History | Penn Today

Pennsylvania Hospital’s storied history dates back 275 years. Now, it’s the subject of an upcoming museum

Penn Medicine will open the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum in May in the Pine Building, where the hospital accepted its first patients in 1756.

Meg Roberts and Jessica Martucci looking at the Nursing the Revolution exhibition wall.

A look at Revolutionary War nursing

A new exhibit at Penn’s Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing documents the long trajectory of nursing in America, going back to the Revolutionary War.

3 min. read

America’s first hospital to open museum at Pennsylvania Hospital’s historic Pine Street building

Pennsylvania Hospital marks its 275th anniversary with exhibits that connect Penn Medicine’s medical history to modern breakthroughs.

2 min. read

America's oldest hospital set to become museum, open to the public in May 2026

For Pennsylvania Hospital’s 275th anniversary, the historic Pine Building will become a museum with exhibits that connect Penn Medicine’s medical history to modern breakthroughs.

‘The Mighty Continent’ Review: The Story of Europe

"The Mighty Continent: A Candid History of Modern Europe” by Walter McDougall of the School of Arts & Sciences is reviewed.

They grew up correcting everyone about their last name. Years later, they discovered the deep Philly history behind it.

David Barnes of the School of Arts & Sciences was involved in a search for descendants connected to 135 Africans detained at Philadelphia’s Lazaretto in 1800.

Jean Bartik (left) and Frances Spence operating the ENIAC’s main control panel in 1946.

Penn’s ENIAC, the world’s first electronic computer, turns 80

Housed in the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School Building, ENIAC—the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose computer—launched in 1946. ENIAC’s ability to be reprogrammed to solve a wide range of complex numerical problems was revolutionary and laid the foundation for modern digital systems.

4 min. read

Students and faculty look at rare books in the Lea Library.

Exploring ‘One Thousand and One Nights’

A seminar from Middle Eastern medievalist Paul Cobb gets students talking and thinking about the “disorienting” storytelling in “One Thousand and One Nights.”