Temple University

Mon - Fri 9:00-5:00.

 Dean of University Libraries

Larry Alford

Special Collections

• Margery N. Sly, Director of Special Collections (PACSCL Rep), 215-204-1455, msly@temple.edu
• Thomas Whitehead, Head (PACSCL Alternate Rep), 215-204-4371,  whitetm@temple.edu

Urban Archives Center

• Brenda Galloway-Wright, Associate Archivist and Interim Head, 215-204-1639, bgallowa@temple.edu
• Sarah Sherman, Associate Archivist ( Philadelphia Jewish Archives), ess2@temple.edu

University Archives: Conwellana-Templana Collection

• Carol A. Harris, 215-204-4576, charri00@temple.edu

Blockson Library: Sullivan Hall: 1330 Polett Walk 

• Diane Turner, Curator, ddturner@temple.edu

With over 3,000,000 volumes the Temple University Libraries is the second largest academic library in the Delaware Valley. Its special collections reflect 20th-century urban studies and include 150,000 printed books, 5 1/2 million photographic images, and 43,000 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 Urban Archives holds The Philadelphia Jewish Archives Collection which contains diaries, photos and the records of many Jewish organizations.

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 Special Collections Department consists of the Rare Books & Manuscripts unit with its emphasis on English and French literature, horticulture and landscape gardening, the history of business and accounting, English religious and parliamentary history and the graphic arts including fine printing, printing history and artist books, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, the Contemporary Culture Collection holding social protest, small press, and alternative publications  and archival collections of the 1960s-1980s, the University Archives ( the Conwellana-Templana Collection) which includes the papers of Temple founder Russell H. Conwell and of faculty, alumni and the Temple University Press and the Philadelphia Dance Collection at Temple (PDCAT) holding archives of regional dance companies and dancers.