In 1927, the University of Pennsylvania announced that Jessie Sellers Colton had made a $50,000 gift, endowing a Library Fund in memory of her husband, Sabin W. Colton, Jr. (pictured here).

The first acquisition was the Hugo A. Rennert collection of Spanish literature. Dr. Rennert, Professor of Romance Languages at Penn, had accumulated an important private library, and Mrs. Colton's gift made it possible for the collection to come to the Penn Library.

Since then, the fund has helped the Library provide materials that form the basis for new understanding of the past and new discoveries for the future.