The Kaplan Collection documents commercial, social, religious, political, and cultural ties that connected Jews and the general public from the colonial era through the nineteenth century.
The Kislak Center holds a group of materials related to the photographic experiments and motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904), and in particular connected with his work for Animal Locomotion, done at the University of Pennsylvania (1883-1887).
The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection is devoted to the history of chemistry and collects broadly in that field, emphasizing periods prior to 1900. The collection includes early and modern works on chemistry, alchemy, early medicine and pharmacology, dyeing, metallurgy, mineralogy, and pyrotechnics; biographies of chemists; works on the chemical industry; and the history of chemical education.
Penn's libraries are home to a wide range of special and general collections related to the Holy Land.
The Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library focuses on Shakespeare’s works, their history and theatrical context, and the long tradition of Shakespearian criticism.
Penn Libraries has a substantive Indo-Caribbean collection that strives to reveal histories, communities, and cultural expressions that have remained underrepresented in most research libraries.
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is a University of Pennsylvania museum displaying contemporary art. This portion of the collection documents the exhibition files of the Institute of Contemporary Arts from 1963 to 2000.
Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was world-renowned as a contralto. She also challenged racial barriers in the United States. Her dramatic open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, after she was banned from singing in Constitution Hall, was delivered to 75,000 listeners. She was the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955.
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was an American writer and journalist. He was the leading American proponent of naturalism, which attempted to illustrate and analyze social conditions through literature. He was well known for his left-wing political positions, as well as for his non-traditional romantic and social relationships. He frequently fought against censorship in his attempt to portray aspects of political and sexual life which were considered controversial.