Collector Mark B. Adams is a retired Associate Professor in the Department of History of Science and Sociology. During his career at Penn, he introduced and annually taught a course called "The Emergence of Modern Science Fiction". When it began in 1970, it was one of the first college courses on science fiction in the United States. At that time, there was almost no scholarly literature or attention dedicated to the topic. As the genre developed over the years, the course did as well, acquiring new readings and authors, as well as topics and perspectives. Since science fiction collections were limited at the time, Adams had to create his own library to explore the genre and its history. Eventually, this collection grew to include more than 5,000 items. Of these five thousand, Penn was fortunate to receive some 3,700 items. The remaining 1,300 are scheduled to join that collection in the not too distant future.
