Bumping into Franklin in the Theodore Roosevelt Papers

President Theodore Roosevelt (TR) arranged for the Library of Congress to have his papers. Joseph Bucklin Bishop, New York newspaperman and for a time apparently literary executor of the papers, was among the first to be given permission to view these documents. Shortly after publishing his work, Mr. Bishop was amazed at the volume of …

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Franklin Square (DC) Renovation

Franklin Square in Washington, DC is undergoing a renovation in 2020. The idea to move the statue of Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania Avenue strikes me very favorably, and I’ll use this page to collect links and information. See Also June 2020: Franklin Square to Close August 2020: Tree Removal August 2020: Opinion: Move the Statue …

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From One Statue to Another

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, …

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Hopkinson Family Archives

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 …

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