page_title: University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. Subjects: Universities &amp; colleges Places: Pennsylvania &gt; Philadelphia (county) &gt; Philadelphia Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_018015
context_page_description: The University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences is the oldest undergraduate college at the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League university, situated on the university's main campus in University City, Philadelphia. The college traces its roots to the establishment of a secondary school known as Unnamed Charity School in 1740. In 1749, Benjamin Franklin and twenty-one leading citizens of Philadelphia officially founded a secondary school named Academy of Philadelphia. In 1755, the secondary school was expanded to include a collegiate division known as College of Philadelphia. The secondary and collegiate institutions were known collectively as The Academy and College of Philadelphia. The college received its charter from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn. Penn CAS is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Pennsylvania and the sixth-oldest chartered college in the United States.
  Penn is distinctive for its comprehensive "One University Policy," which allows students to enroll in classes in any of Penn's twelve schools, including the law school and the Wharton School.
context_section_description: The Penn College of Arts & Sciences was preceded by two schools, the Charity School and the Academy of Philadelphia. Initially organized by the founder of Methodism, George Whitefield, as "Charity School," a secondary school known as "Academy of Philadelphia" was eventually founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, and was expanded to include a collegiate division known as "College of Philadelphia" in 1755 when it obtained a charter from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn in 1755. Due in part to the influence of early Methodism's religious leaders, the college was based in George Whitfield's "New Building", on Ninth Street in Center City, Philadelphia.
  Benjamin Franklin served as the institution's first president until 1755, and continued to serve as a trustee until his death in 1790. Unlike other Colonial American colleges at the time, which educated young men for the Christian Ministry, the Penn College of Arts & Sciences was innovative in that it was founded as a nonsectarian institution meant to train students for leadership in business, government and public service. However, Penn's first Provost, William Smith, turned the curriculum back to religious channels after succeeding Franklin. The first class graduated in 1757.
  In 1765, John Morgan, a graduate of the Class of 1757, established a medical college at the school, now known as the Perelman School of Medicine, which was the first medical school in the United States.
  By the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the college had already educated some of the nation's foremost political leaders, including James Wilson, Founding Father and the first Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Francis Hopkinson, Founding Father and the first judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania under General George Washington; and Hugh Williamson, Founding Father, and author of several of the 'Letters of Sylvia.
  With the successful Treaty of Paris in 1783, the domestic situation was stable enough for the college to resume classes. The college was briefly chartered as a state institution and earned its current name, the University of Pennsylvania, when the University was made private in 1791.
  Having been home to the Continental Congress in College Hall since 1778, the college moved to President's House on Ninth and Chestnut Streets in 1802.
  Under the leadership of Provost Charles Janeway Stille in 1872, Penn relocated a second time to Almshouse farm west of Philadelphia's Schulykill River, its present site. Over the next two decades, the university began re-orienteering itself to Benjamin Franklin's original aims of discovery and invention, with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences being founded in 1882, and the first Ph.D. in Physics award in 1889 under the provostship of William Pepper.
  Transforming itself into a modern research institution, the university established a number of professional schools, including the Law School in 1850, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1852, and the School of Dentistry in 1878. The world's first, collegiate school of business, the Wharton School was founded in 1881 by an endowment from Joseph Wharton. The School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Design were subsequently founded in 1884 and 1890, respectively.
  Penn was also a leader in educational accessibility, and embraced the diversity of America during this period. Among the Ivy League Universities, it was one of the first to admit students of color in 1879. Women were admitted to the graduate school since 1882, and the first  women undergraduates at Penn were enrolled with the establishment of the School of Education in 1914.
caption: College Hall c.1930
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