University of Pennsylvania. Libraries

The University of Pennsylvania Library dates to 1749 with a gift of books from Richard Jackson, a London lawyer and politician. Within a few years, Benjamin Franklin and William Smith donated additional volumes. In 1784 Louis XVI of France presented the Library with 100 volumes. When the University moved from its Fourth and Arch Streets location to its present West Philadelphia address in 1872, the Library was housed on the first floor of College Hall. By 1890, the Library's 55,000 bound volumes were ready for their own building and moved into specially prepared quarters, a building by the famed Philadelphia architecth, Frank Furness. Continuing to grow at a steady pace, the Library again recognized a need for expansion and prepared to move, in 1962, across the green to new facilities designed by Harbeson, Livingston, and Larson.

Constructed from 1958 to 1962, the Van Pelt Library is the general library serving the University community. The second half of the building, named for Daniel W. and H. Richard Dietrich, was completed in 1966. Presently the University Library holds over three million volumes.