Libraries

A life of books

Books define the life of Peter Stallybrass, an English professor who has retired after 30 years at Penn, known for his History of Material Texts workshop. He explains the five seminal books of his storied academic career.

Louisa Shepard

Astronomical find

Penn Libraries has acquired a rare astronomical treatise dated 1481, with unique diagrams in the margins, and original discs of parchment that turn to demonstrate the movement of the sun, moon, and planets.

Louisa Shepard

A medieval confluence

Three newly-hired Penn assistant professors, all transplants to Philadelphia, found each other soon after they arrived and discovered that, although they were in different areas of study, they all focused on the Middle Ages, specifically 13th-century France. 

Louisa Shepard , Louisa Shepard

Shakespeare and his co-authors, as told by Penn engineers

Four hundred years after the death of dramatist William Shakespeare, enduring questions remain about whether the Bard of Avon had an uncredited co-writer on some of his world-famous plays. A team of Penn researchers has found an answer—in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, of all places.

Greg Johnson



Media Contact


In the News


Philadelphia Tribune

Preparing the archives: Sun Ra comes to Kislak Center

Samantha Hill of Penn Libraries discusses the recent acquisition of two collections of archival materials by Sun Ra, a prolific jazz musician and forefather to the Afrofuturist movement.

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Cleveland Jewish News

University of Pennsylvania buys medieval Hebrew manuscript collection

Penn has acquired a collection including scrolls and scroll fragments, manuscript leaves and manuscript fragments, complete and partial books, birth records from a Yemenite family and tefillin.

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Pennsylvania Capital Star

Universities, nonprofits step up to aid depleted Philadelphia public school libraries

Gina Pambianchi discusses the Penn Libraries’ efforts to support Philadelphia public school libraries.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

The life and work of acclaimed Black children’s author and illustrator Ashley Bryan is honored in a new Penn exhibit

Lynne Farrington of the Kislack Center comments on a new Penn Libraries exhibit celebrating the late Black children’s author and illustrator Ashley Bryan.

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Broadway World

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries acquires archives of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Academy of Music

Penn Libraries has acquired the archives of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Academy of Music, with remarks from President Liz Magill and Constantia Constantinou of Penn Libraries.

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WHYY (Philadelphia)

The history of the Philadelphia Orchestra now lives at Penn

Vice Provost Constantia Constantinou of Penn Libraries describes how Penn is equipped and staffed to give the Philadelphia Orchestra's archive the attention it deserves.

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