Celebrating Our Sesquicentennial
Photographs from the Penn State University Archives
5th in a series
Although Penn State was founded in 1855 as an agricultural college, by the 1890s engineering accounted for about two-thirds of total enrollment, making Penn State one of the nation's ten largest sources of engineering undergraduates. Instruction was not limited to the classroom. Majors in civil, electrical, mechanical, and mining engineering received hands-on training in such fields as carpentry, wood-turning, pattern-making, and forging. Here a class in metallurgy works in the blacksmith shop in 1894. Note the student in the center wearing a military cap-evidence of the military training that was part of the curriculum at land-grant schools.

Visit the photo archive
for previous photos from our year-long historical series

Penn State University Archives is part of The Eberly Family Special Collections Library,
of the Penn State University Libraries.

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