Access to the College Green area of campus will be restricted until further notice. Current students, faculty and staff with a valid Penn card may enter and exit Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center through the Rosengarten Undergraduate Study Center on the ground floor, and may enter and exit the Fisher Fine Arts Library through the 34th Street entrance to Meyerson Hall. 

Network maintenance: On Wednesday, May 15, 7am to 9am, Franklin, Colenda, and other locally-hosted applications will be down for maintenance.

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Folklore and Folklife Collection

Penn had for several decades the world’s premier department in the field of Folklore and Folklife and the depth of the library collection reflected that status. Now that folklore is only a program the collection is more basic, supports other fields and is strongest in reference works. The larger collection focused on primary source materials such as texts and tools providing access to them.

Overview

Collection Description

Folklore is an interdisciplinary field that touches upon many subjects taught at Penn and once was its own department. As it has evolved as its own discipline, it has moved from focusing on the study of objects, broadly defined, to an ethnological phenomenological approach. Materials with a literary orientation, written or oral tend to be collected in Van Pelt. Folk Art are in the Fine Arts Library. Ethnographic works are in the Museum Library.

Special Collections

The Folklore archive of the Department of Folklore and Folklife was transferred to the University Museum Archive when the department was disbanded. It is especially strong in music from the Caribbean and the Canadian Maritime.

Contact

Doing Research

Folklore/Folklife is ruthlessly interdisciplinary. As such it requires familiarity not only with the methods of several disciplines but also with their resources.