Snowlion Repertory Company in Portland, Maine will premiere a new musical based on Anton Mesmer (perhaps the only man who made music for both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and for Benjamin Franklin) this May. The cast of characters looks very promising.
I was delighted to receive a T-Shirt from the Saint Benjamin Brewing Company in Philadelphia from a friend this winter. I like the image, and look forward to visiting and sampling! Further Notes Temple News Bar Guide, February 2018: nice peek at the decor: the Franklin busts make me feel right at home!
I visited the National Archives on December 12, 2018, and made some notes about the Charters of Freedom display in the Rotunda. The Rotunda contains 17 display cases. Aside from the three major documents in cases 8-10, each case contains facsimile documents and supporting information on modern placards. Franklin is featured in the display case …
The Western Kentucky University’s Kentucky Museum reports having “a 1765 Chippendale tea table donated by a descendant of Benjamin Franklin … currently on exhibit” — perhaps shown in this album from the Snell-Franklin Decorative Arts Exhibition — in this story.
The stained glass window inside my library window is a tribute to Franklin’s armonica. This was my first stained glass project, a modification of a three-triangle pattern to more closely resemble Franklin’s musical invention. Posted on Instagram.
I am slowly binge-watching episodes of West Wing and notice in Season 6, Episode 20, “In God We Trust” that Franklin shows up in the decorations of people in both parties. It’s a nice compliment that the set designers imagine both these classy characters would want Franklin’s image nearby. The Senate office of Republican Senator …
Continue reading ‘Bumping Into Benjamin Franklin on The West Wing’ »
An auction notice caught my eye, about a clock designed by Dr Franklin. Papers online has this: James Ferguson: Account of Franklin’s Three-Wheel Clock Printed in James Ferguson, Select Mechanical Exercises: Shewing how to construct different Clocks, Orreries, and Sun-Dials, on Plain and Easy Principles,…(Second edition, London, 1778), pp. 1-4. A Clock shewing the Hours, …
John Kelly of the Washington Post features Squirrel Week each year, and he’s all over Mungo. At the end of his most recent addition he clarifies where Mungo actually died: But it turns out that when Mungo died, Twyford House was being renovated. The Shipleys were living at a place called Northwood House, 14 miles …
A nice mention of the home of the Franklinia tree in John Bartram’s Home, though the formal name is not spelled exactly correctly. See Missouri Botanical Garden’s entry.
A friend in Oregon started sending pictures of the fabulous WOODEN statue of Dr. Franklin in front of the newly-renovated Benjamin Franklin High School. It’s a very handsome thing, and I hope to post his pictures here shortly.
