The Young Benjamin Franklin

From my Goodreads review of Nick Bunker’s wonderful book: Without question, my Book of the Year, so far. One of the best books on Franklin, this takes many episodes one reads right past in his Autobiography (and standard biographies) and goes deeper.The definition of “young” is generous: Franklin is forty years old before this author …

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Franklin Birthday 2022

With the pandemic continuing, the American Philosophical Society moved their celebrations this year online, in a series of three events. Dr. Franklin’s Virtual Birthday Tour On Thursday, January 13, 2022 APS Museum staff Michael Madeja and Ali Rospond led the online viewers through highlights of the virtual exhibit, Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist during this afternoon …

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Epidemics in Colonial America

I recently read Epidemics in Colonial America by John Duffy. Among my disappointments with this old book are that he missed the best story of Benjamin Franklin around the issue of the circulation of air. This story at Medium.com captures it quite well.

Franklin and Slavery

To the co-namesake of my son, Benjamin Thomas…. Dear Tom, You asked me online quite a while ago about Franklin and slavery. It’s true, he owned slaves for a while, even though later he joined (and was president of) our first society to abolish African slavery in America. It’s a tough issue for Franklinians, like …

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Yale Closure Visit 2018

The Closure Committee of the Friends of Franklin gathered in New Haven in November 2018 to donate the remaining funds of the Friends to the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in honor of Claude-Anne Lopez. Claude-Anne worked at the Papers for many years and started the Friends of Franklin as her “gift to the Papers.” We …

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BF Transatlantic Fellows Institute

Purdue University and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs have a program that looks wonderful. The Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute (BFTF) is designed “to introduce Fellows to Benjamin Franklin’s ideas and legacy” and further the contributions of Dr. Franklin to foster relations between Americans and Europeans. What’s not …

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Franklin and Criminal Justice

This month’s Franklin Celebration in Philadelphia will be held Friday, January 18, 2019 (apologies for this late posting), and is entitled Liberty and Justice for All? Reforming America’s Criminal Justice System. The Inquirer published an excellent Opinion piece by Bill Keller, What would Benjamin Franklin think of today’s criminal justice? on January 4, 2019. UPenn’s …

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B. Crump on B. Franklin

Civil Rights attorney Benjamin Crump delivered a speech called “the evolution of Benjamin Franklin and the hope of America” in Fayetteville, Arkansas at Fayetteville State University. His respectful notes are in this article from the Fayetteville Observer. Excerpts: Crump described Franklin, one of the country’s founders, as a Renaissance man at a time during which …

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