Trustees | Faculty | Students | Campus | Documents | Origins | College | Academy | Charity School | Medical School


Penn in the 18th Century

Penn's first College years, 1754-1757:
Faculty of the College and Academy of Philadelphia

 

Portrait of Jacob Duche, Jr.Portrait of Francis AlisonPortrait of Thomas BartonPortrait of Charles Thomson

 

The College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania) was chartered in 1755 and its first class graduated in 1757, but its roots lay in the Academy of Philadelphia, chartered in 1749 and opened for classes in 1751. William Smith, hired as Provost of the Academy in 1754, first reorganized the Academy curriculum and then, because of the demand for a degree-granting program, encouraged the establishment of the college.

The first College faculty members had all been professors or tutors in the Academy. During the early years of the College, there was some overlap between the College and the Academy. Professors sometimes taught in both the College and the Academy. Students in the Class of 1757 had often been advanced students in the Academy's Latin School before the establishment of the College; after the establishment of the College advanced students in the Academy continued to share some classes with College students. And some members of the Class of 1757 served as salaried tutors in the Academy while they were students in the College.

 

College Professors

Academy Professors

Tutors

More on Penn's first College experience, 1754-1757

 


Also see Penn in the Age of Franklin, a Web exhibit created jointly by the Penn University Archives and Library