13 Virtues
A perfectly lovely domain name, and, as far as I can see, a one-page website: congratulations and thanks! thirteenvirtues.com/
Ralph Archbold
We’ve lost a grand fellow, Ralph Archbold of Philadelphia. I have it on good authority that he’s having a beer with Dr. Franklin right around now. There’s a nice article at http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/Philly-Benjamin-Franklin-impersonator-Ralph-Archbold-dies.html and a a nice set of pictures with the article at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/ap/national/article_d646f87a-18cb-569b-b0ce-53e5122114db.html
Mile Marker 43 Moving
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is moving to preserve one of Franklin’s mile markers from the postal system of 1767: Article Site Shrewsbury – Last November, Shrewsbury’s Board of Selectmen approved a proposal to move one of two Benjamin Franklin Mile Markers (Milestone Marker #43) from its current location near the on-ramp to I-290 East on Main …
Portrait of Benjamin Lay
This article discusses a portrait owned by Benjamin Franklin of Benjamin Lay. Some excerpts: “Stories about our discovery appeared first in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and in January 1979 The Magazine Antiques published a story by Karen M. Jones about the discovery of a rare William Williams painting.” The story quoted a letter from Ben Franklin …
Franklin as a British Subject
Two recent books about Dr. Franklin and the British Empire are reviewed in the [London] Times Literary Supplement. Carla J. Mulford BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE ENDS OF EMPIRE 426pp. Oxford University Press. £41.99 (US $65). 978 0 19 938419 8 and George Goodwin BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IN LONDON The British life of America’s Founding Father 365pp. …
Temple’s Grave, Women and Children
This page concerns William Temple Franklin, the son of William Franklin, and grandson of Benjamin Franklin. I follow the custom of calling him “Temple” to distinguish him from his father. Temple died in Paris on May 25, 1823. In 2014, guided by this excellent webpage by L. David Roper, I visited Temple’s grave and took …
Franklin’s 310th: Numerology
Dr. Franklin adored numbers, and playing with a device called the Magic Square. Carrying on this tradition, Professor Aziz Inan has published Ben Franklin Turns 310 on the University of Portland Beacon website. Happy Birthday, Franklinian numerologists!
Franklin in New Orleans
There are at least two statues of Dr. Franklin in New Orleans. The most public one is in Lafayette Square: This is fully discussed at the Best of New Orleans website (content duplicated below). The article mentions that the original statue has been relocated to the Ben Franklin High School, where the incoming principal, Patrick …
Frankliniana Collection
Hosted and administered by the Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College, the Franklin Artifacts database is a museum without walls; an electronic catalogue of known surviving objects with a close association to Benjamin Franklin. The site is online at www.benfranklin300.org/frankliniana
Benjamin Franklin’s ‘anti-Semitism’ debunked
Shai Afsai has published a nice article here clarifying a nasty rumor from the 1930s. He will be speaking on Franklin’s influence on Judaism on January 22, 2016 in Providence, RI. Thank you! The full URL: http://jvhri.org/the-news/community/2983-benjamin-franklin-s-anti-semitism-debunked