “utopia” included not only works of fiction but also those dealing with the real world. Bob Brown’s autobiography and his practical manuscript based on his experience in founding a cooperative farm in Louisiana, are two titles while another is Robert Owen’s 1841 book on how to establish self-supporting colonies based on communism. There are books on slavery as well as rare serials. The most recent imprint is from 1972 and deals with forecasting future political and economic organizations.
This collection is non-circulating and is limited to in-library use only. The bulk of the collection is readily available in open stacks on the library's 2nd floor. Rare items are located in the library's special collections, and arrangements must be made in advance to consult these materials; please email library@gc.cuny.edu to schedule an appointment.
The Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments Collection is an archival collection which contains materials related to free-reed instruments and the International Concertina Association, donated by Professor Allan W. Atlas.
The Center fostered research and provided information on free-reed instruments from 1999–2014 as part of the Barry S. Brook Center for Musical Research and Documentation. The majority of the collection is comprised of periodicals relating to free-reed instruments, research materials, diagrams, and notes. 31 volumes of books (1947-2009) from the donation were added to the library's circulating collection; a complete list of titles is available in the finding aid.
The Deiro Collection is an archival collection of materials related to the professional and personal lives of Guido Deiro (1886-1950), Pietro Deiro, Sr. (1888-1954) and Pietro “Lee” Deiro, Jr. (1913-1999). Guido and Pietro Deiro immigrated from Italy to the United States in the early 1900s and made enduring contributions to the popularization of the Piano Accordion in the 20th Century. As masters of the instrument, the Deiro brothers achieved headliner status on the vaudeville theatre circuit. Both composed, arranged and recorded an impressive repertoire of accordion music. Pietro Deiro Publications produced a catalogue of over 10,000 pieces of sheet music and instructional materials for the Piano Accordion. The Deiro Collection documents not only a singular segment of American musical history but also a unique aspect of the Italian-American experience in 20th Century America.
The Deiro Collection was initially acquired by Professor Allan Atlas, Director of CUNY’s Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments, whose scholarship cultivated the relationship with the Deiro family which resulted in the donation of materials. The collection was processed by the Mina Rees Library in 2010 and consists of print, photographic and audio materials.
A collection of 22 imprints on a variety of subjects. The oldest is the 1666 book on world history by Georg Hornius entitled Georgi Horni Arca Noae, sive, Historia imperiorum et regnorum a condito orbe ad nostra tempora. The most recent book was published in Paris in 1925 and is a reprint of a 1532 title on Gargantua, a legendary character from French literature. The book is authored by François Rabelais entitled Les grandes et inestimables cronicq[ue]s: du grant et enorme geant Gargantua: contenant sa genealogie la gra[n]deur et force de son corps.