Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Today's Hours:

Closed | Library Hours

Phone:

215-898-7088

Email:

kislak@pobox.upenn.edu

Location:

Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
| Directions

Students work with the Walt Whitman Collection in the Lea Library

 

Close up of orrery built by David Rittenhouse in 1770

About

Our Mission and History

book

Reading Room

Access Kislak Center Collections On-Site and Remotely

Ramusio, Giovanni Battista. Secondo Volume Delle Nauigationi Et Viaggi Nel Quale Si Contengono L'historia Delle Cose De Tartari, & Diuersi Fatti De Loro Imperatori, Descritta Da M. Marco Polo Gentilhuomo Venetiano, & Da Hayton Armeno. 1559.

Research

Fellowships and Support for Researchers, Students, and Faculty 

Philadelphia

Civic Engagement

Partnerships celebrating the history, culture, and people of Philadelphia.

Judaica books.

Judaica Digital Humanities

Creative research and development in Jewish studies, informed by digital humanities, Jewish studies, and public scholarship.

News

Upcoming Events

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Apr 24
  • Lecture
Open to the Public

The Making of "Are We Yet Somehow Alive?"

Ruth Naomi Floyd presents a pre-concert lecture and Q&A on the making of "Are We Yet Somehow Alive?," a moving world premiere that pairs jazz, blues and gospel with fine art projections to share compelling first-person accounts from enslaved Africans in America.

  • April 24, 2024
  • 7:00pm - 9:00pm
  • Kislak Center Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, 6th Floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Ruth Naomi Floyd
Apr 25
  • Workshop
Open to the Public

Coffee with a Codex: Arithmetic & Geometry

April 25 is "Bring Our Children To Work Day" here at Penn, and Curator Dot Porter will be bringing her son along for Coffee With A Codex! He enjoys math, so we'll look at three very different manuscripts about arithmetic and geometry, dating from the 12th, 15th, and 17th centuries.

  • April 25, 2024
  • 12:00pm - 12:30pm
  • Online
Page from an arithmatic manuscript
Apr 26
  • Lecture
Open to the Public

Principles of Manuscript Poetics

Francesco Marco Aresu, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at Penn, reflects on the interactions between textuality and materiality, message and medium, visual-verbal discourse and its physical support through readings of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Teseida and Francesco Petrarca’s Rerum vulgarium fragmenta.

  • Friday, April 26, 2024, 12:00 - 1:30 pm EDT
  • 12:00pm - 1:30pm
  • Virtual
Detail of a text page of UPenn MS Codex 257, a manuscript copy of the Teseide of Boccaccio.

Staff

See all Kislak staff

Floor Plans

 

Accessibility

The accessible entrance of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center opens into the Goldstein Undergraduate Study Center. This entrance is on the ground floor of the building facing Blanche P. Levy Park and College Hall. A wheelchair accessible doorbell is located on the railing leading toward the door.

Additional Information

Learn more about accessibility services in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center

Accessible Entrance

Accessible entrance on the ground floor. A brick walk leads from the north side of Levy Park to the accessible door. At the end of the walk are 2 doors. The accessible door is on the right.

Directions to the accessible entrance:   Word   |   PDF