While we’re nearing the end of the semester I figured that I’d do a post about our lovely university. I’ve done posts about things that all make Penn State even greater, but I haven’t done one about the history of our great university. So here it goes.
Penn State is a land-grant university, the only one in the state. The university got the land from iron masters James Irvin and Moses Thompson. They donated 200 acres of Center Furnace land for the school to use. Now, they weren’t the only ones who tried to donate land. The Pennsylvania Agriculture Society was looking for a place to build their agricultural school and Irvin and Thompson won the bid.
It was established in 1855 with the “mission of teaching, researching, and public service”. Now, many think, are told, believe, etc. that Penn State started off as a high school. It actually began as an agricultural college that was able to grant baccalaureate degrees. They wanted to encourage the use of science in farming. According to the “About Penn State: Penn State Myths” page on the PSU website, “many framers distrusted the traditional college curriculum that emphasized the study of rhetoric, ancient languages, philosophy, and other “classical” subjects.” So the university, “to ally these suspicions…named the institution The Farmers’ High School” and that name lasted until 1862.
In 1862 the name changed from The Farmers’ High School to the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. And a year later, the Main Building (what is now Old Main) was built. It wasn’t until 1953 that the name officially changed to The Pennsylvania State University.
Now, Penn State offers many different courses in many different subjects. But it wasn’t until the 1880s that the university expanded their curriculum under the authority of President George W. Atherton. Atherton expanded the horizons of “engineering, the sciences, the liberal arts” and many others.
Years later, in the 1930s, Penn State started to make an even bigger mark on the world by extending their reach and opening different branch campuses. According to the “Our History” from the PSU website, the branch campuses served the purpose of meeting “the needs of students who were location-bound during the Great Depression.”
Now a history lesson of Penn State wouldn’t be complete without a brief lesson on the alma mater. The alma mater always gets me because it’s something that unites the students as well as the alumni, usually during football games (or at least that’s my favorite time to sing it). It was written by Fred Lewis Pattee (as in the Pattee Library). Patty was a Professor of American Literature here and wondered why Penn State didn’t have a college song.
In April 1901 he composed the song and published them in Free Lance. He encouraged others to submit their own. Pattee composed the song to the hymn of “Lead Me On”, which was sung by the graduating classes during commencement. Later that year, in June of 1901, Governor Beaver (who was the President of the Board of Trustees) announced that it was “the official song of Penn State”. After President Atherton agreed, Pattee revised his six-verse song into the four-verse alma mater we all know today, well somewhat.
Originally the line “When we stood at Childhood’s gate” read “When we stood at Boyhood’s gate”. At that time “Penn state had been coed for thirty years when the song was written but Pattee felt the ethos of the school was so male oriented that the song was appropriate as written.” Later on he changed his mind and realized that it bothered many people. So he suggested changing it to “childhood’s gate” (and also repeating Dear old State instead of “mold…into men”).
The Board of Trustees accepted the changes after Professor Patricia Farrell, who acted as a spokesperson for all of those who felt it should be changed, convinced them in 1975.
To end this post, here are the lyrics to our great alma mater:
For the glory of old State,
For her founders strong and
great,
For the future that we wait,
Raise the song, raise the song,
Sing our love and loyalty,
Sing our hopes that, bright and
free,
Rest, O Mother dear with thee,
All with thee, all with thee.
(Softly)
When we stood at childhood’s
gate,
Shapeless in the hands of fate,
Thou dist mold us, dear old State,
Dear old State, dear old State
(Louder)
May no act out ours bring shame
To one hear that loves thy name,
May our lives but swell thy fame,
Dear old State, dear old State.
Sources
http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/myths.html
http://penn.stateuniversity.com
http://www.psu.edu/this-is-penn-state/our-history
http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/almamater.html
Pragnya Prabakaran says
It was nice how you decided to complete your blog with a post about Penn State as a whole. I liked reading about the overall history of our university. I really enjoyed reading your blog this semester! I’ve definitely learned a lot about Penn State that I didn’t know before! Great job!
Abby says
I like that you ended with a complete history lesson of the origin of the school, I love knowing how traditions started!
Sean Saltzgaber says
What an absolutely great way to finish out a spectacular blog. Being a fellow non-Pennsylvanian, I loved just learning more about the school I have come to love in a few short months.
Lawrence Green says
Nice post! Your series has been very fun to read and I now know a lot more about Penn State than I did prior. Okay so I don’t know the alma mater, and I am not ashamed… yet. Maybe by time I graduate I should be able to sing it in my sleep. Thanks for writing this series and I’ll probably bookmark it should I need to fact check a couple things in the future.
Sylvia Joy says
Somehow I cannot imagine an English professor making up a college song…maybe because at my previous college, the English professors were always making fun of the college’s song. English professors just seem too critical and satirical, at least nowadays.
Joe Wong says
I think this was a nice wrap up of all your other blog posts. It was interesting to read about how the alma mater was written and changed because I never knew about that. I still don’t completely know all the words to it, but I’m glad its our alma mater, especially when we sing it at football games