University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Reverend Shojo Honda 本田正静 (1929-2015) was a priest of the Shin (Jōdo Shinshū) sect of Buddhism, and a former reference librarian at the Library of Congress in the Asian Division’s Japanese Section. After his death in 2015, Honda’s library was donated to the University of Pennsylvania Libraries by Tamon Honda. Rev. Honda’s collection reflects both his interests and his life’s work, with many books on Buddhist (particularly Shin Buddhist) philosophy and ritual, Indian philosophy and world religions, world history and Japanese local history, Japanese literature, and Sanskrit and English language study. Within many of these books were handwritten notes, correspondence, photocopies, and clippings, mostly serving as bookmarks. In addition to these inserts, the Rev. Honda Shojo Collection includes several folders and boxes of archival and ephemeral material. These disparate materials have been collected and organized as the Rev. Shojo Honda Papers.