Notable Collections

Penn Dental Medicine is one of the oldest dental schools in the nation. Dr. Thomas W. Evans, a Philadelphia native, who became the dentist to the courts of Europe during France’s Second Empire and confidant of Napoleon III, left his estate in 1897 to create and maintain a dental school that would be “second to none.” Dr. Evans’ collection did not though fund the formation of a dental library that was left to future generations.

Thomas W. Evans's (1823 – 1897) collection of rare works on the history of dentistry, his collection of Bibles and his surviving personal papers were included in Evans's bequest to the University of Pennsylvania and were to be housed in Evans' envisioned Dental Institute and Museum which opened in 1916.