Tucked away in the North Arcade of Franklin Field is the office of the University Archives.
In this little-known and perhaps underused office, one can find boxes stacked high and filled with historical documents ranging from diplomas of Penn's first graduating class of 1757 to some of the first motion picture photograph series' that were created at Penn in the 1880s by Eadweard Muybridge.
The archives hold anything and everything there is to know about Penn's past, and the man in charge of it all is University Archives Director Mark Frazier Lloyd.
As director of the University Archives since 1984, Lloyd has helped the office grow from an original staff of three to a staff of 25 today. In recent years, the office has helped foster knowledge through its expansive Web site, which has introduced Penn's past to a broader audience.
Lloyd describes the archives' mission as striving to "provide academic support services broadly for the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, for the faculty and for the administration of the University."
College junior Sarah Dotters-Katz is an example of the type of student who makes use of the archives.
Dotters-Katz is an American history major who has just begun to conduct research for her honors thesis.
"I've narrowed it down to students who graduated from Penn's Medical School and their involvement in the Civil War," Dotters-Katz says.
She has found the archives -- and especially Lloyd -- to be an invaluable resource.
"It was fabulous," she says of her first meeting with Lloyd. "Everything the professors couldn't tell me, he could tell me. He has very intensive knowledge about the subjects that I was curious about."
Lloyd, a Philadelphia resident and father of two, said he enjoys interacting with students and provides frequent lectures to the University community. Most recently, he spoke last Thursday night to the sophomore class -- of which his son is a member -- schooling them in Penn's past.
"I have a lot of fun," Lloyd says. "I love the teaching aspect of my job."
On top of providing lectures and working one-on-one with students, Lloyd is also an adjunct faculty member of the History Department and is currently teaching a class entitled "Researching Philadelphia," which introduces history majors to research using primary sources.
His colleagues contend that he is approachable and always willing to help others.
"With students, he's very concerned that students feel as if they are welcome and will find assistance here," Public Services Archivist Amey Hutchins says. "He's very eager to help the people who contact us."
Lloyd feels his work keeps him constantly engaged in University happenings.
"The advancement of knowledge is something that the archivist pursues at a short distance across the entire institution," Lloyd explains. "There's never a time when there isn't something new and exciting to occupy my attention."
In fact, he has always had an appetite for excitement.
"I like adventure," he says, noting that in the '70s, he raced what were known as "muscle cars" for fun.
"The best cars we raced were Chevy 454s -- that's the size of the engine block -- and the Chrysler 440 Hemi. Those were the two big competitors," Lloyd reminisces, with a gleam in his eye.
Despite his work as a historian and archivist, Lloyd isn't stuck in the past.
His love for funk music is an interest that makes him stand out among his fellow historians.
Outside his historical interests, Lloyd claims that his greatest love is coaching Little League baseball, which he has been doing for the last 10 years.
