The University of Pennsylvania has become the first university in Pennsylvania with access to the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s entire Visual History Archive that contains nearly 52,000 video testimonies of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust in 32 languages and from 56 countries. Penn's partnership with the Shoah Foundation Institute is supported by the joint efforts of the Annenberg School for Communication, Penn Libraries and Penn’s Division of Information Systems and Computing.

Penn President Amy Gutmann, who was moved by the Institute's work when she attended its Ambassadors for Humanity Gala in Philadelphia last year, is hosting a special event at 5 p.m., Monday, April 23, in the lobby of the Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., to officially launch access to the collection. 

The Ambassadors for Humanity Gala honored Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation, and was chaired by Stephen A. Cozen, member of the Penn Law Board of Overseers, and Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen, chair of Penn's Board of Trustees.

The program will include remarks from Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania, Stephen D. Smith, Executive Director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, and Beth S. Wenger, Professor of History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania.