The main entrance to the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center is now open. Van Pelt Library and the Fisher Fine Arts Library are currently open to Penn Card holders, Penn affiliates, and certain visitors. See our Service Alerts for details.

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Tobias Wagner Library Fund & The Tobias Wagner Library of History and Literature

The Tobias Wagner Fund was created with the stroke of a pen 130 years ago.

Today, the income from the fund is tracked by a computerized spreadsheet program. The books bought with it are entered on a globally accessible database. The circulation librarian who checks out the books uses a bar-code scanner.

None of this was anticipated by Miss Elizabeth Rhoads, who founded the fund in 1874. But she knew her gift would always benefit the Penn Library...and it continues to do so.