University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The School of Dental Medicine Student Records document the academic careers of students who attended the school from its founding in 1879 to 1969.

The Curriculum and Lecture Notes Collection was created by the University Archives in the 1950s to assemble individual manuscripts and small groupings of archival material relating to courses taught at the University of Pennsylvania throughout its entire history. This collection documents the teaching methods used in the various schools of the University of Pennsylvania throughout its history.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania originated as part of the University’s move to West Philadelphia. The school’s Medical faculty and alumni petitioned the Board of Trustees for a University run hospital to provide clinical instruction for students. The Trustees agreed and formally established the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in June 1871. The Records document the administrative and financial history of the Hospital.

The School of Dental Medicine opened in 1878. A century later it was the third largest dental school in the United States. The School of Dental Medicine General Records is an eclectic group of items that document the students and faculty from the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania opened in 1874 to provide a clinical environment for the University's School of Medicine at its new West Philadelphia Campus. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Public Relations Records contains information files and photographs related to the expansion and operations of the Hospital.

The Society of the Alumni of the Department of Dentistry was formed on March 1, 1881 by the first three graduation classes from the University of Pennsylvania's new Department of Dentistry. The Society of the Alumni of the Department of Dentistry contains the record for the formation of the Dental Alumni Society from 1881 through to the mid-twentieth century.

The Wharton School Office of the Dean Records documents the administrative activities of the Wharton School, principally covering the administrations from Simon N. Patten through Thomas P. Gerrity. Portions of this collection are closed.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Records document the development and activities of the facility from 1891 to 2003. Portions of this collection are closed.

Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989) were pioneers among African Americans in the legal profession and leaders in public affairs, politics, and government throughout the middle half of the twentieth century. Raymond Pace Alexander was a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1920 and from Harvard Law School in 1923. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander earned all three of her degrees (A.B. 1918, M.A. 1919, and Ph.D. 1921) from the University of Pennsylvania. The Alexander Papers constitute a highly significant resource for the social and political history of the city of Philadelphia and, in particular, for the history of the city's black professional and political elite, black civic organizations, and institutions concerned with race relations and civil rights.

The Industrial Research Unit of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1921 as the Industrial Research Department with a mission to "study the economic and social problems of business." Sponsored by the Trustees of the University and financially assisted by the Carnegie Corporation, the Department worked in close relationship with a group of representative Philadelphia firms, which furnished data for research and analysis. The collection documents the research work the Wharton Industrial Research Unit undertook from the 1920s to 1990s.

The Frazer Family Papers span over 200 years of an American family. The collection provides insight into five generations of University of Pennsylvania alum as well as three generations of educators, all in the field of chemistry, at the University of Pennsylvania and contains the papers of Persifor Frazer, Robert Frazer, John Fries Frazer, Persifor Frazer, Robert Frazer, John Frazer, John Frazer, Jr., and Tench Frazer, as well as a range of other family members and relatives. The collection is particularly strong in representing the professional and personal activities of Persifor Frazer (1844-1909) and his son John Frazer (1882-1964) from the 1860s to the 1950s.

The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club was founded in 1862 and is the university's oldest performing arts club. They have performed all across the United States and several international locations. The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club records document several decades’ worth of this all-male singing group’s activities both on and off campus.

The Dental School Library Historical Collection documents the development of dental education in the University of Pennsylvania from the time the University created its dental department to the present.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania originated as part of the University’s move to West Philadelphia. The school’s Medical faculty and alumni petitioned the Board of Trustees for a University run hospital to provide clinical instruction for students. The Trustees agreed and formally established the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in June 1871. The Records document the administrative and financial history of the Hospital.

The Edgar Arthur Singer, Jr. Papers documents the career and life of University of Pennsylvania Professor of Philosophy Edgar Arthur Singer, Jr. The collection consists primarily of lecture materials, addresses, and copies of publications – particularly material on his final work Experience and Reflection.

SaraKay Cohen Smullens is a Philadelphia social worker, author, and columnist who graduated from the School of Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Social Work in 1965. The collection documents SaraKay C. Smullens' career as a free-lance columnist, woman and family issue writer, social activist, and family psychotherapist.

James Tyson graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1863, and went on to a noted career as a physician in Philadelphia. His interested in pathology led to his career as an educator, and he eventually rose in the ranks of the Penn Medical School. The bulk of the James Tyson collection is his correspondence to his father Henry Tyson, his sister, and his wife, Fannie Bosdevex.

Harold Scheie was a noted ophthalmologist at the University of Pennsylvania. The Harold Glendon Scheie Papers mainly document the professional contributions and achievements of Dr. Scheie in the field of Ophthalmology. There is a small group of personal papers, but these papers, in large part, still reflect in some way upon his devotion to his profession.

Eadweard Muybridge is a noted photographer who began his studies of animal locomotion in 1872 while trying to settle a bet for railroad tycoon Leland Stanford. In 1883 several important Philadelphians attended a meeting in the office of the provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and decided to provide Muybridge with the grounds of the Veterinary Hospital and a $5,000 advance to begin work on the landmark study, Animal Locomotion. This study, completed in 1887 and published under the sponsorship of the University, would prove to be of great use to artists, anatomists, physiologists, and athletes. The Eadweard Muybridge Collection documents his photographic career and the contributions he made to motion pictures. Documentation relating Muybridge's Animal Locomotion study, done under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania, represents the bulk of this collection.

Hui-lin Li was educated at Soochow University and Yenching University in China and received his PhD in biology from Harvard University in 1942. After holding a number of research fellowship positions in both the United States and Taiwan, he came to the University of Pennsylvania as a research associate in 1952 and became a faculty member in the field of botany in 1963. The collections documents the professional career and life of Dr. Li as a professor of botany and researcher.

Ruth Branning Molloy, a poet, writer, photographer, and Philadelphia historian, enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1926. After earning a B.S. in education from Penn, Ruth Branning went to work for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Ruth Branning Molloy Papers mostly document Mrs. Molloy's life in West Philadelphia and her association with her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.

Otto Meyerhof was a German-born biochemist, who won the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Archibald Vivian Hill, for his work on muscle metabolism. He emigrated to the United States in 1940 to escape Nazi Germany, and accepted a position at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as professor of biochemistry. This small but important collection documents a range of professional and personal activities of Otto Meyerhof, and consists of correspondence and professional papers.

Josiah C. McCracken's outstanding athletic abilities led to his admission to the University of Pennsylvania in 1896. At Penn, he was elected president of his class for four years, and served as president of the Christian Association for three years. He also graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1901. McCracken would spend a good part of his career in China where he served as chief surgeon of St. Luke's Hospital. The collection, though small in volume, represents two important aspects of Josiah C. McCracken's rich and splendid life--his brilliant achievement as an all-round star athlete at Penn and his life-long devotion to the development of medicine in China.