University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

This collection contains published material relating to atomic energy and the atomic age.

The Wyn Ritchie Evans papers include correspondence, writings, photographs, and personal papers that shed light on her connection to the arts scene and to Herman Sachs, her endeavors as a professional writer, and her life with Ray Evans.

During the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt developed New Deal programs to return the country to work through relief projects. The most popular of these was the Works Progress Administration because it provided work for so many Americans. Large numbers were put to work building bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports with nominal salaries subsidized by the federal government. In addition, tens of thousands of artists were funded to create murals and sculpture for public buildings, write plays and music and perform their work for an arts-hungry public. Between 1935 and 1942, the University Museum co-sponsored(with institutions such as the Fairmount Park Commission and the Pennsylvania Commission for the Fine Arts) at least eight Works Progress Administration projects as part of the State-wide Museum Assistance Program. Employee salaries for the WPA/University Museum projects were paid by the WPA; equipment, space, supplies, technical aid, and specimens were provided by the University Museum.

This collection contains records relating to the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia. Materials include historical accounts, administrative records, board minutes, annual reports, correspondence, and photographs.

The papers of Wilton W. Blancké document his life as an educator and author. A strong, vocal proponent for a foreign language curriculum in public education, Blancké wrote several articles on the subject. He also penned numerous letters to editors of various publications espousing the view that the study of foreign language contributes to an international understanding.

William Wister Haines (1908-1989) was an American author, screenwriter, and playwright, most famous for his novels Slim and High Tension, which depicted working-class protagonists during the Great Depression, and Command Decision, a play and novel depicting the final stages of World War II. This collection includes material related to his literary work, especially in the form of drafts of novels, short stories, essays and articles, screenplays and television scripts, and plays.

William R. Mathews (1893-1969) was a journalist, newspaper editor and publisher who corresponded extensively with John Foster Dulles (1888-1959), a politician who served as a United States Senator and United States Secretary of State. This collection represents years of correspondence between these two men, with occasional notes to or from one of their wives. The letters demonstrate Dulles and Mathews' friendship and mutual respect, as they discuss the political and military events that occurred between 1941 and 1957.

William Robertson Coe II was born in 1926 in New York City. Dr. Coe trained as an anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania (BA 1950, MA 1953, and Ph. D 1958). He joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology in 1959 and the Penn Museum as assistant curator in the same year. Coe conducted early excavations in Belize, Bolivia, and El Salvador and later directed excavations at Tayasal and Quirigua in Guatemala, but is best known for his long-term commitment with the Museum’s Tikal Project in Guatemala from 1956-1969. He took over the directorship of the Tikal field operations in 1963. His meticulous archaeological recording skills culminated in his monumental achievement, publication in 1990 of the six-volume “Tikal Report 14,” one of the most significant archaeological reports ever. Coe received the Guatemalan government’s highest honor, “The Order of the Quetzal,” in 1969 and the Drexel Medal from the Penn Museum in 1991. He was also known as a superb teacher of Mesoamerican Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania. He retired from the University in 1987. He died in 2009 at the age of 82. The William R. Coe II collection of personal papers spans the period from 1949-1969. It contains materials related to his early field research, articles and publications, prior to his extensive work in Tikal, which is housed with the Tikal Project records, photographs, and publications. The collection consists of 2 archival boxes of material, with a primary focus on Nohoch Ek, British Honduras, an early expedition conducted as an undergraduate student along with his brother Michael Coe and also on William Coe’s University of Pennsylvania master’s thesis on Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Notable ephemera within the collection include his personal state of Pennsylvania TIKAL license plate and the “Order of the Quetzal” medal, along with Guatemalan news clippings about the award.

William McDevitt was an author, bookseller, and Socialist political agitator who operated bookstores on Sutter and Fillmore streets in San Francisco for more than forty years in the first half of the twentieth century. This collection includes correspondence from Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) and others concerning bookselling, promotional material for books and lectures, and copies of pamphlets written by McDevitt.

William Kimball Flaccus (1911-1972) was an American poet and biographer of Edgar Lee Masters. This collection contains the galley proofs of his 1934 Avalanche of April and 1940 The White Stranger.

A gift of historian of pharmacy and medicine Dr. William H. Helfand, this collection of ex-votos and devotional paintings on medical subjects offers insight into Mexican religious folk practices. Ex-votos are votive paintings usually hung in churches and religious venues as a sign of gratitude for received blessings or healings. The collection includes ex-votos dated between 1868 and 2002 and dedicated to Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint James the Moor-slayer, Saint Paschal Baylon, Saint Barbara, Saint Judas Thaddeus, Saint Nicholas, and Saint Cosmas.

This collection contains donations made by William Helfand, a noted collector of medical ephemera. Materials include printed pamphlets, sheet music, and posters.

The William H. Davenport collection includes records from field research in the Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal and San Cristobal Islands, and other Solomon Islands; the Moluccas and Sulawesi in Indonesia; and Sarawak in Malaysia, among other locations. Materials span the period from 1952-2002 and contain records primarily related to Davenport's field research, professional activities, student mentoring, and articles and publications.

William Gomberg came to the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 when he joined the faculty of the Wharton School, where he stayed for the remainder of his career as a Professor of Management and Industrial Relations. The William Gomberg Papers document his scholarly work in labor relations and management history.

William Ezra Lingelbach was a well-known and highly regarded figure at the University of Pennsylvania as a faculty member of the Department of History. He earned his Ph.D. in modern European history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1901. He would eventually rise to Professor of Modern European History, and briefly serve as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The William Ezra Lingelbach Papers mostly date from his time as a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, although materials from Lingelbach's involvement with other institutions and organizations are also represented.

Willaim Edmonds Horner was dean of the Medical School of Pennsylvania (1822-1852), Professor of Anatomy (1831-1853), and wrote the first pathology textbook published in the United States (Treatise on Pathological Anatomy, 1829). The Journals detail William Edmonds Horner's travels from the United States to Europe in 1821.

This collection features a series of materials partially documenting the career of lawyer and legal scholar William E. Mikell. Most notably featured in this collection are various drafts of the criminal codes Mikell was heavily involved in planning and drafting during his career. As well are included a large variety of personal notes and writings of Mikell's which touch upon the large number of criminal law and code topics he worked with throughout his life. Speeches given by and about Mikell are included in their original forms, as well as person memorabilia including Mikell's 1890 Master's degree from The Citadel. The collection is rounded out with a brief set of personal photographs and miscellaneous correspondence from Mikell's career.

William Draper Lewis was born in Philadelphia in 1867. In 1891, he received both a law degree and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1892, he became editor of the American Law Register, one of the oldest legal periodicals of the time. That same year, Lewis married Caroline Mary Cope. They had four children, Henry, Alfreda Cope, Anna, and William Draper Jr. and resided in Germantown, Pennsylvania. In 1896, Lewis joined the law department at the University of Pennsylvania as Dean and Professor of Law. Under Lewis' leadership, the law school flourished as he recruited new faculty, broadened the curriculum, and strengthened the collections of the Biddle Law Library. He served as Dean until 1914 but continued on the faculty until 1924. In 1923, Lewis became the founding director of the American Law Institute (ALI). Lewis died in Northeast Harbor, Maine in 1949. The collection, 1874-1949, documents Lewis' personal life and span the years 1874-1949. A letter from Lewis to his mother written at age six and a letter from his son Henry to his widow Carrie written the year after his death are also included. The collection includes letters to and from his wife, children, grandchildren, and friends. The collection documents Lewis' observations and opinions on the current events of his time, and his roles as husband, father, grandfather, and friend.

William Draper Lewis graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a LL.B. and Ph.D. In 1896 Lewis appointed Professor of law and Dean of the Law School. This collection is particularly rich for documenting Lewis' early career. His association with the University of Pennsylvania is well represented.

William C. Farabee (1865-1925) was a physical and cultural anthropologist, archaeologist, and cartographer who devoted most of his life’s work to documenting and interpreting the native cultures of South America, principally the Arawak and Carib peoples of the Amazon basin and the native peoples of the Andes. He also conducted archaeological studies at Marajo Island, Brazil, and at several other locations, including Peru and Ecuador. The collection consists of 5.3 linear feet of textual and photographic documentation related principally to the Amazon expedition of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1913-1916, and also to the Andean expedition of 1922-1923.

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 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.

Watson Kintner, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and a man of means, traveled to more than 30 nations between 1933 until 1969. On his travels Kintner avoided tourist destinations, instead recording the daily life among the peoples visited, as well as sites of archaeological interest. Kintner took photography very seriously, and in the late 1960s and 1970s funded weekend seminars for University of Pennsylvania Museum graduate students. Upon his death, Kintner left an endowment towards various Museum activities and programs. Kintner’s travel records consist of three linear feet of journals, film notes, bills, correspondence, and preparatory notes on the culture, geography and history of the countries he visited (and some that he didn’t) between 1951 and 1969.

Watson Kintner entered the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1916 with a degree in chemical engineering. The Watson Kintner Papers are a small collection containing the personal affects of Kintner. The bulk of the collection is comprised of photographs - many of the University of Pennsylvania's campus between 1911 and 1916 as well as a number of family images from the turn of the century.