University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Arnold and Deanne Kaplan collection of Early American Judaica contains more than eleven thousand items. These items range in date from the sixteenth century to 1977, with the vast majority of the collection consisting of items from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Geographically, the collection encompasses the entire Western hemisphere in the period before mass migration at the end of the nineteenth century. The collection contains a variety of materials, including trade cards, manuscripts, books, periodicals, printed ephemera, photographs, art, and artifacts.

The Beasley family papers are comprised largely of documents relating to three generations of Beasleys who lived in the vicinity of Philadelphia in the nineteenth century: Frederick Beasley (1777-1845), Frederick Williamson Beasley (1808-1878), and Frederick Williamson Beasley, Jr. (1845-1873). The collection includes letters, certificates, published works of the Beasleys, memorabilia from the University of Pennsylvania, guidebooks to the city of Philadelphia, and auction catalogues relating to the interests of the Beasley and Bancker families. The collection includes items with dates ranging from 1802 to 1929, with the bulk of the material falling between 1822 and 1899.

Charles Godfrey Leland (1824-1903) was a humorist and folklorist from Philadelphia. The collection consists of fourteen illustrated letters written to George Henry Boker which document one year of Leland's trip to Europe from 1869 to 1870; transcriptions of the letters; and an article by donor and scholar Sculley Bradley about the collection.

The Clark and Madeira Family Papers offers a perspective on the personal, social, and professional lives of a rich and vibrant upper class Philadelphia family in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. It is reflective their affection for learning, travel as well as their undying affection for each other.

The Curriculum and Lecture Notes Collection was created by the University Archives in the 1950s to assemble individual manuscripts and small groupings of archival material relating to courses taught at the University of Pennsylvania throughout its entire history. This collection documents the teaching methods used in the various schools of the University of Pennsylvania throughout its history.

Collection of various documents, mostly from 1830-1870, relating to a distillery located in Annecy, France.

Edward Garrett McCollin was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was active in Philadelphia's musical community. The Edward G. McCollin Collection consists of material related to McCollin's time as a student at the University of Pennsylvania and a composer in Philadelphia.

The Frazer Family Papers span over 200 years of an American family. The collection provides insight into five generations of University of Pennsylvania alum as well as three generations of educators, all in the field of chemistry, at the University of Pennsylvania and contains the papers of Persifor Frazer, Robert Frazer, John Fries Frazer, Persifor Frazer, Robert Frazer, John Frazer, John Frazer, Jr., and Tench Frazer, as well as a range of other family members and relatives. The collection is particularly strong in representing the professional and personal activities of Persifor Frazer (1844-1909) and his son John Frazer (1882-1964) from the 1860s to the 1950s.

Captain George A. Q. Miller was a Civil War veteran and a special agent in the United States Post Office Department during the 1870s. This collection, consisting of correspondence, a photograph, and a scrapbook of clippings and notes documents Miller's life, his career in the postal service and as an early proponent of the Civil Service Commission, and his uncertain position within the post-Civil War federal government.

Gordon Alexander Block (1885-1964) was a Philadelphia lawyer and collector of Lincoln documents and memorabilia. The collection includes twenty-three documents either signed by Lincoln or in his hand including a number of pleadings and court documents from his years as a lawyer in Illinois. The collection also contains a variety of ephemera from the Civil War era, including campaign ribbons and songbooks from 1860 and 1864 as well as broadsides, ribbons, and mourning cards issued after Lincoln’s assassination. In addition, researchers will find a rich selection of visual representations of Lincoln in the collection, including lithographs, prints, photographs, and engravings of the sixteenth president.

When the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania opened in 1875, the Dispensary for Nervous Diseases was one of seven dispensaries at the Hospital. The Dispensary Notebooks for Neurological Disorders consists of daily log of neurological cases treated and cases studies on patient treatment grouped by specific diagnosis for the late nineteenth century.William G. Spiller Reprints which include papers authored by William G. Spiller and a papers by physicians associated with the William Pepper Laboratory.

James Tyson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1863, and went on to a noted career as a physician in Philadelphia. His interested in pathology led to his career as an educator, and he eventually rose in the ranks of the Penn Medical School. The bulk of the James Tyson collection is his correspondence to his father Henry Tyson, his sister, and his wife, Fannie Bosdevex.

John Scott (1824-1896) was an American lawyer who served as U.S. senator from Pennsylvania from 1868 to 1875. The collection consists of letters written to him by colleagues and private citizens, and several of them feature Scott's shorthand reply.

The Kane family was prominent in Philadelphia society and politics during the nineteenth century. The Kane Family Papers consists primarily of correspondence to Elizabeth D. Kane from her family.

Comprises material relating to the production of German-language plays in Philadelphia, predominantly in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Material includes printed and manuscript plays with annotations, which served as prompt books; manuscript scenarios; lists of props, as well as a few actual props; role books; librettos; musical scores; playbills; and selected issues of German-language theater newspapers published in Philadelphia. Also includes a catalog of the Theater-Leihbibliothek, handwritten by Theodor Bloch, owner of the lending library.

The Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection is a fluid one, consisting of manuscripts that are unidentified or too small for their own collection. Each sub-collection within the group is given a Miscellanous Manuscript Number which corresponds to the collection. When a collection exceeds one folder, it is removed from the MM collection and is given its own collection number (i.e. ARC MS #).

This is a collection of miscellaneous music material, including manuscript scores, printed scores, and printed sheet music. In addition to the music material, there is a letter and a photograph which were sent to Benedict Nenninger.

Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery was founded in 1856. The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery Records document the administrative activities of the school.

Robert H. Gere (1859-1928) was a senior partner at Gere & Church law firm and an active member of the First Presbyterian Church of Syracuse, NY. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1883 with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and from Syracuse University Law School in 1898. Before beginning his law career, Gere spent thirteen years working as a news reporter. He married Harriet Sexsmith Gere in 1893 and together they had a daughter, Katharine. This collection contains materials dating between 1752 and 1883 and includes two diaries belonging to Robert H. Gere; a book entitled "Genealogy of the Geer Family," in which the lines of George and Thomas Geer are traced from 1621 to 1856; a single leaf from a math copybook that includes a note in pencil dating it to 1752; an oversize copy of The Luzerne Federalist; and the Susquehanna Intelligencer (a local periodical); and an unused travel accounts book.

This collection contains correspondence between Robert Montgomery Bird, his wife Mary E. Bird, their son Frederic Mayer Bird, and other family members. It provides accounts of daily life in New Castle, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 19th century.

The School of Dental Medicine opened in 1878. A century later it was the third largest dental school in the United States. The School of Dental Medicine General Records is an eclectic group of items that document the students and faculty from the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries.

The School of Dental Medicine Student Records document the academic careers of students who attended the school from its founding in 1879 to 1969.

John W. Townsend graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an A.B. in 1875, and went on to a career as an industry executive and capitalist as well as a local historian. The Townsend Collection contains documents ranging in date from 1726 to 1933. The vast majority of these items belonged to John W. Townsend. These papers trace local and national history through John W. Townsend's personal, family and business interests.