Military Collection

Since its founding, the University of Pennsylvania has had a long and storied relationship with the U.S. military dating back to its predecessor, the College of Philadelphia, which was purged of Tory sympathizers in 1779 by the Pennsylvania state government after the Revolutionary War. As a result, Penn Libraries has been and remains a major collector of historical and contemporary military publications. This includes major archival collections that document the activities of Penn’s faculty, students, administrators, and alumni during the Civil War and World War I. 

Our contemporary print book and government document collections cover materials published by the Department of Defense, the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, as well as nearly every area of military sciences, including military history, national defense, war-fighting, naval operations, aeronautics, and DoD operations. Our electronic collections include Jane's Magazine Library, a premier collection of defense and security journals and periodicals, and major modules from Jane's Defense, an electronic database renowned for its detailed and authoritative coverage of defense and security issues. 

Our collection of military materials has been greatly enhanced by the generosity of private individuals who have established funds for thematic collections. For example, in 1940, Ida Wood established the John Penman Wood Library Fund with a gift annuity in memory of her brother, Brigadier General John Penman Wood, to purchase books on national defense. Through the John Penman Wood Fund, we continue to purchase military-themed books and electronic resources such as EBSCO Military and Government to meet the needs of our Political Science and International Relations programs and students participating in the Penn Naval ROTC program.