Penn Fine Arts
Penn Band
Penn College Band came into being in the fall of 1908 as a little German band. The band had the following instrumentation; cornets, clarinets, piccolo, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, tenor and bass drums, bassoon, and basses. The first great achievement of the band was to inspire Penn football team, the Quakers, to a 35 to 5 victory over Iowa Wesleyan. This brought the band into the limelight, and encouraged the band to recognize that it had great potential and the organization steadily grew until 1911 when it became the official college band and one of the leading college bands of the state.
Penn Orchestra
L. F. Burnett came to the department in 1900. He later started the Penn choir and glee club. J. Worth Allen joined the Music Department in 1907-08. He was one of the most efficient directors in the state at the time. He instructed banjo, mandolin, guitar, and wind instruments. He also organized the Penn Orchestra, and did much to develop musical activities on campus.
Glee and Choir Group
In 1890, Miss Amy Hutchinson came to Penn College as its first Music Professor in both vocal and instrumental. Over 75 students enrolled in her department. After the three years she worked at Penn, the Music Department became a well-established part of Penn's curriculum.
Debate and Speech Societies
Forensics gained recognition at Penn in 1880 when Rosa Lewis won first place at the state oratorical competition. An Oratorical Association was organized at Penn in 1890, and the department of Speech, Oratory, and Debate began in 1903. The first debate victory for Penn was in 1894 against Drake University. A debating league was later formed in 1898. Penn's debate went on to win many victories all the way into the 1960's.
Literary Society
Penn College had four different literary societies by 1876-77, two for "gentlemen", two for "ladies". By 1916, they had nine literary societies divided into the following: for college men, Alcimian and Brightonian; for college women, Alethian and Studentine; joint societies for college, Argonaut and Euphemian; for prep boys, Athens; for prep girls, Jean Ingelow; and joint society for prep, Lowell. These societies met once a week to plan campus events known as "Entertainments" and "Exhibitions". Faculty also helped the societies prepare for events when it was in their field of expertise. Citizens from Oskaloosa would travel up to the college for the events put on by the Literary Societies.