University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Gotham Book Mart (1920-2006) was one of New York City’s most iconic bookstores during the 20th century. Founded by Frances Steloff (1887-1989), the daughter of poor Russian-Jewish immigrants, the Book Mart became a social center for the New York literati and a focal point for literary modernism in the United States. Steloff’s successor, independent literary manuscript dealer Andreas Brown (1933-), maintained the store’s focus on avant garde and small press publications while incorporating his own interests in postcards and genealogy. This collection contains 91 boxes of material relating to the daily operation of the Book Mart; correspondence, biographical, and legal material from both Brown and Steloff; postcard and genealogical material collected by Brown; photographs of the store, its employees, and events which took place there; and manuscripts and ephemera offered for sale.

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.

Margaret Naumburg (1890–1983) was an American psychologist, educator, artist, and author. She was one of the first proponents of art therapy and utilitzed art as a method for both diagnosis and therapy. The collection contains materials documenting all the phases of Naumburg's long and productive work life. The materials include correspondence; copies of and materials for Naumburg's writings, lectures, and exhibit catalogs; materials for case studies; lecture notes for the courses she taught and papers her students wrote in those courses; and work by others that she collected and saved. Other media in the collection include slides, photographs, and audio recordings.