University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

This collection of periodicals containing articles or anecdotes by Mark Twain, advertisements for his works, and articles about the author and his works was donated by the family of Robert Nevins Birdwhistell. The periodicals from the library’s collection of Mark Twain materials span a period of 100 years.

Wolrd's fairs and expositions have been held internationally from 1851 and continue into the present. This collection comprises written materials, memorabilia, and, to a more limited extent, other materials such as photographs and musical recordings from or related to world's fairs and expositions that took place between 1851 and 1992. Most expositions recognized by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) are represented, as well as many that are not officially recognized by the BIE. Some non-world's fair events are also represented to a limited extent. While events from around the world are featured in the collection, it primarily centers on expositions that occurred in the United States.

The collection is divided into three major series: I. 18th and 19th century records, II. 20th century records, and III. John M. Okie papers. The first comprises correspondence, administrative records, and ephemera; the second, correspondence, committee records, financial records, proceedings, memorabilia, and collected agricultural material; the third consists of the papers of Okie, who served as assistant secretary of the Society from 1922 to 1928: he was responsible for the publication of Memoirs VI, a history of the P.S.P.A.

Georgij Sanji Zagadinow (1925-1999) was a Kalmyk immigrant to Philadelphia who spent much of his life working on a Kalmyk-English dictionary. The materials in this collection include literary and other sources from Soviet Kalmykia, as well as extensive documentation of the Kalmyk communities in the United States. Researchers interested in Inner Asian studies and US immigration history may wish to consult this collection.

A volume comprising medicinal and household formulas written by Thomas B. Langridge of Rotherfield, Sussex, England spanning the years from 1874 to 1921.

This is a collection of Book-of-the-Month club news, mailings, and offers along with a few examples of other book-seller related materials such as advertisements, catalogs, lists, and financial and business documents, mostly receipts. The bulk of the collection is from the years 1850 to 1961 with a few outlying documents from the 1820s to 1840s.

This collection contains materials related to the study and practice of phrenology, specifically as espoused by American phrenologists Orson Squire Fowler, Lorenzo Niles Fowler, Charlotte Fowler Wells, Lydia Folger Fowler, and Samuel Roberts Wells, who together make up the company Fowler and Wells. Fowler and Wells was the most prolific disseminator of phrenological materials throughout the nineteenth century. The materials in this collection range from extended, personal analyses of individuals, to advertisements and ephemera about phrenological publications, to original editions of the American Phrenological Journal.

This collection is principally composed of correspondence from U.S. Army Veterinary Corps Lieutenant Colonel Herbert S. Williams (1881-1950) to his family members, and in particular his sister Emily, nicknamed "Bon." The bulk of these letters were written during Williams's service in the U.S. Army Expeditionary Forces over the following periods: 1908 to 1909, in which Williams was stationed in Cuba and Fort Myer, Texas; 1916-1917, in which he was deployed to Mexico as part of the Mexican Expedition; and 1917 to 1919, in which he was deployed to Europe during World War I with the 12th Field Artillery Regiment. The collection also contains some limited correspondence from Williams to family members after his retirement and up to his death in 1950, as well as some official communications relating to his military service. This collection may best serve researchers interested in family correspondence during military deployment.

Two volumes probably of several volumes of prescription books kept by Dudley, Short & Company a pharmacy serving Brighton, England area. The volumes are comprised of formulas for prescriptions spanning the years from 1907 to 1912.

The Hedgerow Theatre Company was established in 1923 by Jasper Deeter, a New York based actor and director. Located in the Rose Valley Arts and Crafts Community of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Hedgerow holds the distinction as the longest serving Repertory Theatre in America. The Hedgerow Theatre Company records contains a wide variety of materials, from business records and show materials to member ephemera and photographs. The collection provides both a practical and intimate look into the workings of this repertory theatre.

A volume comprised of culinary and household recipes and knitting patterns. The cookbook was written by Minnie in England spanning the years from 1872 to 1920.

The "Theatricals in Philadelphia" scrapbooks consists of a set of 15 scrapbooks on theatrical subjects and contains programs, playbills, newspaper clippings, images, and portraits of artists of the stage, dating from the second half of the 19th century. These materials mostly relate to theaters and other performing venues located in Philadelphia, although there are also some items from New York, Boston, and other U.S. cities. Because of its extent (about 3,500 pages), its chronological and geographical focus, the richness of its materials, and the breadth of theatrical genres covered in the scrapbooks, this collection represents a unique and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the theatrical and cultural history of Philadelphia in the second half of the 19th century.

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.

This collection contains European and American comic books depicting adventures in India and India in the 20th century, both before and after Indian independence. There are American, Belgian, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish publications in the collection. There are a variety of formats represented: landscape comics, periodicals, illustrated serials, two blank journals with illustrated covers, a French children’s book, a single piece of sheet music, and two image paste-in collection books.

Two volumes comprised of 235 picture postcards compiled by an unnamed person, probably from Adelaide, South Australia. The postcards represent the compiler's journey throughout British occupied India spanning the years from 1907 to 1909. Twenty-eight postcards are of European cities. A majority of the postcards have handwritten commentary and remarks on the versos creating a postcard travel journal or diary.

A ledger containing an account of receipts, disbursements, and yearly accountin of funds for John Cottrell's Charity spanning the years from 1858 to 1951. The charity supported housing for widows in the Parish of Yardley, Worcestershire.

This volume containing chemical formulas for medicinal, veterinary, toiletry, household and photographic purposes was written by English chemist Robert George Eustace. The volume spans the years from 1897 to 1932.

A volume of culinary recipes compiled by Cathering M. Goodlake in Swindon, England spanning the years from 1874 to 1901.

A volume written by English chemist John W. Wright spanning the years from 1867 to 1925. The volume comprises pharmaceutical formulas for medicinal, hygienic, and household purposes.

An oversize volume comprising the inventories of books, paintings, china, porcelain, and ceramic figures owned by Frederick Aruthur Robinson in England. He was an exporter of machinery to gold mines in South Africa and later became chairman to several mining operations. Robinson compiled the inventories of his private library and personal belongings from the years 1899 to 1912.

Oversize pre-printed shareholders register for the Dimbula Valley (Ceylon) Tea Company spanning the years from 1896 to 1930.

This collection of diaries was kept by Jessie Louise Many Rice spanning the years from 1909 to 1930. Each volume was written in a preprinted pocket calendar comprising brief daily entries by Rice.

For more than a century the Penn Libraries have been purchasing books and manuscripts at public auction in the United States and abroad. This finding aid serves as a guide to more than 750 auction catalogs for books and manuscripts from sixteen international auction houses in Print Collection 48 as well as other catalogs from these auction houses held elsewhere in the Penn Libraries, that were collected by Penn curators and staff members.

Rabbi Michael Strassfeld (born February 8, 1950) is an American Reconstructionist Rabbi. Raised in a Orthodox Jewish household, Strassfeld was profoundly influenced by the burgeoning Jewish anti-establishment movement in the Boston area in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Michael Strassfeld papers contain the records of the his education and life's work. Represented are elements of his Orthodox upbringing, traditional Jewish education, influence of the Jewish anti-establishment and countercultural movements of the 1960s and early 1970s, and his training and practice as a Reconstructionist Rabbi.