History

Unearthing a botanical legacy, one seed at a time

Painstaking work by Penn Museum archaeobotanist Chantel White and students has verified what the Bartrams sold and exported to Europe in the 1800s, and shed light on the family’s daily dietary habits.

Michele W. Berger

Not-so-self-evident truths

In her new book, Sophia Rosenfeld, the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, digs up the roots of the relationship between democracy and truth.

Penn Today Staff

A meeting of medievalists

More than 500 medieval scholars from the U.S. and Europe will be on campus for the annual Medieval Academy of America conference. Dozens of panels, workshops, and lectures about the Middle Ages will convene, many led by Penn faculty.

Louisa Shepard

The times and life of W.E.B. Du Bois at Penn

In 1896, Du Bois was appointed an assistant instructor at Penn and began his investigation of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia—research that he would turn into his groundbreaking work, “The Philadelphia Negro.”

Greg Johnson

Leafing through the pages of medical library history

Rare gems, anatomical and botanical volumes, and the original library catalog are all housed in the Historic Medical Library at Pennsylvania Hospital, the first of its kind in the country.

Penn Today Staff

Reclaiming socialism

Kristen R. Ghodsee has been intrigued by the former Eastern bloc since she was in high school. Now, her research is reaching a new audience in a provocative book.

Gwyneth K. Shaw



Media Contact


In the News


The Wall Street Journal

‘Slouch’ review: The panic over posture

In her new book, “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America,” Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces society’s posture obsession to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

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Time

Don’t be fooled by Trump’s failure to endorse a nationwide abortion ban

In an Op-Ed, Serena Mayeri of Penn Carey Law says that a second Trump administration would empower an anti-abortion movement determined to make abortion illegal everywhere.

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The New Yorker

The truth behind the slouching epidemic

Beth Linker of the School of Arts & Sciences traces the history of a poor-posture epidemic in the U.S. which began at the onset of the 20th century.

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Inside Higher Ed

The activist academy

In her book “Chasing the Intact Mind,” Amy S.F. Lutz of the School of Arts & Sciences argues that the current approach to disabilities studies marginalizes the most severely disabled.

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Las Vegas Review-Journal

Our political parties have become unrecognizable

Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences says that the Republican lean to the right during the last few decades has distorted labels like moderate and conservative.

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Toronto Star

Few options available to Western leaders weighing response to Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny’s death

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon of the School of Arts & Sciences says that Western countries have little practical leverage to push Russia off its authoritarian path after Alexei Navalny’s death, given the economic and diplomatic sanctions already levied against Vladimir Putin.

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