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Learning, Revolution and Democracy: An Exhibition of 200 Years of Higher Education in Philadelphia
I didn’t expect that when processing the records of the Area Universities Bicentennial Exhibition that I would discover an intriguing connection between my present-day work as an archivist and Penn’s own University Archives of 50 years ago. One of my first discoveries was an undated letter, probably written in 1972, from University Archivist Francis James Dallett. In the letter, Dallett talks about his ideas for a Bicentennial exhibition that would feature materials from the…
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Manuscript Monday: Penn Library’s LJS 37 – Euclid’s Elements (Arabic) [اختصار للمقالات من كتاب اقليدس]. (Video Orientation)
Dot Porter, SIMS Curator of Digital Humanities, presents a Video Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library’s LJS 37, an incomplete abridgment in Arabic of Euclid’s Elements, written on paper. The first 6 leaves (f. i-5) are replacements, written on different paper in a later hand. The replacement title page gives the incorrect title Taḥrīr…
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The sea of Minhagim books – and the unique Penn copy
Minhagim books, or Minhogim books (the respective transliterations of the Hebrew and Yiddish pronunciations of the word מִנְהָגִים), were liturgies and rituals adapted for observance by Jewish communities in early modern German speaking lands. They also were commonly found among Italian Ashkenazim as well as Dutch and Bohemian Jews. These “custom” books frequently depicted holiday and ritual practices with woodcut or illuminated illustrations. These delightful images also provide…
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Manuscript Monday: Penn Library’s Ms. Codex 761 – Cosmographies. (Coffee With A Codex)
Coffee With A Codex is an informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak Curator Dot Porter and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn’s collections. Each week we’ll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of other curators. We meet over Zoom on Wednesdays at 12pm ET / 5pm GMT /…
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To “Guide the Student Life, the Organizations, the Recreation, the Housing, and the Welfare of Women Students”
My experience processing the records of the Office of the Dean of Women offered fascinating insights into the lives of women students at Penn prior to 1969. Before becoming coeducational, the oversight of student life was separated along gendered lines, with responsibility divided between a Dean of Women and a Dean of Men. The role of the Dean of Women, according to a 1947 report, was to actively “guide the student life, the…
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Manuscript Monday: Penn Library’s LJS 43 – Shāh Qāsim wa-ghayruhu min taṣānīfih. (Video Orientation)
Dot Porter, SIMS Curator of Digital Humanities, presents a Video Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library’s LJS 43, a collection in 4 sections of rubāʻīyāt (quatrains) and qaṣāʼid (lyric poems). Sparse marginalia, some in the text language and some later notes in English.. The item is undated, perhaps copied in the 16th century, and…
Unique at Penn 