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.

Consists of 15 boxes of Albert Croll Baugh’s professional papers, including correspondence, research materials, a catalog of the book collection he donated to the University of Pennsylvania libraries, and reproductions of various medieval manuscripts. The correspondence is professional and overwhelmingly relates to Baugh’s research. The research materials consist primarily of notes, unpublished article reviews, reprints of articles, and newspaper clippings, and make up the greater bulk of the collection. These materials cover Middle English, French and Anglo-Latin literature and literary history in the twelfth through sixteenth centuries. Specific topics covered in the research materials include Arthurian legends, Chaucer, Middle English language (including spelling, grammar and punctuation) and literature (especially romances, plays and lyric works), Piers Plowman, and the concept of the table dormant, as well as the teaching of English and the editing of medieval texts. The catalog records Baugh’s extensive personal research library and can additionally be found on microfilm, along with various medieval manuscripts on microfilm. The bulk of the manuscript reproductions are, however, in photograph, facsimile or photocopied form. These manuscripts are primarily in Middle English (with a few in Latin) and include various transcriptions of the Ancren riwle (a 13th century text of rules for anchoresses, one version of which Baugh edited and then published in 1956), two versions of Piers Plowman, (the B and C texts), various English public records, and miscellaneous other Middle English works.

Allan Wayne Solomonow (born 1937) is a Jewish peace activist who was active in New York City and the San Francisco Bay area from the 1970s through the 2010s. His particular concern was Middle East peace, especially the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This collection documents Solomonow's life's work and primarily comprise his professional papers related to the Jewish peace community as well as collected secondary material that informed his thinking.

This collection consists of two parts: records of the alumnae association in the period of Mercy Hospital and records of the organization under its present name. It complements the Mercy-Douglass Hospital records (MC 78) in that the latter are exclusively hospital and school records organically created before the hospital closed in 1973. The alumnae association collection contains historical accounts of the hospital and the school as prepared by the alumni, minutes of alumni meetings, programs of various kinds of activities the association sponsored, newsletters, correspondence, clippings, and material the association collected of other organizations.

This collection contains photographs related to Philadelphia General Hospital. Images includes people, activities, buildings, and equipment, ranging in date from the early 1900s through the 1970s.

This collection documents one of the largest and most active American Legion nurses' posts: the Helen Fairchild Nurses' Post No. 412 of Philadelphia. In its heyday, the Fairchild Post engaged in a multitude of community activities, and enjoyed a large membership base. These files provide a glimpse of the long and eventful history of the Post, beginning in 1919 and continuing to 1989.

Alexander Scott was born in 1854 in Camberwell, Surrey, the son of the famed British portrait painter for the Illustrated London News, Thomas Dewel Scott. He became known as a world traveler, landscape painter and collector of Asian antiquities. This collection was donated to the Penn Museum in 2011 by Anne Bowbeer, the wife of Alexander Scott's nephew, following the death of Mabel Scott Hall, Alexander Scott's widow

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.

The Barbara Bates papers include correspondence, writings, photographs, and personal papers that shed light on her career in the medical and nursing history fields, research projects, and personal life.

The Benque Viejo (Xunantunich), Cahal Pech expedition, conducted by Dr. Linton Satterthwaite, was an extension of his expedition to Caracol, British Honduras (Belize). It was conceived as a "Housemound Project" and continued for two seasons from 1950 to 1953. The area of Benque Viejo, Cahal Pech contained seventeen structures and five stelae for investigation. Much of the collection relates to the Ball Court and East Plaza sites, as well as Structure A6 first and A6 second. The expedition produced objects and numerous photographs of the area. The Benque Viejo, Cahal Pech expedition records consist of twenty-nine folders in three archival boxes. Materials relate to the proposal for the expedition, preliminary data, budget and financial records, maps, notebooks, field notes, diaries, bag study sheets, progress and summary reports, press and publication materials, and photographs.

This collection documents the Brandywine Home Health Agency, Inc. from its inception through its subsequent growth during social, environmental, and legislative changes. As a non-profit volunteer agency, BHHA was conscious of its responsibility to foster innovative and relevant programs. Thus as health needs and technology evolved, it progressed accordingly. Over time, it became a multi-service agency delivering three categories of service: therapeutic, supportive, and preventative. The material in this collection covers all facets of these services and includes records of administration, financial, program services, and public relations.

Linton Satterthwaite, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the American Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, conducted three trips to Caracol, Belize in the 1950s to investigate a previously unknown site of Maya culture. While his primary interest was in Maya inscriptions and chronology, his journeys to Caracol yielded artifacts for the Museum, including twenty-six vessels of the early classic period, nine vessels of the late period, Stela 11, a new "giant glyph" altar, and the bottom portion of Stela 3. The Caracol expedition collection consists of 16 boxes of correspondence, field notes and notes on individual stela, altars, and stones, glyph decipherment and chronology data, information for publication, and photographs and drawings including contact sheets and photographs from Caracol, Benque Viejo, and Cayo X. Satterthwaite organized and catalogued the photographs according to the type of film used, field numbers, and monument number. The collection also contains three file boxes of card notes to the photographs and a few pieces of oversized material. Satterthwaite's "The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize" with co-author Carl Beetz, was published after his death. The publication materials relate to his instructions and notes for publication and Beetz' collection of Satterthwaite's monument notes for the book.

The collection contains very little original Pound material, although there are six folders of photocopied correspondence from him to various correspondents, primarily from the period when Pound was institutionalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Correspondents include Pound's wife Dorothy and an early girlfriend Mary Moore. There are 22 folders of correspondence to Gatter relating to the early life of Ezra Pound. The balance of the collection comprises Gatter's research material on the life of Ezra Pound, including some printed material and photographs.

Dr. Cecil L. Striker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree. While working on his M.A. and Ph.D. at The Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, Striker supplemented his studies in programs at Harvard University, the University of Marburg, and Technische Hochschule Munich. Dr. Striker came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 as an Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art. Full professorship was bestowed in 1978. Striker represented Dumbarton Oaks during restoration and investigative field work at Kalenderhane Camii in Istanbul. The materials relate to Striker's major area of work, the archaeology and architectural history of the Late Antique, Early Christian, Byzantine and Medieval periods (fourth through 15th centuries A.D.). Its geographic focus is on the lands of the former Byzantine Empire (modern Turkey, Greece, ex-Yugoslavia and Albania). There is also some material from Latin West.

The records of the excavations at Chalchuapa, El Salvador include correspondence, administrative records, field notes, photographs, manuscripts and reports. The bulk of these materials originate from the 1954 excavation by William R. Coe and the 1966 analysis by Robert J. Sharer, as well as the 1969-1970 re-excavations.

Charles William Blum, Jr. (1925-1991), an artist known for magical realism, lived and worked in New York; San Miguel, Mexico; and Spain. His papers, dating from 1925 to 1988, document his personal life through letters, journals, photographs and memorabilia. In particular, Blum's papers cover numerous topics including his work as an artist; his relationships with Robert Davison and Salvatore Saraceno; his opinions on love, romance and homosexuality; expatriate life in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico; and his opinions on the literary, theatrical, and modern dance scenes of the 1950s.

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.

In 1981, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) appointed Constance A. Holleran as Executive Director. The collection primarily consists of ICN documents, including programs, internal reports, and journals related to Holleran's career. In addition, the collection carries drafts of Holleran’s papers and speeches for various publications and events.

Curtis W. Davis (1928-1986) was a television producer who planned to publish a biography of the orchestral conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977). The biography remained unfinished at the time of Davis' death. This collection consists of his research materials, notes, correspondence, and drafts of the planned biography.

Personal papers of business executive and philanthropist David J. Mahoney. The bulk of the materials comprise correspondence from 1951 to 2000, including letters from Richard Nixon, Norton Simon, William Safire, and Vernon Jordan; writings from 1965 to 1999, including two books written by Mahoney: Confessions of a Street Smart Manager (1988) with Richard Conarroe and The Longevity Strategy: How to Live to 100 Using the Brain-Body Connection (1998) with Richard Restak, M.D.; and events covering the years 1968 to 1998, such as the Horatio Alger Award, which Mahoney won in 1977, and the Bilderburg Conference in both 1981 and 1982. Also available are newspaper clippings and publicity materials focusing on Mahoney as a society figure and businessman, media such as VHS tapes and DVD’s, books, photographs, and award plaques and medals.

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.

The Education Department was responsible for organizing and administering many of the Penn Museum's public outreach and educational programs between 1921 and 2010. The department was also responsible for maintaining the Penn Museum's film collection from the 1920s to 1987 and for administering the sale of books and objects for children between 1930 and 1972. Holdings span from 1919 to 2002 and include a wide variety of materials created by the department's staff including, but not limited to: administrative reports, correspondence, inventories, press clippings, press releases, information packets, teaching aids, and radio scripts.

Elihu Katz (born 1926) is an American Israeli sociologist and media scholar who has made substantial contributions to the field of communication, specifically in the areas of media effects, diffusion, uses and gratifications and reception, and media events. This primary portion of Katz’s papers documents his scholarly and professional activities at the Guttman Institute of Applied Social Research, and Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of California and University of Pennsylvania, respectively. Materials pertaining to the University of Chicago, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Israel Broadcasting Authority are also present, but less substantially so. The collection is divided into ten series and includes correspondence; drafts of talks, papers, articles, and books; research notes; conference materials; teaching materials and course documents; public opinion studies and reports; Israeli broadcasting materials; and biographical documents.