The papers of the late acclaimed author, rabbi, professor and Penn alumnus Chaim Potok have been donated to the University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The collection includes correspondence, writings, lectures, sermons and other material spanning the career of one of America’s foremost Jewish writers.
Perhaps best known for his novels “The Promise,” “The Chosen” and “My Name Is Asher Lev,” Potok also authored numerous plays, short stories, essays and works of non-fiction, including “Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews.”

Born in the Bronx in 1929, Potok graduated from Yeshiva University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was ordained as a rabbi, and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Penn. Before his death in 2002, Potok was a popular teacher in the General Honors Program, and in 1983 delivered the Baccalaureate Commencement address.