Vintage Film
This 15-minute video leaves little for me to complain of, a sweet review of classic Franklin reverence. I know nothing of its creation. MSN Posting
Archive of posts filed under the Bumping Into Franklin category.
Welcoming Ben & Me
Eric Weiner’s new book (Ben & Me) comes out this month, and Politics and Prose is hosting some opening ceremonies on June 12th. I enjoy Eric’s work, and find this book to be a wonderful introduction to Franklin and a thoughtful exploration of his life, locations and lessons by a very companionable writer. Reflections on …
Franklin in Boston
There’s plenty to talk about, so it’s time to start a list.
Vaccination, Inoculation and BF
A substantial historical review of vaccination and its predecessors, inoculation and variolation, is provided by MedPage with valuable links in the article. Thanks to Bernie Steutz for suggesting it. The article ends with an interesting overview: But above all, it is notable that 300 years ago, the strongest vaccine advocate was a religious fanatic, and …
BIF: Adam Schiff
How nice to be suddenly Bumping Into Franklin by seeing the Walter Isaacson biography of Franklin on Adam Schiff’s bookshelf last night. I can’t see if there is a bookmark on page 454, where Isaacson says of Franklin at the Constitutional Convention: “…he argued that Congress should have the power to impeach the president.” –MCM …
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 and the Folger Library
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 …
Franklin and Slavery
To the co-namesake of my son, Benjamin Thomas…. Dear Tom, You asked me online quite a while ago about Franklin and slavery. It’s true, he owned slaves for a while, even though later he joined (and was president of) our first society to abolish African slavery in America. It’s a tough issue for Franklinians, like …
Factfulness Lament
The late Hans Rosling, in his recent book Factfulness – Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, relates an experience that bumps into Franklin. Rosling gave lectures about statistics that prove the world is in better shape than people commonly believe. His lectures were enthusiastically received, …
Sparking Joy: Are Fires Good or Bad?
Franklin wrote, in sentence 48 of The Way To Wealth: Three Removes is as bad as a Fire, with the word Removes meaning what we now call moves: the process of changing residences. Franklin’s immediate meaning is that changing residences, starting over someplace else, is costly: damages and losses ensue. Fair enough. In my family, …