A sister of Philadelphia’s famous Liberty Bell, Penn’s Academy Bell has been secreted from the city during the Revolutionary War, signaled the start of class and the outbreak of fires, hung in a church tower, and stored in basements around Penn’s campus before going on display.
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The historic Academy Bell on display in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center.
The large bell sitting in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center isn’t just a 500-pound metal sound machine. It’s the oldest remaining artifact from Penn’s early years, dating from before the Revolutionary era, says Jim Duffin, assistant university archivist.
Bell facts: The bell weighs 500 pounds, stands 23 inches tall, and is 65 inches around.
Franklinian origins: The bell has a direct tie with Penn founder Ben Franklin, whose connections as the founder of Philadelphia’s first fire company were critical to obtaining the bell for the Academy. It was loaned to the Academy of Philadelphia by the Union and Hand-in-Hand fire companies to sound fire alarms and note for “the Scholars the Hours of Meeting,” or the start of classes and the time for evening prayer. Duffin notes, “They must have devised a different way of ringing the bell so somebody knew that there was a fire as opposed to the school bell.”
Revolutionary location: The Academy Bell, along with 18 other Philadelphia bells, were moved to Allentown in 1777 to be melted down for armaments and to prevent the British from seizing them. The bells were not melted, however, and the Academy Bell was returned to the campus in 1779-80. The University Archives holds a receipt for the rehanging work when it returned. “That was going to cost money to haul that bell back up to the belfry, and no one was going to pay for that out of pocket,” Duffin says.
The bell-ringer: Records in the University Archives indicate that between 1757 and 1770, an enslaved man, Caesar, then in his 20s and early 30s, had the job of ringing the bell. Caesar was enslaved to the Steward of the Academy dormitories, Ebenezer Kinnersley, and also had the job of keeping dormitory fires lit.
Hours of the day: In the early years, the bell was used to alert students in the surrounding areas of the start of school, which was 7 a.m. “The vast majority of students who were attending the College and the Academy were local students,” Duffin says. “By the time of the Revolution, there was a small dormitory for the College students.”
Return to Penn: The bell was returned to the University in 1945 when the Episcopal church said it was in was to be torn down. Then-Penn President George McClelland was on the vestry of the church, and knew that the bell in its tower had originally belonged to the Academy, Duffin says. For many years, it sat in storage until being restored to public display in the library.
Current inquiry: An independent scholar is currently conducting research to gain insights into why the Liberty Bell cracked. Last summer, a team did testing on the Academy Bell, made the same year and in the same Whitechapel bell foundry as the Liberty Bell, to determine the makeup of metals used to create the bronze, Duffin says.
Timeline
1736: The Union Fire Company is formed by Benjamin Franklin and associates.
1750: The Fire Bell, or Academy Bell, is purchased by the Union Fire Company. It arrived in Philadelphia in 1752 and was placed at the Academy of Philadelphia, located at Fourth and Arch streets.
1777: Many Philadelphia bells, including the Academy Bell, were shipped to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, before the British occupation to melt them down for armaments.
1779-80: The Academy Bell was returned to the campus.
1801: The bell rang for classes, and fire alarms, until the Academy moved to Ninth Street in 1801.
1810: The bell was loaned to St. James’s Episcopal Church at Seventh and St. James streets. It moved to the new church building in 1870-71 at Walnut and 22nd streets.
1945: The Academy Bell was returned to the University of Pennsylvania.
1967: Believed to have been the last time the bell was rung, at the dedication of the Dietrich Graduate Library Center, now the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center.
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