Temple University
Samuel Paley Library
Philadelphia, PA 19122
Mon - Fri 9:00-5:00.
Special Collections
- Thomas Whitehead, Head (PACSCL Rep, 215-204-4371, (PACSCL Rep), whitetm@temple.edu
Urban Archives Center
- Brenda Galloway, Asst. Archivist, 215-204-1639
University Archives: Conwellana-Templana Collection
- Carol A. Harris, 215-204-4576, charri00@temple.edu
Blockson Library: Sullivan Hall
- Diane Turner, Director, diane.turner@temple.edu
With 1,800,000 volumes the Temple University Library is the second largest academic library in the Delaware Valley. Its Special Collections reflect 20th-century urban studies and include 80,000 printed books, twenty million photographic images, and 20,000 cubic feet of archives.
The Urban Archives Center contains post-Civil War local social, educational, political, and labor history; maps, atlases, pamphlets, and photographs, including the collections of The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Evening Bulletin. The University Archives include papers of founder Russell H. Conwell and of faculty, staff, alumni, and the University Press.
The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection is an extensive research collection of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, music, broadsides, and artifacts of African, Caribbean, and Afro-American life.
The Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection consists of English, American, and French literature, horticulture and landscape gardening, history of business and accounting, and English religious and parliamentary history. The Graphic Arts Collection includes fine printing and printing history. Other strengths are the Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection and the Contemporary Culture Collection of social protest, small press, and alternative publications 1960s-1980s.