Frank Romano has given me seven minutes of dense happiness by this breezy collection of Franklin tributes. Thanks! Frank Romano Video See Also Original Story on WhatTheyThink, published July 10, 2020. Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
I recently read Epidemics in Colonial America by John Duffy. Among my disappointments with this old book are that he missed the best story of Benjamin Franklin around the issue of the circulation of air. This story at Medium.com captures it quite well.
A part of Eastern Tennessee was once envisioned as a state named in honor of Franklin. See also Atlas Obscura story, April 2020.
Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Music, by Robert W. Smith is a three-movement piece for band saluting Franklin. The publisher (C. L. Barnhouse) has an introductory page with audio.
A few years ago I purchased a stained glass window through an online auction because it featured a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. The exact history of this window is unknown to me, including where it was initially installed, but it’s been part of our home, and now hangs in the formal corner of our home’s …
There is a lovely manuscript letter written by William Temple Franklin coming up for auction (March 26, 2020, in Malaga, Spain). The image captures his fabulous handwriting. On December 30, 1778, WTF wrote to Monsieur Ruault, Librarian, stating `I beg you, Monsieur Ruault, to send to Passy, tomorrow, 2 copies of my Grandfather’s works. The …
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 …
I’m looking forward to Edward J. Larson’s book, Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership, which was released on February 11, 2020. I found my copy on the shelf in a wonderful bookstore (Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown, West Virginia) a few days ago. George Washington knew how to say goodbye, as seen in the profound …
Bring with you sweet flow’rets from grove and from streamOf things more than mortal your Franklin did dreamAnd beings not mortal shall lend you their aidTo deck the green grave where your Franklin is laid Since 1791, when that line was sung at the graduation ceremonies of The Philadelphia Academy, walking to the gravesite of …
Benjamin Franklin is often cited as a left-handed person. I believe this flows from his Petition of the Left Hand, an essay about the feelings of the left hand itself. Artist Dean Morrissey appears among those convinced, as he features Franklin with a quill in his left hand in this lovely modern portrait: One of …
