The Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection is devoted to the history of chemistry and collects broadly in that field, emphasizing periods prior to 1900. The collection includes early and modern works on chemistry, alchemy, early medicine and pharmacology, dyeing, metallurgy, mineralogy, and pyrotechnics; biographies of chemists; works on the chemical industry; and the history of chemical education.
The Edwin Forrest collection documents the career of Forrest (1806-1872), a major nineteenth-century American actor, noted for his Shakespearean roles. Originally housed in the Edwin Forrest Home in Philadelphia, the Forrest Library includes over three thousand titles dating from the sixteenth through the early twentieth centuries.
This collection documents the extraordinary 64-year music career of Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985), best known for his long tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Materials are available to researchers through the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was world-renowned as a contralto. She also challenged racial barriers in the United States. Her dramatic open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939, after she was banned from singing in Constitution Hall, was delivered to 75,000 listeners. She was the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955.
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.
This collection contains the award-winning lyricist Ray Evans' letters, memorabilia, music, and other documents, physical and digitized, donated to the libraries by the Ray & Wyn Ritchie Evans Foundation.
Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991) was an American classical pianist known as one of the 20th century’s greatest soloists and for fostering a vibrant culture of chamber music via the Marlboro Music School and Festival.