This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
The collection is primarily composed of Randolph Silliman Bourne's correspondence and manuscripts, the majority of which date from approximately 1910 through 1918. The original manuscript of "The State"—one of the works for which he is best known, despite its being unfinished at the time of his death—is present. Other essays, published and unpublished at the time of Bourne's death, and several poems are included. A small group of letters, unpublished manuscripts, and published works about Bourne are also included in Series III.
Material is arranged into three series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Randolph Silliman Bourne papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Arthur Whittier Macmahon Papers: Papers of Bourne's Columbia University classmate and friend, who became the university's Eaton Professor of Public Administration. Includes correspondence between Bourne and Macmahon, as well as notes and correspondence about Bourne. At the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.
Alyse Gregory Papers: Papers of Randolph Bourne's close friend and biographer Alyse Gregory, containing correspondence between Bourne and Gregory dating from 1913 through 1918, as well as Gregory's biography of Bourne. Some of the letters may have originally been included in the Bourne correspondence given to Columbia University by Agnes de Lima. At the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Agnes de Lima Collection of Alyse Gregory: Includes letters from Gregory to de Lima discussing Gregory's biography of Randolph Bourne and de Lima's memories of Bourne. At the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant Papers: Papers of Bourne's friend and fellow New Republic contributor. Includes correspondence between Sergeant and Bourne dating from 1915 to 1916. At the Beinecke Library, Yale University.
James Oppenheim Papers: Papers of Bourne's Seven Arts publisher, fellow World War I opponent, and elegist James Oppenheim. At the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Boxes 1-10 have: microfilm copy.
Gift of Agnes De Lima, 1955-1966; gift of John Moreau, 1966; gift of Mrs. Arthur W. MacMahon, 1978.
Source of acquisition--De Lima, Mrs. Agnes. Date of acquisition--1955. Accession number--M-55.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 04/07/89.
2009-06-26 File created.
2013-03-25 xml document instance created by Carrie Hintz
2019-02-04 Finding aid updated by Celeste Brewer: related materials and custodial history notes added; biographical and scope and content notes revised; and Series III added to better distinguish between items created or owned by Bourne, and items created after his death.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Randolph Silliman Bourne was a radical leftist intellectual and essayist. He was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1886. His difficult birth left him with facial scars from an improper forceps delivery, and a bout of spinal tuberculosis at the age of four curved his spine and stunted his growth. His essay "The Handicapped—By One of Them," published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1911, is a foundational work in disability studies. Bourne is best known for his essays in The Seven Arts and The New Republic that sharply criticized U.S. involvement in World War I and that took American intellectuals, notably his former mentor John Dewey, to task for their support of U.S. interventionist policy.
Bourne attended Columbia University, where he studied under John Dewey and Charles Beard. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912 and a Master's in 1913. He was a contributor to, and eventually editor of, the Columbia Monthly. While enrolled at Columbia, Bourne also published regularly in the Atlantic Monthly; his collected essays for that magazine were published as Youth and Life by Houghton Mifflin in 1913.
From 1913 to 1914, Bourne studied in Europe on Columbia University's Richard Watson Gilder Fellowship. After returning to New York, he resumed his writing career, publishing extensively in The New Republic and The Dial, and in other outlets. He also published The Gary Schools (1916) and Education and Living (1917) books advocating for progressive educational reforms. He became a contributing editor of The Dial in 1918.
Published sources disagree on the exact date, but Randolph Bourne died of influenza in New York City on or around December 23, 1918.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Series I includes both personal and professional correspondence: letters written to Bourne by his friends, and letters from magazines and publishers regarding his writings.
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Box 2
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Typescript carbon copy
Box 9
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Box 2
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Box 9
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Series II includes manuscripts and typescripts of Bourne's works. The original manuscript of "The State"—one of the works for which he is best known, despite its being unfinished at the time of his death—is present. Other essays, published and unpublished at the time of Bourne's death, and several poems are included. In addition to Bourne's more formal writings, his notebooks and course materials from Columbia University, circa 1909-1913, are also in Series II, as are his European travel diaries and ephemera from 1913-1914. Clippings and pamphlets on topics of interest to Bourne, including educational reform and political movements, are included in the series as well.
Box 7
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Review of "The Cry of Youth" by Harry Kemp and "Americans" by John Curtis Underwood.
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Essay on the League to Enforce Peace.
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Dramatic script for three parts: The Poet, Myrra, and Apris.
Box 7
Essay on Reed College in Portland, Oregon.
Box 9
Box 7
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Box 7
Box 7
Columbia University course notebook
Box 7
Essay on the Shakespeare Celebration Committee's planned festival in New York.
Box 7
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Box 9
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Poem
Box 9
Poem
Box 7
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Poems
Box 7
Essay on the poetry of Jules Romains.
Box 7
Poem
Box 7
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Beginning of Bourne's unfinished fragment on "The State"
Box 7
Box 7
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Essay on Newman's "Apologia pro sua Vita."
Box 7
Box 9
Box 7
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Box 9
Box 7
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Box 9
Box 7
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Box 9
Box 7
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Box 8
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Box 8
Includes Socialist pamphlets in French and other printed ephemera gathered by Bourne during his travels.
Box 19
Contains clippings and ephemera from Europe and New York.
Box 8
Box 8
Box 12
Box 12
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Box 12
CLOSED to researchers until after Conservation treatment. DO NOT UNFOLD.
Box 11
Box 11
Box 11
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Box 11
All issues addressed to Agnes de Lima.
Box 7
Box 13
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 16
Box 17
Box 18
Series III includes works by others about Bourne, such as correspondence, biographers' handwritten notes, and publications. All, or nearly all, of these materials were written after Bourne's death. Series III also includes posthumous publications of Bourne's work.
Box 9
Box 9
Box 9
Box 12
Box 20
Box 9
Box 9
Box 10
The letters are from persons who knew Bourne and who read Moreau's manuscript.
Box 20
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Box 20
Sent to Columbia University Rare Books and Manuscripts Librarian Kenneth Lohf by the publisher.
Box 20
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Box 20