Established in 1988 by the estate of Edward W. Lanius, this fund supports acquisitions of Romance languages resources. Dr. Lanius received a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from Penn in 1964. A professor at the University of Miami, he generously made the Penn Library the beneficiary of a large portion of his estate.

The Penn Library bibliographer for Romance languages materials reports that faculty and students regularly say how well they are served by the Library's holdings in these languages. The Lanius Fund is critical in making this possible.