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Columbia University's C. V. Starr East Asian Library
Receives $ 1.5 million Challenge Grant
(New York, October 31, 2002) C. V. Starr East Asian
Library at Columbia University has been awarded a $1.5
Million Challenge Grant from The Starr Foundation. The three-year
challenge grant will be used to support additions to the Korean and Tibetan
collections, the digitization of selected collections, and improvements
to the Library's infrastructure including technology and furnishings. The
library, founded in 1902, celebrates its centennial this year and will host
a symposium and reception in the spring.
Dr. Amy V. Heinrich, Director of the C. V.
Starr East Asian Library, said, "It's wonderful to work with The
Starr Foundation again. This challenge grant enables the library to expand
its leadership in new areas of exploration that have developed at Columbia
and across all of higher education."
 The
East Asian Library at Columbia was named the C. V. Starr Library in 1983,
after a transforming renovation, funded primarily by The Starr Foundation,
which substantially increased the Library's shelf space, improved its
climate control, furnishings, storage and reading areas. The million-dollar
donation was followed by an endowment of $3 million, to continue the acquisition
work of the library, preserve the library's excellent holdings, and constantly
improve its technology.
James G. Neal, Columbia University Librarian,
applauded "the extraordinary record of support for the East Asian
Library from The Starr Foundation and the importance of this new gift
to the Library's excellence and to the Library's assistance in teaching
and research."
The Starr Foundation was established in 1955
by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded the American
International family of insurance and financial services companies, now
known as American International Group, Inc. (NYSE:AIG). Mr. Starr, a pioneer
of globalization, set up his first insurance venture in Shanghai in 1919.
He died in 1968 at the age of 76, leaving his estate to the Foundation.
The Foundation currently has assets of approximately $4 billion, making
it one of the largest private foundations in the United States. It makes
grants in a number of areas, including education, medicine and healthcare,
public policy, human needs, culture and the environment.
The
C. V. Starr East Asian Library is one of the major collections
for the study of East Asia in the United States, with well over
730,000 volumes of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, and Western
language materials, with some holdings in Mongol and Manchu, and
over 5,500 periodical titles. The collection, established in 1902,
is particularly strong in Chinese history, literature, and social
sciences; Japanese literature, history, and religion, particularly
Buddhism; and Korean history. The library's web site is located
at http://www.columbia.edu//cu/lweb/indiv/eastasian/index.html.
For information contact:
Dr. Amy V. Heinrich
Director, C. V. Starr East Asian Library
Columbia University in the City of New York
Tel. (212) 854-1508
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