‘Franklin & Friends’ exhibit opens Aug. 23

Illustration from ‘The Remembrance; or Impartial Repository of Public Events for the Year 1777.’ London: Printed for J. Almon, 1778. Special Collections, University of Delaware Library.

11:26 a.m., July 22, 2005--“Franklin & Friends,” an exhibition marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin, will be on view in the Special Collections Exhibition Gallery of the Morris Library from Tuesday, Aug. 23, through Friday, Dec. 16.

The exhibition will highlight books and manuscripts by and about Franklin and his associates from Special Collections, including four volumes from Franklin’s personal library. Iris Snyder, associate librarian in Special Collections is the curator.

A true Renaissance man, Franklin was a statesman, diplomat, inventor, scientist, author, printer, publisher and public servant. Throughout his long life, he worked and corresponded with most of the important political and scientific leaders in the colonies, England and France. He had an enormous impact on the newly independent United States and is honored and studied up to the present time.

“Franklin & Friends” focuses on the many areas in which Franklin was involved. Included are books Franklin printed--religious books, almanacs, documents and M.T. Cicero’s Cato Major, considered one of the finest examples of 18th-Century printing.

Scientific works will include the first French and fourth American edition of Franklin’s Experiments and Observations on Electricity, and groundbreaking works by contemporaries, such as Antoine Laurent Lavoisier’s Elements of Chemistry and Joseph Priestly’s Experiments and Observations of Different Kinds of Air. Because of his interest in scientific botany, the first book on native American trees, Arbustrum americanum, was dedicated to him. Franklin also helped close friend and botanist, John Bartram, establish a business sending seeds of native plants to British gardeners.

In his role as a diplomat, Franklin represented the American colonies in England before and during the American Revolution and also negotiated the peace. Among the documents on display will be several influential pamphlets by Franklin, including “Information to those Who Would Remove to America,” “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” and “The Interest of Great Britain Considered, with Regard to her Colonies: and the Acquisition of Canada and Guadaloupe.”

Key documents on the early Republic also are on exhibit, including the French translation of the “Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America,” the “Declaration of Independence” and the “Articles of Confederation” (1783). Franklin arranged for the translation and publication of the documents and used it to develop support for the new government.

For Morris Library hours, visit [www.lib.udel.edu] or call (302) 831-BOOK.

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