If Ben Had Had His Way
A Symposium in Honor of the 300th Anniversary of Benjamin
Franklin's Birth
Presented by the Penn Humanities
Forum and the Marvin and Sybil Weiner Fund of the Penn
Library
4:00-6:00 pm, Friday, February 24, 2006
Class of 55 Room,
2nd floor
Van Pelt Library, 3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia
Free. Public, including secondary school students,
invited.
Near the end of his life, Benjamin Franklin
concluded that the Academy he helped found, which became
the University of Pennsylvania, had consistently violated
its charter. That charter advanced a controversial view
of the university's relation to tradition, class, citizenship,
and speculative knowledge. Where does the academy stand
on these matters today? Where would Ben Franklin have
liked the academy to stand?
Join us for this special symposium
organized to mark the 300th anniversary of Franklin's
birth. Distinguished panelists will include Rebecca
Bushnell, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences; Peter Conn,
Professor of English; Peter Stallybrass, Annenberg Professor
in the Humanities; Michael Zuckerman, Professor of History;
and Tal Raviv (Engineering '09), the first-prize winner
of the inaugural PHF-Weiner undergraduate student essay
contest, "If Ben Had Had His Way."
First Prize:
Tal Raviv, School of Engineering
and Applied Sciences '09, Chemical Engineering. Essay:
"Spark"
Honorable
Mention:
Gena Katz,
College '06, English. Essay: "Franklin's Ivy Leagues
and the Junto of Education"
Dvorit Mausner,
College '07, Biological Basis of Behavior. Essay: "Of
Virtue, Wit, and Wisdom"
Prizes awarded as part of the Symposium
ceremonies. (Symposium
pdf; right click on link to download to desktop.)
Exhibition: Educating
the Youth of Pennsylvania: Worlds of Learning in the
Age of Franklin
Drawing on the collections of the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania and other important area repositories,
this Penn exhibition organized by Penn's Rare Book &
Manuscript Library explored the originality and relevance
of Franklin's 1749 educational manifesto, "Proposals
Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania [sic]."
Who received an education in Franklin's day? Who were
the teachers? What did students learn? What did they
read? Exhibits included Franklin's original manuscript
with his ideas for the Junto; a never-before-seen Franklin
imprint; women's samplers; German fraktur calligraphy;
a horn book; photographs of period schoolhouses from
the Delaware Valley, and much more.
On display
in the Rosenwald Gallery, 6th fl., Van Pelt Dietrich
Library, University of Pennsylvania, January 17, 2006–May
31, 2006. Exhibition
Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00a–5:00p; Saturdays: 12:00–4:00p.
Public invited. Non-Penn affiliates must arrange weekend
visits in advance; call 215.898.7088 or e-mail rbml@pobox.upenn.edu.
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