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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Epitaph for a Printer – The New Colophon

The Papers cites an article in the New Colophon, A Book-Collectors Miscellany published in 1950: “For an exhaustive discussion of the sources, variations, and sequels of the Epitaph, see L. H. Butterfield, “B. Franklin’s Epitaph,” New Colophon, III (1950), 9–30, where eleven variants are considered. ” This New Colophon article is beautifully available online from …

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Library of Congress Digital Archive

The Announcement in Philly.com is a nice introduction to The Benjamin Franklin Papers collection at the Library of Congress. Nice timing on the announcement, on April 17, 2018, the 228th anniversary of Dr. Franklin’s death. Announcement on Fine Books & Collections Here is coverage by Smithsonian Magazine.  

Frankliniana Collection

Hosted and administered by the Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College, the Franklin Artifacts database is a museum without walls; an electronic catalogue of known surviving objects with a close association to Benjamin Franklin. The site is online at www.benfranklin300.org/frankliniana  

Constitutional Convention: Elizabeth Powell?

Franklin’s quote about “a republic, if you can keep it” is cited daily somewhere on the Internet, it seems. This posting is the first I’ve noticed that identified the woman who asked Franklin the question: At the close of America’s Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was reportedly asked by George Washington’s friend, Mrs. Elizabeth …

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The Papers of Benjamin Franklin

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: https://franklinpapers.yale.edu/ — Sponsored by the American Philosophical Society and Yale University: Digital Edition by the Packard Humanities Institute. Clearly the best and most authoritative source on Benjamin Franklin’s writings anywhere. Select Digital Edition to be taken to the Packard Humanities Institute digital text archive and/or the PHI homepage. As of …

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