John Penman Wood Library Fund

Ida Wood established this fund with a gift annuity in 1940 in memory of her brother Brigadier General John Penman Wood for the purchase of books on national defense.

Ida Wood, Professional Certification 1884, was elected the first Secretary of the Graduate Department for Women ("but without salary") in November of 1891. Upon being inducted into the women's Class of 1929 Hall of Fame, she remarked:

"The University has done its part, it has given disciplined minds, trained judgment, keen perception. . . Out of the abounding counsel that age has always been ready to bestow on the younger generation, I select three admonitions: Do not scrap the old ethical standards in any specious belief that they hamper a free expression of one's individuality;. . . Take with you into life a fine sporting sense of the rights of the other fellow; respect your own rights but respect equally his rights. . . . Do not be too good natured;. . . Do not supinely accept that which may be improved because it seems ungracious to protest or too much trouble to endeavour to amend."

Not only did she bestow advice, she left a permanent legacy to the Penn Library. Her fund has grown almost sixteen-fold since its inception and provides a continuing resource to the Penn community.