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An ‘archival discovery’ about a 17th-century Shakespeare Folio
a burned Shakespeare Folio in a glass box

A the remains of a burned Shakespeare Folio in a sealed glass case is part of the Penn Libraries collection. 

(Image: Courtesy of the Penn Libraries)

An ‘archival discovery’ about a 17th-century Shakespeare Folio

In the Penn Libraries is a sealed glass box containing the charred pages of a 17th-century Folio, a collection of plays by William Shakespeare. An archival discovery by Penn faculty proves that it is from the Third Folio, not the First as it was previously identified.

3 min. read

Patti Smith as a Kelly Writers House Fellow
Patti Smith and Al Filreis at microphones.

Smith and Filreis held a public discussion, filled with her stories and readings of her works, on the morning of Feb. 25.

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Patti Smith as a Kelly Writers House Fellow

Singer, songwriter, poet, author, and musician Patti Smith was in residence at the Kelly Writers House for two days, telling stories about the people in her life throughout the decades, reading passages from her books, and performing her songs.
Through Literature of Care course, a curriculum of compassion
Aaron Levy and students gathered around a table filled with images.

Aaron Levy, center left, leads a Literature of Care seminar inside the gallery of Public Trust.

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Through Literature of Care course, a curriculum of compassion

Literature of Care, a course offered every fall in the School of Arts & Sciences, explores medical humanities and the role storytelling plays in patient care.
An updated Database of Early English Playbooks: DEEP 2.0
William Shakespeare.

Image: Adobe Stock/Tony Baggett

An updated Database of Early English Playbooks: DEEP 2.0

The 20-year-old Database of Early English Playbooks has become an invaluable resource for research on Shakespeare and many other playwrights of his time. The catalogue has been revised and relaunched as DEEP 2.0, with support from Penn’s Price Lab for Digital Humanities.

From Omnia

Exploring the authenticity of a pair of storied gloves
Historic gloves in a case.

The gloves under ultraviolet light. 

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Exploring the authenticity of a pair of storied gloves

Kislak Center curator Alicia Meyer is researching a pair of gloves in the Penn Libraries collection rumored to have been William Shakespeare’s, enlisting the help of Tessa Gadomski in the Libraries conservation laboratory to see if the gloves could be from the 1600s.
The nuts and bolts of book publishing
Dylan Fritz sits on the steps outside Penn Press.

Eric Sucar

The nuts and bolts of book publishing

Fourth-year Dylan Fritz interned at Penn Press over the summer in the acquisitions and marketing departments through the Summer Humanities Internship Program.
Sound research as a lens to understanding the world
Illustration of a person wearing headphones with swirling whales and birds surrounding them.

Image: Maggie Chiang for OMNIA

Sound research as a lens to understanding the world

Researchers across Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences are turning to sound for new answers to questions on subjects from birdsong to the benefits of music exposure.

Laura Dattaro

The English major’s cheerleader and champion
Jennifer Egan standing in front of class gesturing with one hand and holding papers in the other

Egan first taught literature at Penn in the spring of 2019, but she restructured the course and wrote new lectures for this year’s class.

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The English major’s cheerleader and champion

Bestselling author Jennifer Egan taught an undergraduate literature course in the spring as an English Department artist in residence in the School of Arts & Sciences. A 1985 Penn graduate, she is a passionate advocate for the English major, the humanities, and a liberal arts education.