University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

This collection consists of transcripts of oral history interviews with early nephrology nurses.

This collection includes material related to a planned critical biography of author Chaim Potok (1929-2002) by David L. Vanderwerken (1945-2015), an American literary scholar and professor of English literature. It contains correspondence regarding the proposal for the book; general research on the critical literature surrounding Potok's literary career, as well as his life and art; a Vanderwerken interview with Potok; and copies of Potok's novels and nonfiction works, with annotations by Vanderwerken.

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.

Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985) was a Hungarian-born violinist and conductor best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ormandy’s characteristic conducting style resulted in the “Philadelphia Sound,” which he brought around the world through recordings, international tours, and guest conducting engagements. This is a collection of transcripts of oral history interviews conducted with Eugene Ormandy and others connected to him or to the Philadelphia Orchestra about Ormandy and his influence on the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Joseph Francis Ambrose Jackson (1867-1946) was a historian, lecturer, artist, journalist, and writer active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This scrapbook contains newspaper clippings on theatrical subjects, dating from 1886 to 1902, and includes reviews, interviews, short biographies, and articles relating to the history of American theater.

The papers of Kanji Dwarkadas, an Indian politician and activist born in 1892, contain correspondence and writings by both Dwarkadas and some of his contemporaries, dating from 1914 to 1965. Active in Mumbai (then Bombay), Dwarkadas began his career alongside Annie Besant, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the Indian Home Rule movement. Letters to and from these individuals and many other important figures in twentieth century Indian politics are included in this collection, along with a number of interviews conducted by Dwarkadas. Beginning in the 1920s, Dwarkadas was actively involved in organizations to promote social welfare in Mumbai, such as the Prostitution Inquiry Committee and Children’s Aid Society (meeting minutes, resolutions and reports from these and other groups are included in the collection). Dwarkadas withdrew from politics in 1933 and focused his energies on labor organization and worker’s rights.

Leonard B. Meyer (1918-2007) was a musicologist and composer who taught at the University of Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1988. The papers, dating from 1935 to 2008, consist of correspondence with Meyer, drafts and notes for many of his works, research and teaching materials, musical compositions, and memorabilia.

Maggie Paley is a prolific journalist and author. Her works include Bad Manners, a novel, and The Book of the Penis, a book of popular nonfiction. Paley was a well-connected participant in a wide variety of NYC cultural life during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, and this collection contains her own writing, correspondence with notable figures, and cultural material she collected. Paley worked as an editor at The Paris Review and a staff writer for LIFE and The Saturday Evening Post before establishing a career as a freelance journalist. Since the 1960’s she has been a social fixture in New York artistic circles, and was a close acquaintance of such figures as Jill Krementz, Harry Matthews, and Rachael Hadas.

Research materials, photographs, and sound recordings for Oliver Daniel’s uncompleted biography of orchestral conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos, which was later completed by William R. Trotter as Priest of Music: The Life of Dimitri Mitropoulos (1995). Includes Daniel's correspondence, photocopies of some of Mitropoulos's correspondence, other writers' biographical works on Mitropoulos, oral history interview transcripts, reminiscences, research notes, clippings, programs, reviews, photographs, and sound recordings of interviews, radio programs, and musical works.

Research files, cassette tapes, and transcripts for Daniel’s biography of Leopold Stokowski titled Stokowski: A Counterpoint of View (1982). Includes the author’s correspondence, photocopies of Leopold Stokowski’s correspondence, programs, reviews, clippings, photographs, and the completed manuscript submitted for publication; plus preservation and service copies of the oral history sound recordings.

The Pan American Network of Nursing and Midwifery Collaborating Centers [PANMCC] Oral History Project records shed light on the founding and development of the organization as well as its contributions to nursing and midwifery. Documents include correspondence, reports and meeting materials, oral history transcripts and audiocassette tapes.

This collection consists of transcripts of oral history interview project by the Temple University Urban Archives in 1993 and 1994. Interviewees discussed their memories of the Philadelphia General Hospital.

Telegraph Books (circa 1970-1972) was a publishing company founded by Victor Bockris, a poet, editor, and biographer of artists, authors, and musicians, poet Aram Saroyan, and literary agent Andrew Wylie. The Telegraph Books collection, dating from 1970 through 1972, documents the activities and functions of Telegraph Books publications in addition to the activities of Victor Bockris at that time, including audio recordings of interviews and conversations with colleagues and workshop materials.

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.

Victor Bockris (born in 1949) is a poet, editor, and biographer of artists, authors, and musicians. The Victor Bockris papers document the activities of a community of avant-garde poets and artists of the early 1970s, mainly active in Philadelphia and New York City.