Access to the College Green area of campus will be restricted until further notice. Current students, faculty and staff with a valid Penn card may enter and exit Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center through the Rosengarten Undergraduate Study Center on the ground floor, and may enter and exit the Fisher Fine Arts Library through the 34th Street entrance to Meyerson Hall. 

During reading period, April 30 to May 14: Access to both Van Pelt and Fisher Fine Arts Library is limited. Find more information.

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Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts

Mrs. Aresty's collection of cookbooks spans five centuries and represents most of the world's cultures. It includes 577 printed titles, thirteen manuscript cookbooks, and a collection of her papers.

Aresty Collection bookplate image with text: Household words, women write from and for the kitchenAresty Collection bookplate image with text: Household words, women write from and for the kitchen.

Esther B. Aresty (1908-2000) was a cookbook collector and culinary historian who wrote on cuisine, cooking, cookbooks, and etiquette. Aresty and her husband, Julian Aresty, donated her exceptional collection of rare cookbooks and cookery manuscripts to the University of Pennsylvania in 1996 shortly before they passed away in 2000 and 1999, respectively. Her publications include  The Grand Venture (1963),  The Delectable Past (1964),  The Best Behavior (1970), and  The Exquisite Table (1980), in addition to a number of pieces of non-fiction and fiction. She also drafted and published the teen romance novel,  Romance in Store (1983), under the pseudonym Elaine Arthur. 

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