Notable Collections

The American Musicological Society's purpose is to advance scholarship in the various fields of music through research, learning, and teaching.

The East Asia Comics Collection embodies the Libraries’ strategic priorities to collect and preserve global voices, and to make accessible materials related to borders and belonging. 

Penn is home to the largest library collection of Frisian-language literature outside of Europe.

Penn Libraries’ collection of Indigenous children’s literature from Latin America is modest but notable.

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was world-renowned as a contralto. She also challenged racial barriers in the United States.

The Marlboro Music School and Festival Records spans Marlboro’s history from 1950 through 2013.

Otto Edwin Albrecht (1899-1984) was an internationally known music bibliographer and professor of romance languages and musicology at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Libraries work with select local bookstores to collect items that were were written or published locally, that represent the books marketed/sold to specific local communities, or that reflect the interests of local cooperative centers with goals aligned with those of the University.

The Robert and Molly Freedman Jewish Sound Archive is among the most important resources in the world for the study of Jewish culture, folklore, history, linguistics, and literature through the medium of sound.