A new donation will add to the University’s existing collection of materials about book publishing and the cultural history of Philadelphia from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Running Press archives will expand Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s collection with a catalogue of publications from 1972 to the present.
The donation was made by Stuart ‘Buz’ Teacher, who founded the Running Press in Philadelphia in 1972, and his wife, Janet Bukovinsky.
The archive materials include a catalogue of Running Press titles, as well as correspondence, contracts, business records and advertising and promotional brochures.
“With all this talk of e-books, students will definitely be interested in working with materials that reflect the evolution of the book and publishing history,” said David McKnight, director of the Rare Books and Manuscript Library.
The material will not be circulating, but will be available for access by students in the Rare Books Library.
“We’re very excited about this gift,” added McKnight. “Buz’s affiliation with Penn is certainly one of the reasons he felt Penn would be a good home for the archives.”
Teacher, who is a member of the University Board of Trustees, and his brother Larry both Penn alumnis. Stuart graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology and a master’s degree in criminology and criminal law from the Wharton School.
Stuart Teacher is now a member of the University Board of Trustees.
According to McKnight, the Teacher brothers were adamant that the materials stay in Philadelphia.
“The archives are not simply a list of imprints,” he said. “They also reflect the mechanisms and personalities and challenges of the books published during this time.”
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