University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Documents, notebooks, and diary entries relaying the narrative of the Aitala family’s migration through and immigration from Italy to the United States during and after World War II.

This is a collection of Book-of-the-Month club news, mailings, and offers along with a few examples of other book-seller related materials such as advertisements, catalogs, lists, and financial and business documents, mostly receipts. The bulk of the collection is from the years 1850 to 1961 with a few outlying documents from the 1820s to 1840s.

Arthur Hobson Quinn (1875-1960) was a professor and dean of English and History at the University of Pennsylvania and an internationally recognized authority on the history of American drama. This collection contains material representative of Quinn’s entire professional life: correspondence, manuscripts of books and articles, lecture notes, reviews of contemporary plays, his collection of playbills and libretti, and material related to his research on Edgar Allan Poe and the American realist playwright James A. Herne.

August Mencken (1889-1967) was an American civil engineer and author. This collection comprises August Mencken’s correspondence regarding his brother, H.L. Mencken, his research and work on a scale model of the Confederate cruiser Alabama, and miscellaneous collected writings from friends and colleagues.

Burton Rascoe (1892-1957) was an American literary critic, journalist, editor, and author working in the first half of the 20th century. His confrontational style stirred up much debate and helped generate interest in up-and-coming writers that Rascoe believed showed promise; most notably, Rascoe was an early champion of writers such as James Branch Cabell, Theodore Dreiser, and H. L. Mencken. The collection consists of his correspondence, including some with famous literary figures; writings by Rascoe in draft and published form; papers relating to a lawsuit with Max Annenberg; diaries and notebooks; photographs; and clippings.

Founded in 1907, the Charlotte Cushman Club was originally intended to provide respectable lodgings for actresses appearing in Philadelphia theaters. In the years of World War II the Club ceased to provide residential services, becoming a favorite gathering place of theater lovers as well as of the many actresses and actors visiting the city with their touring companies. The Charlotte Cushman Club Records offer insight into the activities, the administration, and the membership of the Club during the whole life of the organization, until its closure in 1998. The collection also includes part of the holdings of the former Club’s museum and library.

The Davis Grange (a subchapter of the Pennsylvania State Grange and the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry) was founded sometime in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, and was based in Eighty-Four, Washington County, Pennsylvania. The Davis Grange No. 1466 records date from 1925 to 1960, and include materials documenting the meetings, activities, and membership of the Davis Grange. This collection documents the life of an agricultural community in rural Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State Grange activities in Washington County. The minute books in particular are a rich source of information and include records of members, such as their names, their activities, their accomplishments, and notices of their deaths.

Dorothy M. Spencer (born 1907) was an American anthropologist who was a participant observer among the Mundari-speaking Adivasi tribespeople of India during four periods between 1939 and 1952. This collection features her notes from these expeditions on individual villagers, their customs, daily lives, and town meetings. It also contains several academic papers, materials from two courses taught by Spencer in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and several vinyl records and two 8mm films.

Edward Sculley Bradley (1897-1987) was a scholar, author, educator, and administrator at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a prolific writer and editor, serving as editor of the General Magazine and History Chronicle, Philadelphia, 1945-1956. He published biographies of literary figures George Henry Boker and Henry Charles Lea, as well as editions of works by Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman. Bradley was considered an international expert on Whitman, editing several important editions of the poet's Leaves of Grass. The Sculley Bradley papers include his personal and professional correspondence dating from 1923 to 1962, material from several literary censorship cases for which he testified, corrected drafts of his manuscripts for the Comprehensive Reader's Edition, Norton Critical Edition, and Variorum edition of Leaves of Grass, ephemera and graphics associated with Walt Whitman, and a small amount of material on other authors.

Enid Frank Goldsmith, the sister of Waldo Frank (1889-1967), was born on March 30, 1888, and died on December 7, 1983. The letters in this collection span several generations and mainly include correspondence between various members of the Frank and Goldsmith families between 1886 and 1984. The majority of the letters are either written to or by Enid Goldsmith between 1917 and 1960. Other prominent writers include Waldo Frank, Julius J. Frank, and Morton Goldsmith.

George R. Allen (1919-1998) was a Philadelphian bookseller who served in the military intelligence during World War II and made remarkable discoveries in Hitler's mountain residence at Berchtesgaden. His collection of World War II memorabilia includes newspapers, leaflets, photographs, booklets, correspondence, and clothing accessories.

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.

This collection mostly contains research materials and correspondence between Bolitho, Aga Khan III, M.A. Jinnah and others, including Mountbatten and W.S. Maugham, on the subject of the newly formed country of Pakistan.

Howard Melvin Fast (1914-2003) was a best-selling and prolific American author of historical fiction, mysteries, and science fiction, known for his books on themes of patriotism, social justice, and the immigrant experience. He wrote nearly 100 books and more than 150 short stories, as well as numerous screenplays, stage plays, and newspaper columns. The Howard Fast papers include correspondence, journals, appointment books, address books, financials, writings, promotion and reviews, scrapbooks, biographies, profiles, chronologies, bibliographies, interviews, governmental and political files, vital records, personal documents, awards, photographs, artwork, and audiovisual materials. The papers were deposited at the University of Pennsylvania over the course of 45 years and represent nearly all facets of the writer's life.

Howard Myers Scull was a flight surgeon with the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He died in a plane crash on July 4, 1944. This collection documents his early life and education, his World War II service, and the way in which his family mourned his death. Researchers will find photographs, correspondence, diaries, and official documents relating to Scull's education at Lafayette College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, his military career (including training and service in England), and his death.

Collection of correspondence, writings, memorabilia, and photographs of Jack Rosenfeld, mainly pertaining to his service in the United States Army during the Second World War, from September 1942 to November 1945. Rosenfeld's extensive wartime correspondence with his fiancée, family members, and friends offers glimpses into the experiences of everyday Americans during the war, both from the point of view of individuals serving in the Armed Forces, and from that of the civilian community at home, especially in Philadelphia. The correspondence also gives an impression of Jewish community life in Philadelphia at the time, and of the perspectives of American Jews on the war. A little more than half of the correspondence is in the form of the miniaturized facsimiles known as Victory Mail, or V-Mail. Jack Rosenfeld's writings include a memoir about his wartime experiences (dated 1995), and an autobiographical essay about his family and childhood. Documents and ephemera from Rosenfeld's military service include materials related to his participation in musical theater productions by the Army's Entertainment Section of Special Services. The majority of the photographs were taken during the Second World War in the locations where Rosenfeld was stationed in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany.

Jay A. Gertzman is professor emeritus of English at Mansfield University. This collection includes research material collected and used by Jay Gertzman to produce his book Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940;. Documents collected here pertain to the proliferation and censorship of erotic material in the era between the two World Wars.

This collection contains material related to the professional, academic, and personal life of John Louis Haney (1877-1960), a high school principal, scholar, and book collector. It contains correspondence; research notes on various topics; and manuscript drafts of essays, talks, and radio transcripts, as well as an inventory of his library and journals concerning his undergraduate and graduate education.

Leopold Anthony Stokowski was born April 18, 1882 in London and become one of the best-known conductors of the 20th century. Stokowski conducted symphony orchestras across the world from 1909 until his death in 1977. This collection consists of original sound recordings on sound reels, audio cassettes, cds, and long playing records. It is believed that the majority document Stokowski's conducting career from 1917 to 1977 and that very few were professional recordings. Original sound recordings are restricted from use and researchers wishing to obtain a copy of the original will be financially responsible for the reformatting costs.

The Lippincott Library supports business related research at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Corporate annual reports were originally collected by the library as a resource for business students. These reports typically provide financial information and updates on operations. The collection includes reports of companies from a variety of industries including agriculture, energy, food, and transportation.

The collection comprises the personal papers of Alma Mahler, the personal and professional papers of Franz Werfel, memorabilia related to Gustav Mahler, and the research files of Adolf D. Klarmann concerning Franz Werfel. Materials include correspondence to and from Alma Mahler and Franz Werfel, as well as to and from Adolf Klarmann, sometimes on behalf of Alma; writings of Alma, such as diaries and memoirs, as well as her musical compositions; writings of Werfel, such as poems, plays, novels, novellas and stories, and essays; memorabilia relating to Alma, her parents, Gustav Mahler, and Werfel, such as clippings, programs, and personal documents; photographs; and audio files, such as interviews and songs. Also included are Klarmann’s research notes and writings on Werfel, as well as material relating to Klarmann’s work as editor of Werfel’s writings.

Wolrd's fairs and expositions have been held internationally from 1851 and continue into the present. This collection comprises written materials, memorabilia, and, to a more limited extent, other materials such as photographs and musical recordings from or related to world's fairs and expositions that took place between 1851 and 1992. Most expositions recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) are represented, as well as many that are not officially recognized by the BIE. Some non-world's fair events are also represented to a limited extent. While events from around the world are featured in the collection, it primarily centers on expositions that occurred in the United States.

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.

Otto Edwin Albrecht (1899-1984) was an internationally known music bibliographer and professor of romance languages and musicology at the University of Pennsylvania. This collection documents his professional career and contains extensive information on his research relating to the history of music in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, the location of European music manuscripts in the United States, and his work identifying sources for Répertoire International des Sources Musicales; his work with music organizations including the American Musicological Society and the Music Library Association; and his work at and for the University of Pennsylvania's Music Library.

Mary Colum (nee Maguire) (1884-1957) was a literary critic known for her memoir, Life and the Dream, the posthumously published Our Friend James Joyce, as well as contributions to such magazines as Scribner's, The Saturday Review of Literature, and The Forum, where she also served as literary editor. Padraic Colum (1881-1972) was a poet, playwright, novelist, biographer, and folklorist, known primarily for his collections of myths and folktales for children, his novels Castle Conquer and The Flying Swans, a volume of collected poetry, and several plays. This collection contains 20 boxes of material relating to the works and careers of Padraic and Mary Colum, the management of Padraic Colum's estate following his death, and the life of Emmet Greene, nephew of Padraic and Mary Colum and executor of Padraic Colum's estate.