Crafting with Collections

The Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica at Penn Libraries is filled with visual elements that can serve as inspiration, information, and source material: trade cards, handwritten letters, old newspapers, photographs, broadsides, and much more. Beyond advertisements used to persuade customers, the collections encompass thousands of examples of packaging, catalogs, and other literature from many crafts and trades, from engineering to hat making. We've curated these items for exploring visual design  - drop in to engage with some of the recreated images, make a stamped greeting card, or flex your laser-cutting skills to create a leather bookmark!