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This collection consists primarily of academic robes and hoods of various Columbia professors and administrators, especially those given to these individuals for honorary degrees at other universities. The collection also contains some other textile materials, including the Women's Banner or Butler Library Banner (in two parts), Columbia College banners and flags, and some crew sweaters. Additional textiles can be found in the University Artifacts Collection (UA#0016).

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, memorabilia, and printed materials primarily concerning biochemistry. Correspondents include 24 Nobel Prize winners, including Otto Loewi, Otto Meyerhof, Archibald Vivian Hill, Feodor Lynes, Severo Ochoa, and Otto Warburg. Other correspondents include Sir Hans Krebs, John Farquhar Fulton, Jean Pierre Changeux, and others in Europe, Israel, Japan, and the USSR as well as the USA. Nachmansohn's concern with the place of Jews in science appears throughout the collection, especially in material concerning the Weismann Institute and other academic institutions to which he belonged. There are photographs of colleagues, many signed and inscribed during his many trips. The printed materials consist chiefly of Nachmanson's published works beginning with his 1927 doctoral dissertation (University of Berlin) and continuing throughout his professional life at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (1926-1930), the Sorbonne (1933-1939), Yale University (1939-1942), and Columbia University (1942-1982).

The materials that comprise the Historical Biographical Files have been collected and added to from a variety of sources over the years by current and previous staff. The files consist of materials related to people who have a connection to the University whether as student, alumni, administrator, faculty, staff, guest lecturer, or honorary degree recipient. Materials generally consist of newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, ephemera, printed matter, lists, reports, and pamphlets.