Dear Straney

Maybe the most wonderful item I’ve seen come up for auction has appeared, coming up in California on July 3, 2025. It is this letter, pictured above, written by Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan on July 23, 1762. The full text of Franklin’s letter, as posted on the auction site, with some spacing, is: London, …

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Read With a Pen Window

I’m happy to announce and document the installation of another stained glass panel in honor of Franklin, Read With A Pen, installed May 26, 2025.– Martin Mangold, May 30, 2025 In May of 1760, Franklin was asked by his landlady’s daughter, Mary (“Polly”) Stevenson (1739-1795), how to become a philosopher. Polly was away from Craven …

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Franklin and Broomcorn

I enjoyed this story out yesterday for a lovely new piece of public art, pictured above, and what I sense is the good-natured whimsy of the town of Arcola, Illinois. Arcola is embracing its history as The Broomcorn Capital of the World, and has privately commissioned a statue by Jerry McKenna honoring Benjamin Franklin for …

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