Community / Calendar

Art & Museum Exhibits

During Hours of Library Operations

“Penn State Clubs: Then and Now,” an exhibit of images from the Penn State University Archives, is on display in the main exhibit hall of Pattee Library, October 8 through December 31st.

Today Penn State University Park students can choose to join from more than 850 clubs in 15 different areas of interest.  Clubs and organizations give students the opportunity to interact with other students who have similar interests, develop intrapersonal skills, work together as a group, establish contacts for their careers and simply have fun.

However, Penn State once frowned upon the formation of clubs.  Fraternities were forbidden and dancing was not allowed.  In the time before President Atherton began his tenure in 1882, the only organizations allowed were the YMCA and Literary Societies.

But in 1887 student activities began to multiply—some of those clubs still exist, others like the literary clubs have gone for more than 100 years.  Eating clubs, created to alleviate housing problems in Old Main, were the forerunners to fraternities that began to proliferate in the early 1900s.

Details

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Free and Open to the Public

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Penn State University Libraries
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