In both its printed book and manuscript holdings, the library of Philadelphia publisher, book collector, and scholar Henry Charles Lea (1825-1909) encompasses materials ranging from medieval French history to early European legal history, the Latin Christian Church, the Spanish Inquisition, and finally to magic and witchcraft. Rich in untapped primary resources, the manuscript holdings include items from as early as 1000 A.D. to approximately 1800 - that is, from the reign of Emperor Otto III of Germany through the French Revolution. Nearly all of the published items are pre-1909 imprints, with approximately half of the collection dating to before 1825.
Penn Libraries staff will implement an innovative two-year multi-staged process to create approximately 11,200 cataloging records in Penn's online catalog, Franklin, and in OCLC WorldCat. According to Beth Picknally Camden, Patricia and Bernard Goldstein Director of Information Processing, "This Mellon Foundation grant jumpstarts our project to expose the riches of the Lea Library to the world, and paves the way for future digitization projects. And the workflow model that we are developing will accelerate the process of making Penn Libraries' unique resources available to a global community."
With Mellon's support and the Libraries' in-kind contribution, Penn will facilitate and enhance humanities research for scholars in the fields of literature, medieval and early Renaissance history, religious studies, legal history, Hispanic, Italian, and Jewish studies, the Latin Christian Church, and the Inquisition and witchcraft.
For more information:
Beth Picknally Camden, Patricia and Bernard Goldstein Director of Information Processing
