Edgar M. (Edgar Meck) Dilley

Born in Philadelphia in 1874, he attended William Penn Charter School and entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1893, where he studied architecture and took an active part in campus music and literary life. University of Pennsylvania archival records describe him as a writer, songwriter, and reporter, and note that he is best known for writing "Hail, Pennsylvania," the school song later associated more broadly with the state.

His papers, preserved at Penn, include drafts of novels and stories, plays and operas, lyrics, poems, and musical scores, suggesting a writer who moved comfortably between fiction and music. One of his best-known books is The Red Fox's Son: A Romance of Bharbazonia, an imaginative adventure novel first published in 1911 and now available through Project Gutenberg.

The surviving record gives the impression of a versatile, energetic author whose work touched popular song, school tradition, and light imaginative fiction. He died in 1960, leaving behind a small but varied body of work that still offers a glimpse of American literary and musical culture in his era.