The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
The Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts advances learning and inspires discovery in Penn's community and around the world. The goals of the Kislak Center align with those of the Penn Libraries as a whole: to make our collections accessible; to use technology in innovative and meaningful ways; to enhance teaching and research; and to preserve our cultural resources for future generations. To learn more about the Kislak Center, visit our website.
- A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography
- Collection Materials
- Henry Charles Lea Lectures
- Kislak Papers: Studies From the Collections of The University of Pennsylvania Libraries
- Lorraine Beitler Collection of the Dreyfus Affair Distinguished Lecture Series
- Manuscript Studies
- Penn Judaica
- Penn Manuscript Collective
- Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS)
- The Library Chronicle
- Unique at Penn
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Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 674 - [Horae de Sancta Katherina]. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 674, Hours of St. Catherine, incomplete at the end, where prayers to St. Barbara, an Office of St. Barbara, and the Passion account from the Gospel of Matthew (partial) are added in a second hand. Written in Germany in the early 15th century (Zacour-Hirsch). 19th-century description tipped onto front endleaf has date ca. 1390. Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9924874603503681?hld_id=22283686350003681Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 665 - Venetian Capitulary. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 665, statutes in 151 chapters of the Order of the Ship, founded in Naples in 1381 by King Carlo III 'di Durazzo'. Presumably copied sometime between the founding of the order on 1 December 1381 (date on f. 21 r) and the death of Carlo III in 1386. Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9924874513503681?hld_id=22283691260003681Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 1280 - [Ledger of Medici debtors and creditors]. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 1280, ledger of debtors and creditors of the Medici family for the years 1537-1539. Often includes the nature of a given credit or debt and its amount, as well as listing the names of the individuals or institutions that hold the debt or credit, the most important being the Spedale e Spedaletto di Santa Maria Novella (p. 7, 22), a Florentine church which also offered pilgrims and those in need medical help; the Chapitolo and Convento delle monache delle convertite (p. 17), a nunnery for young women, often prostitutes, who converted to Catholicism; and the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (p. 60). An alphabetical index, with 18 lettered tabs, containing names of individuals and institutions that appear in the ledger, is laid into the manuscript. Written in Italy, ca. 1539 (date of latest entries, p. 98). Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9944302523503681?hld_id=22416113250003681Publication Transcription of Alice Paul (1885-1977), The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania(2025) Heather J. Sharkey; Ellen Miller; Maria Murad; Lindsey PerlmanThis document presents a complete transcription of the PhD thesis of Alice Paul (1885-1977), "The Legal Position of Women in Pennsylvania," presented in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and completed in 1912. The thesis, which was never published, survives in one copy, a holograph manuscript housed in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts (Ms. Coll. 680). In a brief introduction, the authors describe their transcription work.Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 859 - Instrumenta mag. fratrum de Tartaleonibus. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 859, copies of 23 documents concerning financial transactions of the Tartaleoni brothers of Milan, dating from 1565 to 1575, each followed by two notarial signets and signatures. Written in Mantua, ca. 1565-1575; 1564 written on cover. Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9931780393503681?hld_id=22370445990003681Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 736 - Venetian Capitulary. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 59, a collection of papal letters and instruments regarding the order of the Eremite Friars of St. Augustine of Rouen, with copies of documents by Clement VI, Innocent IV, Urban VI, Boniface VIII, Alexander IV, Martin V, Eugene IV, Nicholas V, and Sixtus IV. Includes a letter by the cardinal protector of the order, Guillaume de Estouteville; collection notarized by Marco Marzio Saxoferratensis (f. 29). Written in Italy (Zacour-Hirsch), 29 March 1475 (f. 29r). Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9924875873503681?hld_id=22283703620003681 Record on Internet Archive (link to PDF): https://archive.org/details/mscodex736Publication Penn Library's Ms. Codex 59 - Venetian Capitulary. (Video Orientation)Porter, DotVideo Orientation to the University of Pennsylvania Library's Ms. Codex 59, a capitulary containing copies of Venetian statutes pertaining to officials concerned with financial matters (Tre savii sopra la remisio di conti, f. 34r). Written in Venice, from 1519 (f. 1r) to 1631 (f. 16r). Record on Find (link to digitized copy): https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9914711863503681?hld_id=22412879400003681Publication Collation Model for Ms. Codex 363: Triumpho de la morte contra li magni [et] valenti homini de Italia : cum le additione de li capitani moderni : novamente composte [et] correcta la prima hystoria.(2025-03-19) Porter, DotPoetic work in 91 eight-line stanzas. Mentioned in the poems are Sforza, Galeazo, Contarini, Gonzaga, Malatesta, Spinola, Brandolini, etc.Publication Collation Model for Ms. Codex 290: La legenda di s[an]ct[i]ss[im]i Thebey soto Dioclitiano & Maximiano i[m]p[er]ato[r]i.(2025-03-19) Porter, DotAn Italian version of the extremely popular legend of the martyrdom of the Theban Legion, supposedly decimated in the reign of Diocletian and Maximian because so many of its officers and men adhered to the Christian faith. The massacre is supposed to have taken place at St. Maurice-en-Valais (now in Switzerland). The commander of the legion (which was composed entirely of men from the Thebaid in Egypt) was Maritius, later canonized.Publication Collation Model for Ms. Codex 197: [Contemplations of the dread and love of God] ... [etc.](2025-03-19) Porter, DotManuscript copy of the text, Contemplations of the dread and love of God, sometimes erroneously attributed to Richard Rolle. This text covers f. 1-131 of the manuscript; it begins in the middle of the early section, What ys charite; how and whi thou schalt love God, and lacks the final leaf where this text ends and the next begins. Followed by additional prayers, poems, and homilies. These include prayers to Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, St. Katherine and others. Also includes texts on virtues and on the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.