Birthday Celebration for a Founding Father Goes BIG This Month!
Franklin, Massachusetts’ biggest claim to fame is that it is named for the great 18th century polymath and patriot, Benjamin Franklin, and that Franklin in his wisdom, repaid the compliment with a generous gift of books. The town’s people made the most of this and turned this gift into the first free public lending library in North America.
It was a good move. Franklin farm boy, Horace Mann, the ”father” of American Public education, educated himself in large part through the books donated by Ben and Oliver Dean, another local influenced by access to Ben’s books, founded Dean Academy in Franklin (now Dean College)!
Today, with the town’s growth and a renewed focus on arts, culture, and history in the town’s Cultural District, a literary and library past is being celebrated with Ben Franklin Book Week, Jan 14-21, “A Community Rediscovery of Ideas, Literature, and the Shared Gift of Language.” This new annual event that celebrates the birthday of Benjamin Franklin (Jan. 17) and his gift of books to the town AND it recognizes the town’s ongoing book- and culture friendly environment, with a growing slate of events and activities!
Book Week is cosponsored by the Franklin Historical Museum, Franklin Public Library, and Escape into Fiction book store with funding provided by Mass. Cultural Council through the Franklin Cultural District Committee.
Events include lectures, a film premiere, a live ‘readathon’ of Ben Franklin’s Autobiography, a concert with the Glass Harmonica instrument invented by Ben Franklin, a lecture and demonstration of Ben’s fundamental contribution to the understanding of electricity, and more.
More information is available at https://benfranklinbookweek.com
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| In Franklin, MA, It’s All About the Benjamin! |
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