Celebrating our sesquicentennial: Photos from the Penn State archives

It is a popular but mistaken belief that land-grant education refers primarily to agricultural studies. In fact, when Congress passed the Land-Grant Act in 1862, it called for states to select and support colleges and universities whose curricula aimed "to promote liberal and practical education in the several pursuits and professions of life." The practical included agriculture, engineering, and other technical subjects; the liberal included English, history, literature, and other humanistic studies. While Penn State built its early academic reputation mostly on the technical, it required courses in the humanities from the very first. This week's archival photo shows a class in U. S. history circa 1894 -- just about the time President Atherton formed the School of History, Political Science, and Philosophy (predecessor of today's College of the Liberal Arts).
Visit the class at http://www.sesquicentennial.psu.edu/pix/weeklypic.html