Following up on Bumping into Franklin on the West Wing, I found a sweet connection to a dear friend. The seated statuette is a copy of the James Earle Fraser statue at the headquarters of the Franklin Life Insurance Company, Springfield, Illinois, dedicated in 1949. The Sangamon County Historical Society presents the statue on SangamonLink, …
Note: I see Franklin’s comment that the United States was “A Republic – if you can keep it” almost daily, in one place or another. Everything about Masha Gessen’s book is in line with Dr. Franklin’s admonition, so I’m posting my GoodReads review here. – MCM Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen The title comes from …
The Family Archives of the Hopkinson family came to auction in June 2020. One item is a book given by Dr. Franklin to Francis Hopkinson, with this commentary from the auction catalog: Thomas Hopkinson (1709 – 1751), father of Francis Hopkinson (1737 – 1791) , worked with Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790) on several of …
These are two of my favorite topics: Franklin and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. The two overlap in many ways, but I want to start with a quote of the library’s founder that I came across for the first time today. Henry Folger traced his line back to Abiah’s father, Peter. Henry once …
The removing of the statue of George Whitfield from the University of Pennsylvania campus is disturbing to those of us unaware of Whitfield’s “advocating for slavery.” The mention in this Press Release reads: “Whitefield’s connection to Penn stems from a church meeting house he owned at 4th and Arch streets in Philadelphia, which was purchased …
As a paired window with my Franklin and Bamboo, I recently completed another panel with the same elements. This 18 x 18 panel is intended for the Guntzels’ home in Clinton, Iowa: Diane Guntzel drew the central portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Instagram Post View this post on Instagram This 18 x 18 panel is intended …
Frank Romano has given me seven minutes of dense happiness by this breezy collection of Franklin tributes. Thanks! Frank Romano Video See Also Original Story on WhatTheyThink, published July 10, 2020. Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
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.
A part of Eastern Tennessee was once envisioned as a state named in honor of Franklin. See also Atlas Obscura story, April 2020.
Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Music, by Robert W. Smith is a three-movement piece for band saluting Franklin. The publisher (C. L. Barnhouse) has an introductory page with audio.
