In response to a correspondent, let’s say S.S. writing to M.M., I’ve located the letter from A.A. regarding fire protection. This document happens to be the source of a famous Franklin phrase, An ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, which was the subject of another recent inquiry. Franklin wrote over the pseudonym …
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, …
The quoted statement (in italics below) is one of his most famous, and the full paragraph is one of his most refreshing: I join with you most cordially in rejoicing at the Return of Peace. I hope it will be lasting, and that Mankind will at Length, as they call themselves reasonable Creatures, have Reason …
A Letter to My Son, Barry — I was delighted to learn tonight your friend (who had never learned to swim) was letting you introduce him to the water. He’s lucky to have you as a teacher. Dr. Franklin had a friend in England in that same situation, and wrote him what I think is …
Continue reading ‘BF’s Most Generous Letter Finalist: on Swimming’ »
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 …
Continue reading ‘Bumping into Franklin in the Theodore Roosevelt Papers’ »
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, …
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, …
The Closure Committee of the Friends of Franklin gathered in New Haven in November 2018 to donate the remaining funds of the Friends to the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in honor of Claude-Anne Lopez. Claude-Anne worked at the Papers for many years and started the Friends of Franklin as her “gift to the Papers.” We …
The Relgion of Ignorance line was never said, only quoted incorrectly.
I want to start collecting interesting resources on the preface to the final Poor Richard’s Almanack, also known as The Way to Wealth. From The Papers. The Way to Wealth around the World: Benjamin Franklin and the Globalization of American Capitalism, by Sophus Reinert (2015) Way to Wealth Scholarship posting. The Pine Tree overview with …
