Author: adminuatpa
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Wanted! The Illicit Diamond Dealer, Isaac Joel.
Written by Shevi Epstein I find this “wanted” broadside from the Arnold and Deanne Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica, very interesting. The broadside provides information about an illicit diamond dealer named Isaac Joel and was put forth by John Fry, the Chief of the Detective Department of Griqualand West, Kimberley, South Africa on March…
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Lydia Sigourney’s Rags and Ribbons
Written by Stephanie R. Scherer Processing as wide-ranging and extensive of a collection as Caroline F. Schimmel’s, I have come across many surprises—from striking illustrated covers, miniature formats, and ornately decorated bindings to eye-catching titles, like You Bet Your Boots I Can, which peppily echoes the title of the Kislak Center’s 2018 exhibition built from selections from…
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Some thoughts on my favorite dissertation ever written
Written by Cory Austin Knudson Dissertating isn’t as bad as dissertating grad students say it is. That’s not to dismiss the very real and often very intense struggle of researching, writing, and defending a document that represents one’s entrance into one’s chosen field of scholarship and, hopefully, into a career. For me, the struggle of…
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The Mystery of the Lecherous Limerick
Written by Cory Austin Knudson Everyone loves a good limerick. Though somewhat out of fashion these days—what has the man from Nantucket been up to?—that perennial poetic configuration of lowbrow humor can still get a smile when crafted properly. Everyone from Mark Twain to Shakespeare has tried their hand at putting together a good limerick:…
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Crowdfunding Penn in 1925
Written by Cory Austin Knudson By 1925, the University of Pennsylvania comprised some 8,000 full-time students from every state in the U.S. and 40 foreign countries, as well as an additional 7,000 part-time students. Penn’s three hospitals treated more than 150,000 patients and its dental school treated 14,000 others. Fourth in enrollment and size of…
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Whose World’s Fair? Advertisements in Print Collection 47
Written by Cory Austin Knudson Come see the wondrous plank! Sixteen feet across if it’s an inch! From the most ancient depths of the old-growth redwood forests of Humboldt County, the tree from which it was hewn overlooked the Pacific Ocean for centuries before Europeans ever arrived on this country’s eastern shore. And now it’s here,…
Unique at Penn 