University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Alfred Gemmell (1916-1957) was a historian who focused on the history of Pennsylvania, an instructor in History at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and a member of the Pennsylvania Historical Association. This collection contains a typed draft of Gemmell’s unpublished biography of William Darrah Kelley (1814-1890), a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania during the Civil War who was active in the country's economic recovery during Reconstruction.

Caspar René Gregory (1846-1917) was a professor of theology at the University of Leipzig for twenty-five years. This collection contains his handwritten manuscript for Canon and Text of the New Testament, which was published in 1907.

Writer, song-writer, and reporter Edgar Meck Dilley attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1893 to 1895 and is known for having written the school's alma mater, "Hail, Pennsylvania." This collection consists mainly of drafts of his writings, including novels and stories, plays and operas, lyrics, poems, and musical scores, as well as a few accompanying miscellaneous items.

Reverend George Aaron Barton (1859-1942) was an author and professor of Semitic languages and the history of religion at the University of Pennsylvania from 1922 until his death. This collection contains an annotated manuscript of Barton’s Studies in New Testament Christianity, which was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1928.

George N. Caylor (1885-1973), born George N. Cohen, is best known for his active role in the Socialist Party in Philadelphia and New York in the early 1900s. This collection includes two typescripts of Caylor's autobiographical works, biographical writings about his brother Joseph E. Cohen (1893-1950), and assorted writings by other people relating to the utopian community of Arden, Delaware and the Center for Practical Politics.

Herman Teerink (1880-1961) was a Dutch scholar who studied the Irish satirist, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). This collection contains Teerink's manuscript notes for the revised edition of his 1937, A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of Jonathan Swift. The revised edition of this book was published in 1963, after Teerink’s death, and was titled, A Bibliography for the Writings of Jonathan Swift.

Isaac Taylor (1829–1901) was the canon of York as well as a philologist and toponymist. This collection contains manuscript copies of some of Taylor’s best-known works, including Greeks and Goths (1879), The Alphabet (1883), and Origin of the Aryans (1890). Other titles included are Words and Places (1864), which first brought him to the attention of the public, and Names and Their Histories ([1898]).

Jane Morley served as the executive administrator for the University of Pennsylvania's International Symposium on Lewis Mumford in 1987 and developed a friendship with Sophia Mumford. The collection contains letters Sophia Mumford wrote to Morley from 1987 through 1991.

John George Repplier McElroy (1842-1890), an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1862), is best known as a professor of Greek, History, and Rhetoric at his alma mater. This collection is primarily composed of lecture notes by John George Repplier McElroy (1842-1890); however it also includes McElroy’s notes on his readings of Chaucer and his manuscript of Readings from the Electra of Socrates.

This collection contains two manuscript drafts of Joseph Martin du Colombier’s play, "Napoleon Bonaparte, Martyr of St. Helena," written in 1840. The first volume is a draft of the play written in English and the second volume is a draft of the play written in French. This play, possibly inspired by the return of Napoleon’s body to France in 1840, describes the end of Napoleon’s life during his exile in St. Helena.

This collection consists of manuscripts of Joseph W. Lippincott, including a manuscript of The Wahoo Bobcat; and manuscripts and typescripts of Black Wings, Phantom Deer, and Wildernss Champion. The manuscripts are not illustrated.

The Law Association of Philadelphia was chartered in 1827, formed by the union of the Law Library Company and the Associated Members of the Bar of Philadelphia, and charged with keeping a law library. Over the years, the Law Association of Philadelphia Library became the Law Library of the Philadelphia Bar Association (1931) and the Theodore F. Jenkins Memorial Law Library (1967). This collection contains receipts, ephemera, and manuscripts from 1879 to 1897, presenting a near-daily record of the Law Association's highly regarded library during 1881 and 1882 and documenting the Association's efforts to maintain an up-to-date library.

Margaret Deland (1857-1945) was American novelist and poet. This collection includes the original manuscript and drafts for Deland’s final book, Golden Yesterdays, a memoir published in 1941 when she was 84 years old and which follows her early life from her teens through her courtship and relationship with her husband, Lorin Deland.

Morris Jastrow (1861-1921) was a professor of Semitic languages and librarian-in-chief at the University of Pennsylvania from 1885 to 1921. This collection contains lecture notes that likely come from a class taught by Morris Jastrow. These handwritten lecture notes discuss the contents, history and meaning of the Talmud, Hebrew festivals and worship sacrifice.

Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) The Origin of Species was published in six extensively edited editions. Over the course of this process, approximately 75% was rewritten between one and five times, and over 1,500 sentences were added, with the result that the sixth edition is nearly one third longer than the first. This collection contains a manuscript for the first variorum text of The Origin of Species, which was edited by Morse Peckham and published in 1959.

Robert Adrain (1775-1843), a prominent Irish scientist and mathematician, is best known for his formulation of the method of least squares.The collection includes mathematical and scientific texts from Adrain's library written in English, French, and Latin, and cards containing a list of books from Adrain's library, as well as a letter concerning Adrain's potential appointment to a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania.

This collection contains two notebooks filled with a draft of work on the studies of the Epistles of St. John. The first book is titled “The Epistles” and the second is titled “Studies in the Epistles of St. John.” The author of these notebooks is unknown, and there is no clear link between the contents of these notebooks and any published work.

Thomas Lask was the poetry editor at the New York Times. This collection consists of personal correspondence addressed to Lask and other individuals at the New York Times, as well as publications and printed material that Lask saved.

Vladimir B. Grinioff (1911-2001) was an economist for the Federal Reserve Board and the United States Department of State and an author. In 1957, Grinioff published Tale of a Whistling Shrimp which was later titled The Banker’s Daughter. This collection contains cover art drafts, galley prints, original manuscripts, and revised manuscripts of Tale of a Whistling Shrimp.

William Romaine Newbold (1865-1926) was an American philosopher who served on faculty at the University of Pennsylvania from 1907 to 1926. Teaching both Latin and Philosophy, Newbold is perhaps best known for his work delving into antiquarian mysteries. This collection contains material from two pieces of scholarship by Newbold during his time at the University of Pennsylvania.