As America’s first proverbial ambassador of goodwill and intelligence, Benjamin Franklin is a fascinating and immediately engaging individual, even three hundred years after his birth in Boston. Drawing on their prodigious collections, the Library of Congress has created this very nice online collection designed to pay homage to Franklin the printer, writer, inventor, scientist, and so on. Complementing an in situ exhibit at the Library, this collection is ordered chronologically, and allows visitors the ability to traipse through Franklin’s substantial involvement in the Continental Congress, the Treaty of Paris, as well as his own inventive spirit. Some of the documents include Franklin’s own design for a stove, his 1775 plan for a colonial confederation, and the founding charter for the American Philosophical Society. Visitors can also navigate a complete checklist of objects found on the site and also read about some of the public programs planned to complement the exhibit, such as lectures and demonstrations.
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