Fred Lewis Pattee

Fred Lewis Pattee (March 22, 1863 – May 6, 1950) was an American author and scholar of American literature. As a professor of American literature at the Pennsylvania State University, Pattee wrote the lyrics of the Penn State Alma Mater. Pattee is sometimes labeled the "first Professor of American Literature", a position he held at Penn State from 1895 until 1928.

Biography

Fred Lewis Pattee was born on March 22, 1863, in Bristol, New Hampshire, to farmer Lewis Franklin Pattee and Mary Philbrick Pattee (née Ingalls). After attending public schools in Bristol and South Alexandria, New Hampshire, in 1881 he entered New Hampton School and completed the college preparatory course in 1884. Pattee enrolled at Dartmouth College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1888 and a Master of Arts degree in 1891. Despite an interest in becoming a journalist, Pattee entered the teaching profession, first at a New Jersey grammar school. He worked as a school administrator and journalist until becoming an interim faculty member at the Pennsylvania State College's English Department as a substitute for the department's head and sole professor in 1894. He earned a full professorship the following year.

While a professor at the Pennsylvania State College (now Pennsylvania State University), Pattee wrote the lyrics to what is now the Penn State Alma Mater in April 1901 and had them published. James A. Beaver, former Pennsylvania governor and then-president of the Board of Trustees declared the tune would be Penn State College's official song after it was sung at an alumni dinner in 1901. With Penn State president George W. Atherton's consent, a four-verse version of Pattee's originally six-verse lyrics were adopted as the Penn State Alma Mater.