University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

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.

Holden Furber (1903-1993) was a professor of South Asian studies at the University of Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1973. His papers include his correspondence to his family while traveling; records relating to his education from grammar school to graduate school; his writings; his research; and his professional papers, largely as a professor.

John Bach McMaster (1852-1932) was an American writer and professor best known for his landmark history of the United States, A History of the People of the United States, which appeared in eight volumes from 1883 to 1913. McMaster’s historical technique was notable in its use of newspaper material and his insistence on providing social context from all classes, not simply the political leaders of the time. This collection contains correspondence, writings by McMaster, material used by McMaster in his research, and personal material, such as newspaper clippings of his life and work, testimonials by colleagues, and memorabilia.

Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951), an art collector and founder of the Barnes Foundation, had an uneasy relationship with the University of Pennsylvania, despite efforts on both parts to establish a collaboration in art education between the Barnes Foundation and the University. This collection contains primarily correspondence between Barnes (or the secretary of the Barnes Foundation, Nelle E. Mullen, on Barnes' behalf) and University of Pennsylvania officials, largely related to an effort to establish a joint Penn-Barnes course, which met for only a few sessions in 1946 before being called off by Barnes.

John W. Mauchly (1907-1980) was a physicist, teacher, and a leader in the development of computers. With J. Presper Eckert, he invented the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC), the Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC), and the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC). This first installment of Mauchly's papers documents Mauchly's youth, education, early career at Ursinus College, his work at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering, his partnership with J. Presper Eckert, with whom he formed two companies, the Electronic Control Company (ECC) and the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), and his work through 1959 with Remington Rand/Sperry Rand after its purchase of EMCC in 1950. Early work in programming, coding, compilers, routines and subroutines, and most importantly, the application of electronic computers in government, business, and industry, as well as the history of the computer, is well documented. Moreover, this collection provides a glimpse into the personal life of the remarkable man behind this work through his interactions with family, friends, and colleagues.

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.

Paul Schrecker (1889-1963) was an Austrian-born philosopher and University of Pennsylvania professor who edited the works of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz from 1929 to 1933 and Nicolas Malebranche from 1934 to 1940. This collection of his professional and personal papers consists of the teaching materials, correspondence, writing, and research materials accumulated throughout his career. This collection is of value to scholars interested in research on Enlightenment philosophers and the culture of 20th century academia.

Richard Wernick (born 1934) is an American composer and professor of music composition, working at the University of Pennsylvania from 1968 to 1996. This collection documents Wernick's professional life and includes scores, professional material, concert programs, articles collected by Wernick, recordings of works by Wernick and others, and photographs.