What’s hidden behind the stacks of Butler…

Butler Library is known throughout campus here in Morningside Heights and within the greater city. Its enormous reading room on the third floor and beautiful architecture make it a building to remember. It’s also memorable for what’s inside it, specifically what’s inside Butler’s stacks.

The Butler stacks are lodged deep into the chasm of the library and are infamous for many things…some better left unsaid. But as I continued to explore deeper and deeper into Butler, with more midterms piled onto my workload, I discovered the secrets behind the walls of the historic library.

I sat shivering in the Butler stacks, crouched over my work, and tried to concentrate. My eyes naturally wandered over to the walls in front of me. I scanned the graffiti that faced back at me, reading each one. Scribbles were everywhere, not only over the backs of bookshelves and tables, but even on the ceilings and walls that surrounded me. Of course, as one might not be surprised to find out, the graffiti was not without its fair share of jokes and lewd comments scattered throughout. Yet, I was shocked to find a slew of motivational messages, political statements, quotes from favorite authors, and a community beyond the library’s main floors.

Among the writing were declarations of love and hearts around initials scattered on the ceiling above me, a testament that love can rise above the curse of Columbia’s dating scene. Next to these heartfelt engraving, inscriptions included signatures of students from ghosts’ past, dated with the year they had written the message. One was from 1949, another from 2015, as well as various other years, no decade left behind on the walls. Students from years past, though different in many ways, were also the same students as those now who sit in these seats. It felt…weirdly inspiring. And that wasn’t the only motivational message: phrases like “Butler is a mindset” and “You got this!” made me feel more incentivized to study, feeling like I wasn’t alone in the struggle that is the grind of finals and exams.

One of the most “Columbia” things I saw were the quotes from various authors and historical figures students admired enough to write down. One example was a quote from Dante, “Abandon all here, all ye who enter here,” both witty and comical. As well as a more serious excerpt from John Donne, “So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit/We die and rise the same, and prove/ Mysterious by this love,” with a heart scribbled next to Donne’s name. The showcase of quotes to describe the feeling of students’ everyday lives in the realm of an academic space, utilizing academic sources, felt like a love letter to academia itself. 

Looking at all the writing together, it felt like the students of Columbia coming together into this smaller and hidden community. All students that had left their mark here have communicated a message to future students, and all that have read it have received this message and maybe even gained from it. I have yet to discover all of the scrawlings across the walls of Butler. Still, even just having explored a few floors of the stacks, I know that there is yet more to come that will shock and comfort me, as well as hopefully motivate me to finish the assignment that is still undone in front of me.

Image via Bwog Archives