5.21
Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Libraries
‘I celebrate myself, and sing myself’
Two centuries after his birth, Walt Whitman’s poetry still resonates with audiences today. The Penn Libraries is leading a region-wide, yearlong celebration of Whitman at 200.
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.
Treasures revealed
It has taken nearly a decade for the Penn Libraries to sort and catalogue the contents of the Gotham Book Mart, the legendary New York City bookstore and publisher. A new exhibition, now on display through May 20, showcases a select 300 items.
On ENIAC’s anniversary, a nod to its female ‘computers’
Six women were the original operators of Penn’s pathbreaking ENIAC, the world’s first computer. On ENIAC Day, you can see a documentary featuring some of their stories that were originally obscured from history.
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.
Copyright expiration releases works to the world
Works from 1923 have entered the public domain after a 20-year extension on copyright protections. The Penn Libraries is digitizing unique works to share.
‘Lost world, lost lives, and the displacement of a culture’
Hundreds of books looted by the Nazis during World War II sit on the shelves of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, a window into a different time in history and individuals we may have otherwise never known.
Walt Whitman up close
As part of the Penn Manuscript Collective, students transcribe rare documents and original works by Walt Whitman in the University’s collection. Their discoveries will be included in an international symposium at Penn this spring, Whitman at 200, led by the Penn Libraries marking the anniversary of the poet’s birth.
Historic Philly playbills get modern-day crowdsourcing
An innovative online crowdsourcing project led by Laura Aydelotte of the Penn Libraries allows the public to transcribe digitized 19th-century Philadelphia theater playbills. An upcoming conference will explore digital approaches to researching theater history.
Pigment and parchment
Undergraduate and graduate students were paired with visiting scholars during a Penn Libraries workshop to paint illustrations like those in centuries-old illuminated manuscripts.
Media Contact
In the News
WWFM: The Classical Network
A Tempo: Expanding Access to Marian Anderson's Legacy
The Penn Libraries’ Kislak Center houses ephemera from the life of Marian Anderson, the first African-American woman to sing a lead role in The Metropolitan Opera. The Center’s David McKnight spoke with WWFM about a new grant funding the digitization of the Anderson collection. (Audio)
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Scans Reveal Secrets of Medieval ‘Harry Potter’ Book and Medical Texts at Penn
Erin Connelly of the Libraries is working with other experts to identify old stains in a centuries-old medical text using multi-spectral imaging. The results of their studies suggest that the tomes were actively used in medicine and alchemy, a predecessor to chemistry.
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