Japanese Special Collections

The Penn Libraries collects a variety of Japanese rare materials, including but not limited to books, periodicals, scrapbooks, limited-circulation newspapers, manuscripts, photographs, and art prints.

Collection Overview

The contents of this collection come to the Libraries both from targeted purchases from Japan, and from gifts in kind. The Penn Libraries, over time, has built on historic strengths and been guided by collection usage in teaching and research, as well as generous gifts and local community member discoveries and donations.

Collection Strengths

The Libraries’ major collections at present include the Arthur Tress Collection of Japanese Illustrated Books; the Japanese Juvenile Fiction Collection; the Japanese Naval Collection; early modern and modern illustrated books; textile and other design books from the early modern period; women's photography and contemporary urban exploration photography and ephemera; and woodblock prints. We are also beginning to collect materials in support of language learners, especially comics (with an LGBT focus) and graded readers in Japanese.