University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

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.

Daniel Garrison Brinton is considered one of the founders of modern American Anthropology. He was also the first to hold a professorship in Archaeology in the United States. His library, which includes the Carl Hermann Berendt collection of manuscripts in the indigenous languages of Mexico and Central America, is considered the core of the University of Pennsylvania Anthropology Library. Among the collection are 4515 items; rare illustrations, contemporary photographs, portraits of individual authors, and texts in Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Brinton gathered his information from archival and library studies and did not participate in any archaeological expeditions. This small collection, attributed to Brinton by J. Alden Mason of the University Museum, consists of four folders. Two contain linguistic notes on the Maya languages. The remaining two, contain drawings of pottery, objects, sites, and maps of Maya regions, primarily in Mexico. Some of the drawings are believed to be those of Carl Hermann Berendt, purchased by Daniel Brinton for the library at the University. The collection is in fragile condition and many of the items are in need of conservation assessment, particularly the Berendt drawings.

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.

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.

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.

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 #).

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.

Materials include correspondence to, from, and concerning Walt Whitman; financial records; writings by and about Whitman; and memorabilia, such as sketches, photographs, and portraits of Whitman, his family, his friends, and his homes.

The collection documents Pepper’s role in expanding the University of Pennsylvania in the 19th century, his contributions to the medical profession, and his activism in Philadelphia. Primarily comprising correspondence, the collection covers Pepper’s life from a student at the University of Pennsylvania to his death 54 years later.