Founded in 1977 with a bequest from Marion W. Hartman, this fund is in memory of her son, John G. Hartman, Ph.D. 1937.

His dissertation, The Development of American Social Comedy from 1787 to 1936, is still in use in the Penn Library, as are the many resources made available each year from the interest on this endowed fund, which has grown to five times its original value.