University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Joseph and Yehudit Shadur were pioneers of Jewish folk art and the subject of Middle Eastern studies and environmental conservation in Israel. Their collection includes two series, one of the writings, correspondence, book reviews, and research by Joseph Shadur, and the other, published works by or about Yehudit Shadur, or containing images of her paper-cuts. These documents date from 1894 to 2002, with the majority of the documents produced from 1960 to 2002.

Joseph E. Gillet (1888-1958), a native of Belgium, was a professor of Spanish at Bryn Mawr College. He directed doctoral dissertations both at Bryn Mawr College and at the University of Pennsylvania, and he achieved several critical editions recognized in the academic world. His papers include photostats, transcripts and translations of Spanish texts, correspondence with his colleagues and libraries in America and Europe, clippings of journals mentioning his publications, and handwritten research notes.

Julian A. Sterling (1913-1975) was a physician at the Albert Einstein Medical Center and was Chairman of the Department of Surgery from 1961 to 1964. Sterling was influenced by the work of S. Weir Mitchell (1829-1914), an American physician and author. This collection, created by Julian A. Sterling, contains copies or reprints of articles by and about S. Weir Mitchell, a bibliography of S. Weir Mitchell's work, a biography of Mitchell, correspondence to and from Julian A. Sterling concerning matters related to Mitchell, and two plaques which may be maquettes for larger sculptures or reliefs.

Mary Navis, known as "the duchess of swing," was a female big band leader and trumpeter. She once performed in Ina Ray Hutton’s all-female group, but left to head her own group with an all-male backing. This collection consists of correspondence, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and photographs, spanning from 1933 to 1942 and all related to Navis’s career.

Paul Eldridge (1888-1982) was an American poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and teacher. Most prolific in the 1940s, Eldridge's writing focused on issues of World War II, the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and Zionist and Jewish issues more generally. This collection consists of manuscripts, typescripts, and reprographic copies of Eldridge's poems, stories, and essays; scrapbooks of clippings related to Eldridge's writing and other activities; dustjackets; photographs; issues of newspapers and periodicals in which his columns appeared; and correspondence related to Eldridge's writing and career.

Administrative records, correspondence, and publications documenting the activities and policy concerns of the Physicians Forum, an organization of progressive doctors founded by Ernst P. Boas in New York City. Its advocacy on the national level encompassed numerous health issues, with particular focus on health insurance, discrimination in medicine, and resistance to McCarthyism.

Richard Norris Williams 2nd (1891-1968) served in the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur. Later he became the President of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. His collection, dating from 1914 to 1968, documents his personal experience in the War as well as a broad view of the entire conflict through collected letters, diary entries, clippings, newspapers, leaflets, photographs and memorabilia.

The Ray Evans papers comprise materials documenting his career as the lyricist for the songwriting team of Livingston and Evans. The collection contains correspondence, sheet music, lyrics and scripts, press clippings, audio and visual recordings, photographs, programs, awards, memorabilia, and art work. Also included are personal mementoes, including some from his time as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991) was an American classical pianist known as one of the 20th century’s greatest soloists and for fostering a vibrant culture of chamber music via the Marlboro Music School and Festival. The papers consist mainly of materials collected by Serkin himself (including his personal correspondence, performance records, papers relating to Marlboro, Curtis Institute of Music, and the Institute for Young Performing Musicians) as well as a small amount of related material added by his wife and his biographers.

The Savoy Company is the oldest amateur theater company dedicated to the production of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. The collection contains administrative material, programs, musical and vocal scores, scrapbooks, audio-visual material and photographs which document its annual performance.

Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr., was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy during World War II, who went on to serve as the Secretary of the Navy (1957-1959), Secretary of Defense (1959-1961), and Ambassador to China (1976-1977). As a civilian he also pursued a career in investment banking at the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company (later J.P. Morgan & Co.). Gates’ personal papers focus largely on his government service, with a small amount of additional personal items. Included are many military and government documents and correspondence with influential politicians--perhaps most notably with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, under who Gates served as both Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of Defense. The collection also includes many clippings and photographs that have been assembled into a remarkable collection of scrapbooks that bring Gates’ service to life.

Vera Dreiser (circa 1908-1998) was a psychologist who practiced first in New York from 1947 to 1961, and later in California until her retirement in 1972. She is the niece of novelist Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) and of composer Paul Dresser (1858-1906). This collection is comprised of materials from Vera Dreiser’s personal and professional life as well as materials related to the musical and literary estates of Paul Dresser and Theodore Dreiser.

The papers document the literary career and the personal and professional life of twentieth-century American novelist and writer Waldo David Frank. Comprising correspondence, writings, publicity, writings by others, memorabilia, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings spanning from 1879 to 1977, the collection contains 132 boxes and 3565 folders. The correspondence documents Frank's personal and professional relationships with writers, editors, artists, friends, and family. Letters from friendships with other writers and artists such as Jean Toomer, Sherwood Anderson, Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Mumford, Van Wyck Brooks, and Hart Crane document congenial collaborations, sharing of ideas, and disagreements. The writings contain his notebooks, major works, articles, essays, and early writings tracing Frank's works and ideas of society and culture with psychological and social themes of man and his environment. Frank's passion for the culture and study of Spain, Latin America, and Mexico is apparent in correspondence and his research, preserved through notes and photographs of South America and Mexico. Letters and photographs display Frank's relationships with family members, his wives (Margaret Naumburg, Alma Magoon Frank, and Jean Klempner Frank) and his children. The materials in this collection divulge not only the writings of Waldo Frank, but the struggles of the writer and his encounters with himself and society as he seeks his vision of truth in the world. He was courageous in the face of his critics and his political enemies even when experiencing both written and physical attacks. Even though Frank claimed he was an outsider he was embraced by the people and cultures he championed and studied. Although largely forgotten by the end of his lifetime, his correspondence, writings, and ideas remain, providing insight into literary circles, political ideas, and historical events in the United States and Latin America during the early- to mid-twentieth century.