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Ben Franklin: A voice from the past that speaks to our time
Interim president Wendell Pritchett interviewing Ken Burns.

Penn Interim President Wendell Pritchett (left) moderated the talk with documentarian Ken Burns.

Ben Franklin: A voice from the past that speaks to our time

At the 2022 Silfen Forum, Penn Interim President Wendell Pritchett chatted with filmmaker Ken Burns about his new two-part documentary on Benjamin Franklin.

Kristen de Groot

Annie Ma bridges the contemporary with classics
Woman in formal dress stands in front of blue geometric artwork

 Annie Ma foregrounding artwork by Jet LeParti.

Annie Ma bridges the contemporary with classics

Annie Ma, a junior in the School of Arts & Sciences, responded to the rise in anti-Asian violence with a renewed sense of identity and purpose, reconciling her love for classics with her love for contemporary East Asian culture.

Kristina Linnea García

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars
students examine a long scroll in the archive class

Homepage image: Graduate students in the Inside the Archive course look on as Bill Whitaker, the curator and collections manager at the Weitzman School of Design’s Architectural Archives, unfurls an artifact from the Louis Kahn Collection.

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars

Through Inside the Archive, a course taught by Liliane Weissberg of the School of Arts & Sciences, Penn students explore what an archive is, how history gets written, and what is ahead in a digital future.
Ph.D. candidate’s initiative brings refugees out of Ukraine and supplies in
Sam Finkelman helps a Ukrainian woman out of a van onto the street in Hungary

History Ph.D. student Sam Finkelman helps a Ukrainian refugee out of a van in Budapest, Hungary, earlier this month. (Image: Courtesy of Sam Finkelman)

Ph.D. candidate’s initiative brings refugees out of Ukraine and supplies in

When Sam Finkelman’s yearlong research trip to Russia, Hungary, and Ukraine was interrupted by war, he went into action.

Kristen de Groot

Asian American Studies’ 25th anniversary
A man in a blue suit gestures as he teaches a class

In Asian American studies classrooms, “you get students from every single major, you get them from every single field, you get every class background, and you get every political background,” says David Eng. “What’s happened in the field of ethnic studies in general, is that you’ve had to create these horizontal communities among these generations of students.”

Asian American Studies’ 25th anniversary

The Asian American Studies program is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a podcast miniseries, weekly alumni events, and a March 19 conference.

Kristina Linnea García

Possessed: The Salem witch trials
Historical rendering of a courtroom in the era of the Salem witch trials.

In many ways, the witch hunt fit in with New England folk beliefs and theology, says Kathleen M. Brown. The idea that the devil had a hand in human affairs and “could seduce you away from God” was a very normative belief, she says.

Possessed: The Salem witch trials

This spring marks the 330th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, during which a total of 20 “afflicted girls” accused around 150 people, 19 of whom were executed. Historian Kathleen M. Brown discusses why this episode is still fascinating today.

Kristina Linnea García

From tracing art thieves to tracing Early American history
Emma Hart leans against a tree in front of the McNeil Center on Penn campus with her arms crossed, smiling at the camera

Emma Hart is the new Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.

From tracing art thieves to tracing Early American history

Emma Hart, the new director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, discusses her former career, her new role, and her goals for the future.

Kristen de Groot

What Russia is stirring up at Chernobyl

What Russia is stirring up at Chernobyl

Adriana Petryna of the School of Arts & Sciences wrote about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could impact Chernobyl, the site of a 1986 explosion at a nuclear facility. “By seizing the plant as part of a brutal invasion, Russia is stirring up radioactive particles and also Chernobyl’s painful legacy: Ukrainians’ memory of the Soviet Union’s disregard for their lives,” she wrote.