This fund was established in memory of Laura Jan Meyerson by her parents, Margy Ellin Meyerson and University President Emeritus Martin Meyerson. Contemporary poetry, limited editions, and works suggested by faculty and students are among the recent acquisitions supported by the fund, which is under the auspices of Penn's Annenberg Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Laura Meyerson loved theatre, film, art, reading, cats and poetry, which she wrote as well as read. She was a film editor before joining the writing staff at Penn. Although she suffered in childhood and thereafter from Crohn's disease and underwent numerous operations, she acted with acclaim at Germantown Friends School and Brown University which she attended before switching closer to home to Temple where she received an undergraduate degree. Her last poem was about what she saw from her hospital window.

At 14, Laura Jan Meyerson authored and illustrated Harry the Whale.