Exuberance Award
This tribute (link) to Franklin’s birthday from Naperville, Illinois is delightful, as exuberant splash. Congratulations and Happy 315th! The picture above is from our home in Maryland.
Franklin in the Oval
The biggest Franklin news of the week is the presence of the gray-coat portrait in the Oval Office. The history of this painting, President Biden’s rationale for selecting it, and how this might refresh a conversation about Franklin’s historical value and worthiness is more substantial and important than I can approach at the moment. As …
Birthday Celebration 2021
The 2021 Benjamin Franklin Birthday Celebration on January 15 included fascinating and timely talks on the theme: The Disintegration of Trust: Restoring Confidence in American Institutions. The 2-hour event is now available to watch free on the 2021 Celebration website. Time stamps throughout the recording allows viewers to watch individual speakers: Kathleen Hall Jamieson – “The …
On the Return of Peace
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 …
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 …
Descendant Dig-In, 2020
In answer to the following query: I just finished the Walter Isaacson biography on Benjamin Franklin and I’m curious about his descendants. The mother of his son and the mother of his grandson are unknown and I’m wondering if DNA evidence could help. Has anyone considered exhuming Temple Franklin, his daughter Ellen, or his granddaughter …
Rising or Setting Sun Window
Expressing Franklin’s anxieties – and my own – in stained glass.
Dr. William Bache (1773-1820)
The grandson of Benjamin Franklin visited Monticello and was sent a letter by James Monroe on June 11, 1799. It is up for auction in 2020. Albemarle, June 11, 1799, six months before commencing his second term as Governor of Virginia, to Dr. William Bache (1773-1820), the grandson of Benjamin Franklin who was then on …
Bogus prison quote
Sharp-eyed Alabamian Karen Hedwig Backman caught a bogus Franklin quote unknown to me: Safety without choice is prison. Her Letter to the Editor came to the defense with the classic alternative. Congratulations!
BF’s Most Generous Letter Finalist: on Swimming
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 …
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