National Archives Rotunda Exhibit

I visited the National Archives on December 12, 2018, and made some notes about the Charters of Freedom display in the Rotunda. The Rotunda contains 17 display cases. Aside from the three major documents in cases 8-10, each case contains facsimile documents and supporting information on modern placards. Franklin is featured in the display case …

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Bowling Green, KY

The Western Kentucky University’s Kentucky Museum  reports having “a 1765 Chippendale tea table donated by a descendant of Benjamin Franklin … currently on exhibit” — perhaps shown in this album from the Snell-Franklin Decorative Arts Exhibition — in this story.

Bumping Into Benjamin Franklin on The West Wing

I am slowly binge-watching episodes of West Wing and notice in Season 6, Episode 20, “In God We Trust” that Franklin shows up in the decorations of people in both parties. It’s a nice compliment that the set designers imagine both these classy characters would want Franklin’s image nearby. The Senate office of Republican Senator …

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Three-Wheeled Clock

An auction notice caught my eye, about a clock designed by Dr Franklin. Papers online has this: James Ferguson: Account of Franklin’s Three-Wheel Clock Printed in James Ferguson, Select Mechanical Exercises: Shewing how to construct different Clocks, Orreries, and Sun-Dials, on Plain and Easy Principles,…(Second edition, London, 1778), pp. 1-4. A Clock shewing the Hours, …

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Franklinia Tree

A nice mention of the home of the Franklinia tree in John Bartram’s Home, though the formal name is not spelled exactly correctly. See Missouri Botanical Garden’s entry.