The Philadelphia Area is rich in library and archival sources for historical research. Major collections held at Penn in the library and University Archives include the E.F. Smith Collections in the history of chemistry and the papers of key scientists, engineers and physicians who had ties to Penn. The Bates Center for the History of Nursing holds significant manuscript collections in medical history. Other resources strong in the program's disciplines include

• Philadelphia Library Company
• American Philosophical Society Library (especially strong in the history of technology and the biological sciences)
• Franklin Institute
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• Academy of Natural Sciences
• The library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• The Othmer Library of the Chemical Heritage Foundation
• The Eleutherian-Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware (which is forty-five minutes away) 
• Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine