“What is a college education for? How should schools be led and managed, and by whom? What should students learn, and who should pay?” These questions, as contested today as they were in the 18th century, are explored in an exhibit examining Penn’s changing identity during the fractious political era of the American Revolution. Revolution at Penn?, on the sixth floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library now through July 11, is organized by the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, which supplied many artifacts along with the University Archives.
Dozens of political pamphlets, letters, maps, and manuscripts showcase conflicting ideas surrounding the University’s formation, structure, and mission at the time, including a 1755 charter requiring all trustees and faculty to take an oath of allegiance to the Protestant King of Great Britan and Ireland. The exhibit also features: minutes from a trustees’ meeting announcing a name change to the University of the State of Pennsylvania after the institution’s 1779 seizure by the state; a University receipt book noting a payment of “one pound ten shillings” to Absalom Jones, who later became the country’s first Black Episcopal priest, for “sweeping Chimnies at the College”; a 1787 address made by Penn trustee Benjamin Rush, arguing the benefits of advanced education for women; a 1775 map of downtown Philadelphia, which notes the names of nearly every homeowner and business (view it online at tinyurl.com/philadelphia1775); and of course, reproductions of Revolutionary-era issues of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper that this alumni magazine takes its name from.
Perhaps the most dramatic aspect of the exhibit is the life-size replica of an 18th-century coffeehouse that invites interaction. Guests are encouraged to bring their own drinks, take a seat in the Windsor chairs, and play chess, study, or squabble by (fake) candlelight. The coffeehouse even includes a portrait of King George III, placed upside down in a form of protest. —NP
