Skip to main content

Benjamin Franklin’s 312th Birthday: January 17

caption: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), founder and trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. Painting done c. 1775, supposedly from life, in Paris for Count St. Morys. It was given to the University of Pennsylvania in 1914 by  Joseph Beale in memory of his father,  Dr. Joseph Beale, Class of 1831.Penn has been celebrating Benjamin Franklin’s birthday for nearly a century; at Penn his birthday has always been January 17, but he was born under a different calendar system, on January 6.  That system changed in 1752 resulting in a change of 11 days in the month of January. For those who quibble, that’s explanation enough for January 17.

He is universally accepted as the founder of the University of Pennsylvania. It is fitting to take a look at his connection with Penn, America’s oldest university, as we celebrate the 312th anniversary of Franklin’s birth this month.

Franklin was a runaway who came to Philadelphia from Boston in early the 1720s to establish himself in a trade. He quickly became a printer and by 1730 was thought to be Philadelphia’s best printer. He quickly established himself not only as a master printer, but he figured out a way to distribute his printed products. He expanded his printing trade into a printing empire, controlling the distribution and sale of his printed pieces. He was a powerfully innovative thinker; his ideas came to shape the very policy and international presence of the United States. Franklin sat on the boards of several local and national institutions, ranging from the American Philosophical Society to the Pennsylvania Hospital to several fire departments.

Franklin paved the way for Penn by publishing his pamphlet, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsilvania [sic]  and as a result of his writings, he was able to recruit 24 prominent citizens as trustees, for a new institution of higher education. He was also successful in persuading the trustees to acquire George Whitefield’s New Building at Fourth and Arch St. (Almanac January 25, 1972)  and convert it to educational purposes. In this work, Franklin spelled out his ideas for a perfect educational institution, addressing buildings, academic life, student health and service to the broader community, among other topics.

Inspired by Franklin’s proposal, the Trustees drafted a Constitution of the Publick [sic] Academy, in the City of Philadelphia in 1749, codifying Franklin’s ideas into a concrete school charter. In 1751, Franklin’s Academy opened at Fourth and Arch Streets (above), and four years later the Academy was converted to a College with the authority to confer undergraduate and professional degrees.

No sooner than the College of Philadelphia opened in 1755 Franklin entered the international political fray. He wrote a pamphlet in 1754 advising the 13 American colonies to unify against Britain, and two years later he became a major supplier of the British Army as it marched toward the northwestern frontier and the outbreak of the Seven Years War, the first true world war. 

A Faculty of Medicine was joined in 1765, making Penn the first American colonial college to also support a professional school. The American Revolution was a turbulent time for the College of Philadelphia and not until 1791 did Penn obtain a new charter for the “University of Pennsylvania.”

Ben Franklin died in 1790 after an exceptionally prolific career in politics, journalism and science. While the original Fourth Street campus buildings, the campus Franklin knew, were demolished in the 1840s, Franklin remains the dominant character in Penn’s history and identity.

caption: A procession enters Penn’s first campus, located at 4th and Arch Streets. This is the Penn campus that existed during Benjamin Franklin’s lifetime.

caption: Additional Charter of the College, Academy, and Charity School of Philadelphia, 1755,  version printed by Benjamin Franklin,  30 x 18 cm (12 x 7.5 in).

caption: This 1958 football program shows that Franklin’s likeness had become part of Penn’s lore.

All images courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Archives.

Back to Top