In 2011, long-time benefactors and Libraries Board of Advisors members Lawrence J. Schoenberg (C’53, WG’57, PAR’93) and Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg donated a major collection of 280 Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, valued at over $20 million. To promote the use of this and other manuscript collections at Penn, the Libraries created the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) and established the position of the Schoenberg Curator. 

The Schoenberg Curator collaborates with SIMS staff, faculty, and scholars to achieve the Institute's mission: to bring manuscript culture, modern technology, and people together to bring access to and understanding of our intellectual heritage locally and around the world. Simply put, SIMS acts as a think-tank for manuscript studies in the digital age.