This book would be fine as a first book on Franklin, because the author starts from not knowing much about him, and touches meaningfully on every fundamental facet of Franklin that I can think of. He goes on to cover his topic very well. Most Franklin fans are not particularly interested in what happened to …
Roy Goodman has introduced me to this wonderful theatrical piece performed at Franklin & Marshall College in 2006. Bravo, Sebastienne Mundheim! Source:White Box Theatre website
From my Goodreads review of Nick Bunker’s wonderful book: Without question, my Book of the Year, so far. One of the best books on Franklin, this takes many episodes one reads right past in his Autobiography (and standard biographies) and goes deeper.The definition of “young” is generous: Franklin is forty years old before this author …
I’m cross-posting my review in GoodReads here of Phillip Goodrich‘s 2019 book, Somersett – Or Why and How Benjamin Franklin Orchestrated The American Revolution. It’s a darn good story, with a lot of lively historical matters presented, but unreliable while asking us to believe all of it. The author spins an engaging tale of a …
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 …
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 …
With the pandemic continuing, the American Philosophical Society moved their celebrations this year online, in a series of three events. Dr. Franklin’s Virtual Birthday Tour On Thursday, January 13, 2022 APS Museum staff Michael Madeja and Ali Rospond led the online viewers through highlights of the virtual exhibit, Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist during this afternoon …
The Letters Library has done a data analysis on 150,000 letters in the Founders Online Library, including all of Benjamin Franklin’s known correspondence. The graphics of his network of correspondents at three different periods of his life is beautiful. Congrats!
The Library Company of Philadelphia is in a two-year project to develop the Library’s Graphic Arts Department. The project is called Imperfect History: Curating the Graphic Arts Collection at Benjamin Franklin’s Public Library. I found this American version of the Ages of Man interesting: Benjamin Franklin Bache’s one-penny specie (one ninetieth of a dollar) from …
As a private tribute to a Dungeons and Dragons game that played out over 35 years, I made a stained glass window that combined a saying of Franklin’s from Poor Richard (May, 1735) with a drawing of a boat from that game. Pictured above is the main window in the home of a wizard in …
