DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST

citizen scientist CITIZEN SCIENTIST

Janine Yorimoto Boldt

With contributions by Emily A. Margolis and Introduction by Patrick Spero

Edited by the Contents

5 INTRODUCTION Patrick Spero

Published on the occasion of the exhibition 8 Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist April–December  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS American Philosophical Society ­ South Fifth Street 10 Philadelphia, PA ƒ „ ESSAY amphilsoc.org Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist is exhibition catalog was made possible by a grant from the Janine Yorimoto Boldt National Endowment for the Humanities. 41 A BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TIMELINE

42 ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST Any views, Šndings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Janine Yorimoto Boldt / Emily A. Margolis National Endowment for the Humanities. 106 EDITED BY the American Philosophical Society SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY PROJECT MANAGEMENT Mary Grace Wahl DESIGN barb barnett graphic design llc PRINTING Brilliant Graphics, Exton, PA

Front cover: Charles Willson Peale, Portrait of Benjamin Franklin (detail), ““, APS. Inside front cover and last page: Adapted illustrations from Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on Electricity, •rd ed. ( “„), APS. Copyright ©  by the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum All rights reserved. IdentiŠers: ISBN ƒ“™--™“ „ƒ-• - | LCCN ƒ“™™“ „ƒ•  Also available as a free downloadable PDF at: https://diglib.amphilsoc.org/franklinsenlightenment/ Introducti

In “­•, Benjamin Franklin and a group of other civically minded individuals got together to form something called the “American Philosophical Society.” Philosophy, at the time, had a much di¡erent meaning than it does today. To be a philosopher was to be one who systematically inquired into nature, often in ways that we would today consider science. e Society’s purpose was thus to “promote useful knowledge” by bringing the greatest thinkers in the British colonies together to share all that they knew and were learning.

Two hundred and seventy-seven years later, the Society continues to serve that mission and steward its legacy. e Society provides over one million dollars a year in grants and fellowships, primarily to young scholars doing cutting- edge work that will produce new knowledge; holds regular gatherings to share the most recent research; publishes scholarship in both print and digital formats; and elects Members based on their distinguished contributions to the advancement of knowledge.

Along the way, the Society also built one of the leading independent research libraries in America. Beginning as a repository that stored the correspondence of its Members, it soon expanded to house collections specializing in early American history, Native American cultures and languages, and the history of science, each area a re§ection of the core interests of the Society’s early Members. Today, the Library stores over ­ million pages of manuscripts and •, books. Among its most prized possessions are, of course, the papers of its illustrious founder, Benjamin Franklin, and a number of his personal belongings and scientiŠc instruments.

Our exhibition, Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist, aims to showcase these holdings as a way to explore the world in which the APS was born and in which Franklin thrived. Using that huge cache of his material, the exhibition shows, and the following essay by e Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow at the APS Janine Yorimoto Boldt argues, Franklin’s age was one of both enlightenment and ignorance.

e title of the exhibition subtly hints at these tensions. Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist is, in large measure, anachronistic and perhaps even a little misleading.

INTRODUCTION 5 As far as we know, Benjamin Franklin never referred to himself as a scientist. In Women, including Franklin’s enterprising sister Jane Mecom, rarely had the Franklin’s time, he and those like him who conducted science called themselves same opportunities to gain an education or contribute to science as men did. natural historians or philosophers or, perhaps, men of science. ose who e legacies of these impediments are with us still. undertook such pursuits were rarely formally trained, and most either had enough wealth to fund their own experiments or depended on the patronage of grandees. Curator Janine Yorimoto Boldt’s essay makes a compelling read that chronicles this world of science Šlled with possibility that existed in tandem with, and often Franklin, of course, succeeded spectacularly in this world. Eventually, in relied on, these deep and profound inequities. e stunningly photographed recognition of his scientiŠc accomplishments, he gained honorary doctorates catalog that follows captures this complex and timely story in vivid, and from both the University of St. Andrews and Oxford. ough Franklin carried sometimes troubling, detail. ough the exhibition was conceived long before the title with pride later in life, the truth was that he never received any formal the coronavirus pandemic, the events of the past several months revealed that schooling, while most who carried the designation “doctor” had. Franklin used many of the issues surrounding public health, inequality, racial justice, and faith in the title often as he tried to climb higher in the British Empire, knowing that it science that were present in Franklin’s day remain present in our own. conferred an elite status that belied his humble beginnings as a soapmaker’s son. is exhibition, occurring in the midst of a global pandemic, was no ordinary one Franklin was also a British subject loyal to the Crown for the vast majority and called on sta¡ in ways unlike any before it. e exhibition’s planned opening of his life, a period during which he conducted his most important scientiŠc in April  was postponed, placing unusual burdens on those who were putting experiments. He was a citizen for only the Šnal ­ of his ™„ years, and during the Šnal touches on it. ey responded to this incredible challenge with creativity. those years his time was committed more often to public a¡airs than scientiŠc In a matter of months, they devised a whole slate of new means to promote the pursuits. Indeed, the very term citizen scientist came much, much later. e work that went into Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist. Led by Associate Director phrase was coined sometime in the late th century. for Collections and Exhibitions Mary Grace Wahl, the Museum developed an online tour that included special video highlights, this catalog, and other digital Still, the exhibition’s title works because the sentiment behind the modern galleries and projects meant to invite as many people as possible to experience movement resembles the world in which Franklin lived. If citizen science this exhibition in a virtual world. e acknowledgments included in this volume is meant to empower individuals—lacking formal training in a scientiŠc recognizes those who helped make this exhibition, and all of its supplements, a discipline—to participate in scientiŠc experiments that will add to our reality in what are very unusual times. knowledge, then Franklin’s experience was very much like that of a  st-century citizen scientist. In Franklin’s circle, there were farmers who studied weather and Patrick Spero experimented with plants and animals, ministers who organized large botanical LIBRARIAN collections and made contributions to mathematics, artists who contributed to American Philosophical Society paleontology by excavating fossilized bones, and sailors who collected data that October „,  added to knowledge of the ocean and meteorology. It was an expansive moment that was, in some respects, Šlled with more possibilities for the lay person to participate in science than in the highly specialized world in which we live today.

But, as the exhibition demonstrates through Franklin’s life and holdings, it was also a time in which barriers precluded many from accessing scientiŠc knowledge and, in some cases, exploited others in the name of science. Franklin himself owned slaves. While we don’t know if they aided him in his scientiŠc experiments, their labor certainly made it easier for Franklin to Šnd the time to conduct his experiments. Franklin and others beneŠted from Indigenous knowledge as they collected materials in North America and explored territory.

6 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST INTRODUCTION 7 Acknowledgments

One of the underlying themes of Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist is the importance We relied on talented contractors during the production of the exhibition and of collaboration. Likewise, this exhibition and catalog were made possible catalog. Barb Barnett deserves praise for her brilliant work handling all the through the collective e¡ort of many people. With gratitude we acknowledge the graphic design for both the exhibition and catalog. We are also grateful to art exceptional scholarship and dedication of the two Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial handler Preston Link, mount maker Will Bucher, framer Lucía Torner, and Fellows, Janine Yorimoto Boldt, lead curator, and Emily A. Margolis, co-curator. photographer Brent Wahl for their essential help bringing the exhibition and ey both deserve high praise for working so diligently and collaboratively to catalog to life. create this engaging exhibition and catalog. e exhibition sta¡ could not produce their exhibitions without the knowledge Special thanks are due to Barbara Oberg, Emma Lapsansky-Werner, V. and support of so many other people at the APS. In particular, David Gary, Kyle Chapman-Smith, and Carla Mulford for generously consulting with the curators Roberts, and Brian Carpenter shared their content knowledge and reviewed during content development, and providing insight and thoughtful feedback exhibition texts. Providing essential support and expertise were Valerie-Ann Lutz, on texts. e exhibition also beneŠted from discussions with Jessica Linker, Michael Miller, Joseph DiLullo, Bayard Miller, Cynthia Heider, Adrianna Link, Joel Fry of Bartram’s Garden, and Susannah Carroll of e Franklin Institute. Estelle Markel-Joyet, Melanie Rinehart, Paul Sutherland, Tracey deJong, Susan Lenders to the exhibition included the Library Company of Philadelphia and Laquer, Megan Hosie, Julie Fisher, Bethany Farrell, David O. McCullough, and e Rosenbach Library and Museum. At the Library Company we extend our Brenna Holland. Alison Swety Beninato copyedited the exhibition and catalog gratitude to Linda August, Erika Piola, and Sarah Weatherwax and, at e texts, and Jessica FrankenŠeld managed publicity. Linda Jacobs managed the Rosenbach, we wish to thank Jobi Zink, Elizabeth Fuller, and Cathleen Chandler grants that made the exhibition and catalog possible. Finally, thank you to Bob for their assistance. We are grateful to the lenders for graciously working with us Hauser, Executive O°cer, for his unfailing support. through the COVID- ƒ pandemic. e Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist exhibition has been made possible by the At the APS we o¡er thanks to Mary Grace Wahl, Associate Director of support of e Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Pennsylvania Historical & Exhibitions and Collections, who oversaw exhibition development and Museum Commission, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, APS Members and Friends, installation, organized the catalog publication, and managed the exhibition and donations by visitors to the APS Museum. team. Her dedication and leadership saw the exhibition team through a challenging year. anks to Magdalena Hoot for their commitment and is exhibition catalog has been made possible by a grant from the National invaluable contributions to exhibition production and installation. Mike Madeja Endowment for the Humanities. and Alexandra Rospond gave insightful reviews of the content and labels and developed meaningful educational materials. Interns Rosemarie Fettig and Sean Keenan provided research assistance. e APS Conservation Department, Anne Downey, Renée Wolcott, and Anisha Gupta, prepared the objects for display and lent their expertise to the fellows. We also thank our Facilities sta¡, especially Jeremy Schoenrock for lighting the exhibition and his willingness to help. e Museum Guides, who engage with Museum visitors in the gallery and during programs, also deserve recognition.

8 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9 understood that all peoples were capable of producing useful knowledge and that science could be performed in any available space. Franklin drew upon scientiŠc evidence, data, and statistics to suggest initiatives for the public good. Believing that the power of science could be harnessed to improve society, he CITIZEN SCIENTIST widely communicated the results of his Šndings, deliberately never patented an invention, and encouraged international cooperation. He promoted research and education through his founding and support of a variety of civic institutions and Janine Yorimoto Boldt learned societies—and he was willing to change his mind when presented with new evidence. When Benjamin Franklin died in “ƒ, he was arguably the most recognizable American in the world. e story of his rise from being the youngest son of an Franklin’s founding of the American Philosophical Society (APS) exempliŠed his immigrant soap- and candlemaker to becoming a famous American citizen, philosophy of citizen science. e APS was founded in concert with his friend, diplomat, and natural philosopher became a prototype for the American dream the farmer and self-taught botanist John Bartram. In “­•, Franklin wrote A and has been told countless times. e exhibition Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America, highlights and enlarges that familiar story, using Franklin’s life and works to which became the founding document for the APS (no. ™™).• It stated that “ e shed light on the production, circulation, application, and accessibility of what Šrst Drudgery of Settling new Colonies, which conŠnes the Attention of People ™th-century Atlantic world intellectuals viewed as “useful knowledge.” rough to mere Necessaries, is now pretty well over; and there are many in every Province Franklin’s life and works, we can better understand the processes through which in Circumstances that set them at Ease, and a¡ord Leisure to cultivate the Šner “useful knowledge” was recognized as science and who was acknowledged as Arts, and improve the common Stock of Knowledge.” Having achieved economic a scientiŠc authority—as well as how institutions and individuals solidiŠed stability, “Men of Speculation” could start applying themselves to observing the and perpetuated inequality through science and education. ese ™th-century natural world for the “Advantage of some or all of the British Plantations, or processes, or systems of knowledge production, have long-lasting e¡ects that to the BeneŠt of Mankind in general.” Of central importance was promoting continue to shape society today. knowledge and invention for the improvement of society. Original Members of the APS were men from working-class backgrounds who enjoyed learning and Citizen science, an anachronistic but useful framework for understanding self-improvement, including omas Hopkinson, a merchant and lawyer; doctors Franklin’s scientiŠc career, can o¡er some new interpretations of familiar stories. omas and Phineas Bond; William Coleman, a carpenter and merchant; Samuel Citizen science is a modern term that broadly refers to public participation in Rhoads, a carpenter; William Parsons, a former shoemaker and tavernkeeper; scientiŠc research; it is science as practiced by nonprofessionals in collaboration and omas Godfrey, a glazier. Elected Members of the Society met regularly for with professional research teams. Free communication and collaborative sharing conversation, to perform experiments, and to read scientiŠc correspondence from of results is fundamental to citizen science projects. People of all ages, abilities, throughout the colonies and abroad.­ Franklin used the term useful knowledge and backgrounds volunteer their time and other resources to record and share to broadly encompass all intellectual pursuits and technologies with practical observations on topics of global importance. Performed at home or in public applications. In the ƒth century, the sciences and the humanities divided into the spaces, citizen science is rarely conŠned to institutional laboratories. However, discrete disciplines that we recognize today. In the spirit of Franklin, Dr. Franklin, citizen scientists share the perspective that evidence-based, carefully documented Citizen Scientist uses the inclusive phrase useful knowledge, and the modern words science can transform society for the better. science and scientists, to refer to all scientiŠc endeavors and practitioners.

In many ways, Franklin espoused the values that characterize citizen science  Yet, despite Franklin’s commitment to promoting useful knowledge for the “BeneŠt years before the term came into use. Franklin was not a formally trained scientist; of Mankind in general,” Franklin beneŠted from and helped design a system of he was largely self-educated. Yet he initiated scientiŠc inquiry and collaborated knowledge production that constructed and reinforced inequality, an inequality with people of various backgrounds to conduct experiments, share observations, that was particularly distinct along gendered and racial lines. e exhibition Dr. discuss theories about the natural world, and invent useful technologies. He Franklin, Citizen Scientist asks how people today can learn from Franklin’s life,

10 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 11 writings, inventions, and shortcomings in order to build on his mission as a citizen engaged in scientiŠc activities. Especially in the colonies, free and enslaved scientist: to advance society through the promotion of useful knowledge. What Black and Indigenous peoples collected specimens and shared, or were forced could society become if “mankind” became the more inclusive “humankind,” and to divulge, information with colonists who then communicated with patrons in “useful knowledge” was equitably accessed, applied, and recognized? England. eir contributions often went uncredited in the resulting letters and publications. Women collected specimens and shared observations on nature but were rarely taken seriously as interpreters of scientiŠc evidence. Individuals and institutions thus obscured the historical contributions to Western science made Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist explores Šve thematic areas of Franklin’s scientiŠc by women, Black and Indigenous peoples, and other peoples of color.“ practice: printing, water and climate, electricity, household science, and the science of human di¡erence. Collectively, these Šve areas illustrate Franklin’s Peoples of Indigenous and African descent had their own thriving systems broad interests, revealing his respect for experiential knowledge gained from of knowledge production. Yet their knowledge was often erased, ignored, or manual labor, his commitment to freely sharing information, his use of media to appropriated by European individuals, publications, and archives. One example of shape society, and his prejudices. ese Šve categories also highlight the various the erasure of African knowledge is the story of Onesimus, a man enslaved by the spaces where science was performed and the diverse knowledge producers Boston civic and religious leader Cotton Mather. Onesimus introduced Mather who in§uenced Franklin. Before examining Franklin’s contributions to useful to the West African medical practice of inoculation. Working with the white knowledge, an overview of ™th-century scientiŠc practices provides context for doctor Zabdiel Boylston, Mather promoted inoculation to Šght the smallpox Franklin’s career. epidemic of “– “ . Notably, Mather wrote in “ „ to John Woodward, Fellow of the Royal Society, that he learned about inoculation by “Enquiring of my Eighteenth-century “natural philosophers”—who, in the  st century, are called Negro-man Onesimus, who is a pretty Intelligent Fellow.” In other published “scientists” —were rarely salaried professionals, nor were they “specialists”; instead, accounts, Mather admitted, “I was at Šrst instructed in it, by a Guramantee- they generally studied, and theorized about, a range of topics. e most active Servant of my own,” and that he conŠrmed the method by talking to other natural philosophers were often independently wealthy, possessing the means enslaved Africans in Boston who had undergone the procedure in Africa. Despite to study natural philosophy as a leisure pursuit. Less wealthy individuals sought Mather’s acknowledgment of Onesimus, he was obscured in other reports. In patrons to fund and support their studies. Colonists including Franklin, who “´ƒ, Franklin promoted inoculation for public health by sharing survival statistics wanted to be recognized as natural philosophers, sought patronage from English from Boston (no. ™). He credited Boylston for promoting inoculation without connections and institutions. e Royal Society of London, a self-electing group mentioning Onesimus. As Franklin lived in Boston during the initial outbreak, of men (“Fellows”) interested in natural philosophy, was the most important was involved in a public debate about inoculation, and read scientiŠc publications, British institutional patron. Founded in „„, the Royal Society in§uenced the he was likely aware of Onesimus, or at least the procedure’s African origins, yet he shape of the Šeld, acknowledging “worthy” inquiry through reading reports from did not mention either.™ Fellows and correspondents at regular meetings, awarding prizes for research, and publishing selected tracts in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Similarly, Indigenous knowledge was often either unrecognized or barely London. Franklin modeled the APS after the Royal Society.´ acknowledged. When Philadelphia naturalist Joseph Breintnall wrote an essay for Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack about the medicinal properties of the e patronage networks that sustained the Western scientiŠc enterprise privileged rattlesnake herb, he acknowledged that the information came from “Indians” educated white men who could move freely in society, build connections through but did not name a speciŠc individual or community (nos. • and •).ƒ When the their professions, and purchase books and supplies. While white male colonists English naturalist Mark Catesby traveled through the southern colonies, he failed were often belittled by their European counterparts, they were occasionally to appreciate Indigenous land management practices as critical to the Southeast’s elected to the Royal Society and welcomed into correspondence networks where ecology. While collecting specimens of the Robinia hispida plant, he complained they shared Šrsthand accounts of North America’s §ora, fauna, and peoples.„ that “the ravaging Indians” had burned the land, which made it impossible to e Royal Society and the APS excluded women and peoples of African and collect the specimens he desired (no. ­). What he observed were Indigenous Indigenous descent and marginalized their ideas. Yet all three of these groups peoples of Carolina, probably the Catawba, engaged in controlled burning. e

12 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 13 practice of controlled burning helped maintain the ecosystem, sustaining plant to the Royal Society awarding him its most prestigious award, the Copley Medal, life through enriching the soil and supporting the animal life that grazed there, in “´• (no. „). He was then elected to the Royal Society in “´„. Franklin was including the bison, illustrated in Catesby’s volume alongside the plant. Other successful because he navigated transatlantic institutions and networks, thus Indigenous communities also engaged in controlled burning throughout the leveraging his position in society as a literate, white man and business owner. Americas. Some  st-century environmental scientists recommend reinstituting such Native American practices to help avoid wildŠres, which are exacerbated and more frequent as a result of climate change.  Franklin’s career as a printer and shopkeeper in Philadelphia provided the Imperial hierarchies also objectiŠed non-European peoples and relied on contacts necessary to support his scientiŠc inquiry and become a civil servant. unscrupulous collecting practices through the exploitation of enslaved labor e social connections he fostered also impacted his study of water and climate, and of Black and Indigenous peoples. Europeans frequently considered African electricity, household science, and human di¡erence. Using his printing skills and Indigenous peoples and their material culture as scientiŠc specimens. and business networks to elevate himself in society, Franklin joined with peers to Enslaved Africans were subjected to experimentations, including electrical tests socialize, practice science, and improve the city. He was part of a social group that to determine their pain thresholds, and forced inoculation to test the e°cacy of met at Batchelor’s Hall (in the modern-day Northern Liberties neighborhood the procedure. Black bodies were put on display for public examination as white of Philadelphia) in the late “s (no. ™). Out of this group emerged the Junto, scientists studied the human body (nos. “• and “­). Naturalists like Catesby a mutual improvement society founded by Franklin in ““ that met regularly to described Indigenous Americans as curiosities, sending reports back to England discuss philosophical questions and social issues. e Junto was a forerunner to about Indigenous customs alongside plant descriptions. Objects made by Africans the American Philosophical Society, which Franklin and Bartram founded in and Indigenous peoples, including pipes, baskets, textiles, and instruments, “­• to promote useful knowledge in the colonies. Many of the men from these were collected and displayed alongside natural curiosities. is was the case, for societies had also joined Franklin in “• as founding members of the Library example, with the collections of James Petiver and Sir Hans Sloane (no.  ). ese Company of Philadelphia, the Šrst successful lending library in the colonies. London-based men acquired objects from around the world, relying on colonial rough these various groups, which were composed of working-class men like correspondents and slave traders to send them objects and information, including himself, Franklin built a network and expanded his in§uence. As a printer and Franklin’s friend, botanist John Bartram. eir collections became the foundation journalist, he also developed a savvy understanding of various literary genres and for the British Museum. ese imperial practices continue to inform museum became a proliŠc writer able to impact public policy and popular opinion. ´ collections and exhibitions, and to shape the public perception of non-European cultures and artifacts as inferior “folkways.” As late as the  st century, objects One of Franklin’s early inventions was nature printing, developed in collaboration from non-European cultures are still often found in museums alongside animals, with his friend Joseph Breintnall, member of the Junto and Library Company, rocks, and plants, or are presented as exotic curiosities.  and a scrivener and naturalist who collected plant specimens. Breintnall created albums of inked impressions of plants to facilitate the study of nature (no. •), During most of Franklin’s lifetime, white colonists were valued by Europeans for running inked leaves through a printing press, which preserved images of the their access to specimens and knowledge of local §ora, fauna, and Indigenous botanical structures. He sent copies of impressions to Peter Collinson, a London peoples; however, few such colonists received respect as natural philosophers. As merchant, botanist, and Fellow of the Royal Society who acted as a patron for a result of his experiments and publications about electricity, Franklin arguably many colonial correspondents. When Breintnall wrote about the medicinal became the Šrst American valued by many Europeans for his contributions properties of the rattlesnake herb for Franklin’s “•“ Poor Richard’s Almanack, he to scientiŠc theories. • David Hume, eminent philosopher of the Scottish and Franklin developed a new method of printing the leaf to illustrate the essay Enlightenment, wrote to Franklin in “„ that “America has sent us many good (nos. • and •). ey created a plaster cast of the leaf, then placed the plaster cast things, Gold, Silver, Sugar, Tobacco, Indigo &c But you are the Šrst Philosopher” into a box and Šlled it with molten metal. e mold captured the leaf ’s design (no. „). ­ Other colonists likely disagreed that Franklin was the †rst American and transformed it into a printing block. e resulting block could be placed in philosopher, but Hume’s letter emphasizes how little respect European the printing press alongside typeface to print the leaf many times over. „ intellectuals had for their colonial counterparts. Franklin’s electrical theories led

14 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 15 FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2 A NEW AND EXACT CHART OF REMARQUES SUR LA . . . EUROPE, AFRICA, AMERICA NAVIGATION DE TERRE [FRANKLINFOLGER CHART OF NEUVE À NEWYORK AFIN THE GULF STREAM] D'ÉVITER LES COURRANTS ET Published by Mount and Page LES BASFONDS AU SUD DE NANTUCKETT ET DU BANC DE “„™ GEORGE Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division. George-Louis le Rouge ca. “™ Engraving APS.

e next step for the innovative Franklin was to realize that nature printing could lifelong interest in the ocean. ™ Franklin’s greatest contribution to hydrography be used to combat counterfeit paper currency (nos. ••–•“). Leaves have unique was the Šrst published chart of the Gulf Stream in “„™, accomplished in his vein structures, which made their designs di°cult to replicate. Franklin expanded capacity as Postmaster of the colonies (Figure ). is tale of water, scientiŠc the technique by adding fabric to the printing block behind the leaves to observation, family and peer networking, and manual-labor skill is among the introduce more texture to the print. is idea probably came from Breintnall, who most fascinating of Franklin’s event-Šlled life. e Gulf Stream is a warm water made inked impressions of fabric and feathers alongside leaves. Franklin also used current in the Atlantic that runs in a northeastern circular direction from the other printing methods, including combining multiple typefaces, varied engraving Gulf of Mexico. is current results in faster travel times when ships sail from techniques, and colored ink to make counterfeiting currency more di°cult. “ us, the Americas to England than vice versa. Before Franklin’s Gulf Stream chart, by helping to solve a public problem, Franklin also acquired a personal beneŠt; o°cials did not have a clear understanding of the current. Sailors, however, knew he received government contracts to print money. Franklin’s invention, made the current’s location, features, and e¡ects from experience. Timothy Folger, a possible because of his craftsman skill and collaborative network, would become a mariner and Franklin’s maternal cousin, assisted Franklin in charting the Gulf prototype of “modern” science—now owned and manipulated by a global network Stream. e resulting chart celebrated British dominance over the Atlantic. As of scholars and granting agencies. Minister to France, Franklin later collaborated with Georges-Louis le Rouge to publish a French chart, which asserted U.S. sovereignty over the Atlantic and Franklin’s appreciation for the experiential knowledge of manual laborers blended expressed an alliance with France through the incorporation of French place into his political career, shaping Franklin’s musings on such phenomena as water, names (Figure ). ƒ Once again, Franklin had demonstrated how he could apply air circulation, and maritime technology. Inspired by his seafaring brother and science, technical knowledge, and printed works for political gains. cousins in Boston, he had thought to become a sailor himself and maintained a

16 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 17 Franklin gave the Gulf Stream its most authoritative account in the second a glass tube for generating static electricity (no. volume of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, published in ­„). Collaborating with his colleagues, particularly “™„ (no. ­). Franklin chose to publish a longer description of the Gulf Stream Ebenezer Kinnersley, omas Hopkinson, and along with his records on water temperature and observations on the presence Philip Syng, Franklin performed experiments of gulf weed, which he observed while crossing the Atlantic. His observations around the city of Philadelphia. He theorized about conŠrmed Folger’s earlier notes. Further, the chart engraved by James Poupard electrical properties and correctly explained why in Philadelphia focuses on the United States, representing American dominance insulated glass jars, called Leyden jars, were able to of the sea and leaving Europe out of the picture altogether. Along with the store electrical charges. He invented the “battery” chart, Franklin published his “Maritime Observations,” a culmination of decades by connecting a series of Leyden jars and designed of observations and ideas about the ocean, which included descriptions of experiments that proved that lightning was of the technology that could improve boats and living conditions at sea. “same nature” as electricity (no. ­™). He explained these experiments and observations in letters to Several of Franklin’s descriptions in “Maritime Observations” were based on Collinson, who became Franklin’s greatest patron. technologies that had been developed by non-Europeans (no. ­ ). Franklin praised Collinson shared Franklin’s electrical research with Chinese seafaring technology, and in a poignant passage, he noted the superior the Royal Society and published Franklin’s letters in expertise of Indigenous peoples from the Americas and the PaciŠc Islands: Experiments and Observations in Electricity (London, “´ ) (nos. ­ƒ and ´), which was widely read and It is remarkable that the people we consider as savages, have acclaimed in Europe.­ improved the art of sailing- and rowing-boats in several points beyond what we can pretend to. We have no sailing boats equal Franklin’s sincere commitment and savvy to the §ying proas of the south seas, no rowing or paddling boat approaches to sharing useful knowledge with equal to that of the Greenlanders for swiftness and safety. e the public set him apart from most natural birch canoes of the North-American Indians have also some philosophers. In addition to corresponding with advantageous properties. FIGURE 3 prominent scientists and publishing complex theories, Franklin also printed PETER COLLINSON J. S. Miller descriptions of his useful inventions in more widely accessible venues. For is statement reveals both Franklin’s awareness that all peoples produced useful ““ example, he published directions for a°xing lightning rods to houses and knowledge, and his budding understanding that his contemporaries’ hierarchical Engraving public buildings in his Poor Richard’s Almanack of “´• (no. ´). Interestingly, APS. categorization of human cultures might bear rethinking. is inchoate Someone inserted this portrait the information appeared in a brief notice nestled among court dates, fair comprehension of ethnocentrism is similarly re§ected in another of Franklin’s of Collinson into a fourth dates, and Quaker Meeting times. Franklin, aware that many colonists edition of Experiments and pamphlets, dated circa “™­. In “Remarks concerning the Savages of North Observations. believed that lightning was a sign from God and that lightning Šres were America,” he wrote, “Savages we call them, because their manners di¡er from divine interventions, wrote, “It has pleased God in his Goodness to Mankind, ours, which we think the Perfection of Civility; they think the same of theirs.” at length to discover to them the Means of securing their Habitations and While employing the commonly used disparaging language, Franklin interrogates other Buildings from Mischief by under and Lightning.”´ us, Franklin the cultural biases of his European and Anglo-American readers, and points out framed the success of the lightning rod in religious terms, asserting that its ethnocentrism.• God had revealed the technology. Notably, this was Franklin’s Šrst published account of the lightning rod, and it was comprehensive enough that readers Collaboration, transatlantic networks, and the ability to allow new insights to could theoretically install this protection on their own home. Publishing such modify his ideas also shaped Franklin’s contributions to electrical science. He a manual in his cheap and widely circulated almanac, as well as its religious began experimenting with electricity when Peter Collinson (Figure •) sent to framing, is consistent with Franklin’s desire to use science to help others. „ the Library Company an article from ‡e Gentleman’s Magazine explaining recent electrical experiments performed in Europe (no. ­“). Collinson also sent

18 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 19 Franklin’s accessible electrical writings and sound scientiŠc theories gave him an that Franklin himself performed experiments on enslaved people; however, he international reputation. As a result, he became a popular Šgure in international read the literature and results of such tests and beneŠted from the work of these politics. In “´“, Franklin was appointed a colonial agent representing other men, including Kinnersley.ƒ Pennsylvania and other colonies in England and became a key Šgure in imperial politics in the years leading to the American Revolution. Eventually, he became While Franklin encouraged science in public venues, his private residences were the American Minister Plenipotentiary to France, where he helped convince the also important spaces for scientiŠc practice and invention, and members of his French government to support the colonies and helped to negotiate peace with household provided assistance. For example, Franklin installed a lightning rod England. ough his work as a civil servant meant he had less time to pursue on his house with a mechanism that allowed him to “catch” electrical charges science, he continued to support research, engage in scientiŠc experiments and to be stored in Leyden jars for future experiments. e rod was attached to observations, and correspond and converse with other scientists, using his o°cial bells that rang to alert the household when the rod was electriŠed. In a letter position to foster international cooperation in the pursuit of knowledge. For to Collinson, Franklin wrote that he gave “orders in my Family that if the Bells example, he wrote a passport to support British Captain James Cook’s third rang when I was from home, they should catch some of the Lightning for me in voyage to the South PaciŠc, ensuring that Cook would not be harassed en route electrical Vials.”• Which members of his “Family” participated in this project? It by American ships (no. ­´).“ is well-documented that his son William assisted him in electrical experiments, including with the famous kite and key experiment, so undoubtedly, he caught Franklin also encouraged public demonstrations of electricity, which educated electricity at home.• Did Franklin’s daughter Sally catch electricity? Did Peter broad audiences, even as they reinforced gendered and racialized hierarchies. and George, two of the men enslaved by the Franklins? e ambiguity of For example, he worked with Ebenezer Kinnersley to develop a series of Franklin’s statement obscures the individuals but highlights the casual mindset lectures and electrical demonstrations that Kinnersley took on tour from that valued “science” over the risk of human life. Rhode Island to the West Indies in the “­s and “´s (no. ´ƒ). Kinnersley’s performances, similar to those presented throughout Europe, helped bring In a “´™ letter to Deborah Franklin, apparently responding to her request for science to a wide audience. On Kinnersley’s tour, while women were welcome instructions for silencing the contraption, Franklin, then in London, responded: as spectators, they were sexualized in experiments. One of Kinnersley’s “If the ringing of the Bells frightens you, tie a Piece of Wire from one Bell to demonstrations resulted in “Spirits kindled by Fire darting from a Lady’s Eyes the other, and that will conduct the lightning without ringing or snapping, but (without a Metaphor).” e display—a manifestation of a woman’s purportedly silently. o’ I think it best the Bells should be at Liberty to ring, that you may uncontrollable passions, which explode from her eyes in electrical sparks after know when the Wire is electrify’d, and, if you are afraid, may keep at a Distance” being charged by an electrical machine—and others like it, supported a broader (no. „­).• is letter reveals not only the disruption that Franklin’s experiments cultural narrative that claimed that women were erotic and passionate creatures and inventions caused for other household members but also reinforces the by nature, and therefore inferior to men, who were believed to have better evidence that Franklin valued scientiŠc inquiry over human comfort and safety. self-discipline. Such performances reinforced the cultural myth that women It is often quoted as evidence for Deborah’s distaste for Franklin’s electrical should be governed by men and that their sexuality should be contained within experiments, her frightened nature, and her ignorance. However, the second part marriage and motherhood (e.g., no. ´™).™ of Franklin’s directions clariŠes that Deborah’s fear of the bells resulted not from ignorance, but rather from an understanding of how electrical conduction could Enslaved people were exploited in some of these demonstrations, as both result in painful shock. Franklin explained that the ringing would alert Deborah exhibits and test subjects. In Antigua, Kinnersley blew up a “model negroe” to stay a safe distance from the wire, reminding her that silencing them would not using electricity during one of his performances. In Virginia, he reportedly remove the source of her fear. cured an enslaved child of deafness through electrical shock. Other experimenters also tested electric shock therapy on enslaved people. Enslaved Deborah Read Franklin rarely receives more than a passing mention in people were acceptable test subjects partly because their consent was deemed discussions of Franklin and science; however, she was important to the unnecessary and partly because many white scientists held the racist belief that functioning of his household and, therefore, to his scientiŠc practice (no. „•). Black bodies were more tolerant of pain than white bodies. ere is no evidence During Franklin’s absences from Philadelphia, Deborah managed the shop,

20 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 21 printing o°ce, and post o°ce, and facilitated FIGURE 4 OPPOSITE Nantucket, she grew up on the island when the English were the minority. She SARAH FRANKLIN BACHE Franklin’s epistolary networks. She sent Franklin MRS. RICHARD BACHE likely inherited an appreciation for education and was responsible for educating updates and letters from his Philadelphia colleagues. John Hoppner her daughters. She also dyed red cloth—possibly for trade with the Wampanoag Her letters and packages included specimens “ƒ• communities. One of the most intriguing personal documents included in the Oil on canvas and information that connected Franklin to his e Metropolitan Museum of exhibition is a ““ letter that Franklin wrote to his sister Jane Franklin Mecom Philadelphia network. Moreover, as the Franklin Art, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe (no. „™). Franklin had been visiting relatives in England and recounted to Mecom Collection, Wolfe Fund, ƒ . household in Philadelphia was a gathering place the many cloth dyers in the Franklin family. Among the kin he visited was a Sally where Franklin met with his colleagues to discuss Franklin, “Great Grandaughter of our Father’s Brother John, who was a Dyer current events and scientiŠc discoveries (no. „´), at Banbury in Oxfordshire, where our Father learnt that Trade of him.” Despite Deborah played the important role of hostess during a focus on his father Josiah Franklin’s family, Franklin continued, “Having these gatherings. Following Deborah’s death in mentioned so many Dyers in our Family, I will now it’s in my Mind request of ““ and Franklin’s return to Philadelphia in “™´, you a full and particular Receipt for Dying Worsted of that beautiful Red, which their daughter Sally Franklin Bache assumed role you learnt of our Mother.” He remembered Abiah’s red cloth, the recipe for which of hostess, as Franklin lived with the Bache family she shared with her daughter. Franklin respected Abiah’s mastery of the domestic (Figure ­).•• science of cloth dyeing. is type of knowledge was sometimes recorded in family recipe books, and other times it was passed down orally. No Folger or Mecom Deborah also had a scientiŠc education of her own. recipe book appears to have survived, but it was common practice for such Her mother Sarah White Read, who lived with the information to be passed down from mother to daughter.•´ Franklins following their marriage, made and sold medicines. e primary evidence for this activity is In the same letter, Franklin immediately followed his request for the red dye an advertisement that appeared in the August ƒ, recipe by asking Mecom for “a Receipt for making Crown Soap. Let it be very “• issue of Franklin’s newspaper ‡e Pennsylvania exact in the smallest Particulars. Enclos’d I send you a Receipt for making soft Gazette (Figure ´). According to the advertisement, Soap in the Sun.” e crown soap recipe was developed by John Franklin, their Read continued “to make and sell her well-known older brother. It was a hard lye soap that earned its name because it was stamped Ointment for the ITCH, with which she has cured with a symbol of a crown. e soap was made with bayberry, a North American abundance of People in and about this City for plant that gave the soap a green color. John shared the recipe with Mecom, who many Years past.” is announcement indicates that made and sold it to enhance her income. Benjamin and Deborah Franklin sold Read had a long and revered career in formulating the crown soap for Mecom in their Philadelphia shop. Franklin requested “little medicines, likely teaching Deborah and soliciting Specimens” of it to distribute as gifts to his friends in France.•„ Mecom obliged her help. Apparently Read served an essential role Franklin, sending him a detailed, four-page recipe along with directions for as a community healer. Since these medicines were molding and cutting it (no. „ƒ). At the bottom of the recipe, Franklin drew small sold in the Franklin shop and made in the Franklin diagrams of the soap mold and cutting instruments as described by Mecom, household, Deborah had at least some knowledge of clearly engaging with her instructions.•“ their medical application.•­ us, the family approached soapmaking—a complicated process requiring Similarly, the in§uence of Franklin’s mother, Abiah Folger Franklin, on his FIGURE 5 hands-on experience and intuition—as a science, and many letters were ADVERTISEMENT FROM education and interests has not been adequately addressed in existing scholarship. THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE exchanged on the topic. Occasionally, the soap Mecom sent to Franklin arrived Franklin did not record many personal thoughts about his parents, but he had August ƒ, “• brittle and crumbly, possibly due to cold weather exposure during shipping. Upon favorable impressions of his mother’s capabilities. Abiah was the well-educated Letterpress receiving a shipment of brittle soap, Franklin attempted to Šx the bars, but failed. e Library Company of daughter of Peter Folger, who, among other work, served as a schoolteacher to the Philadelphia. He then wrote to Mecom, “Sally has been making an Experiment.” He explained Christian Wampanoag communities on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Born in her attempts to rehydrate the soap, which “appear to have all the Qualities of

22 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 23 excellent Crown Soap, only in drying they are twisted and warp’d out of Shape recipes, and the soap recipes survive in his papers. ey were preserved . . . you may possibly teach me a better Method.” •™ Sally Franklin Bache’s design amongst correspondence with some of the most famous men of science of of this experiment is notable for two reasons. First, Sally receives little attention his day. Later historians and scientists drew sharper divisions between these in studies of Franklin’s science. His relative lack of interest in her education has scientiŠc practices than Franklin did. We should not dismiss these sciences been problematically interpreted as evidence of her lack of intelligence. Second, or their importance to understanding Franklin’s approach to science—careful Sally’s skills with domestic sciences eclipsed her father’s, likely as a result of her observation, experimentation, collaboration, and respect for useful knowledge of greater experience in household sciences. Sally’s experiment with crown soap all sorts and from all origins. indicates her independence of mind, as well as her participation in Benjamin Franklin’s experiment-collaboration network.•ƒ Mecom repeated Sally’s methods While soapmaking and cloth dyeing occurred in his Boston and Philadelphia and had similar results. She thought the brittle nature of the soap was due to homes, and those of his relatives, Franklin’s residences in London and Passy altering the recipe—upon Franklin’s request, Mecom had changed the recipe to were also sites of scientiŠc inquiry. Franklin boarded with Margaret Stevenson FIGURE 6 increase the soap’s green color but changing the ratio of ingredients weakened ­ CRAVEN STREET, LONDON and her daughter Mary “Polly” Stevenson in their home on Craven Street in the soap’s structure. Mecom decided to return to the original recipe based on Photograph London (Figure „). While living there, Franklin engaged in scientiŠc discussions, her and Sally’s results.­ Courtesy of the Benjamin welcoming peers to the residence. Franklin also brie§y lived with Polly and her Franklin House. is is the only surviving husband William Hewson after their marriage. Hewson was a surgeon who Franklin sent their nephew Jonathan Williams to Mecom to learn soapmaking, residence of Franklin. performed dissections and observations in the basement of their home. Franklin and in the resulting correspondence among Mecom, Franklin, and Williams they also served as a teacher and mentor to Polly, as he regularly discussed soapmaking in the language of science. Williams described gifted her with books and engaged her in scientiŠc his studies to Franklin stating, “I have gone through the Operation of making dialogue (nos. „„ and „“). e two regularly the soap and by taking Notes throughout the whole, I have a tolerable Idea of corresponded with each other when Franklin was both eory and Practice, but I will not venture to say I understand it perfectly not in London and eventually, as a widow, Polly ’till after I have made some alone.”­ After the debacle with brittle soap, Williams moved to Philadelphia with her children to be wrote that Mecom found “it best to keep to the Proportions which were Šxed by near Franklin. Franklin’s respect for Polly is clear, the Inventor after [much] Experience.”­ And as Mecom explained to Franklin, as he published eight letters that he wrote to her “ ere is a good deal of Phylosephy in the working of crown soap.”­• It seems in his fourth and Šfth editions of Experiments and that Franklin never truly mastered crown soap, though perhaps his daughter Observations on Electricity. ese letters included and grandchildren continued to be interested in it. At the top of a second, later discussions of diverse topics including barometers, recipe for crown soap, also found in Franklin’s papers but presumably written waterspouts, and insects.­´ after Franklin’s death in “ƒ, is the following statement in Mecom’s hand: “My Brother in His Life time tould me it could not be conveyed by Recipt that it One of the letters to Polly that Franklin published sometimes workd so as He could not Ac[coun]t for it Himself but I will Give was originally written in “„ and speaks to the you the best Information I can” (no. “).­­ It is possible that Mecom wrote this limitations that society placed on women. Polly had later recipe for Sally or one of Franklin’s grandchildren. us, it is clear that the written to Franklin about a moral lesson she found networks of hands-on citizen science included women, though their voices are embedded in a book on insects that Franklin gave muted or silenced in subsequent narratives of Franklin’s scientiŠc communities. her. She wrote that it “taught me to observe there is nothing so tri§ing but it is necessary and worthy our Franklin is rarely associated with cloth dyeing or soapmaking, yet he was attention.”­„ Franklin responded by agreeing with clearly interested in these sciences typically dismissed as the work of women her and naming various positive functions of insects. and tradesmen, rather than the work of natural philosophers. He collected However, he then suggested that she not get too information about these trade sciences from relatives and showed them distracted with her studies: respect and deference for their knowledge. He collected various household

24 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 25 e Knowledge of Nature may be ornamental, and it may Franklin’s residence in Passy was also a site of scientiŠc observation, be useful, but if to attain an Eminence in that, we neglect experimentation, and discussion. In his gardens at Passy (Figure “), a commission the Knowledge and Practice of essential Duties, we deserve appointed by King Louis XVI performed experiments and inquired into the Reprehension. For there is no rank in natural knowledge of equal legitimacy of Franz Anton Mesmer’s medical performances. Mesmer claimed dignity and importance with that of being a good parent, a good healing powers by manipulating a §uid, similar to electricity, in a person’s body child, a good husband, or wife, a good neighbor or friend, a good (no. ´“). Franklin and his fellow commissioners determined that any successful subject or citizen, that is, in short, a good christian.­“ treatment by Mesmer was due to the power of suggestion, what doctors call a placebo e¡ect today. It was also from his terrace at Passy that Franklin observed Polly was about  years old, of marriageable age. Franklin’s letter implied that the Šrst piloted hot air balloon §ight alongside a number of guests, including pursuing knowledge for knowledge’s sake was an unworthy ambition and that John and Sarah Jay, and John Quincy Adams (no. “ ).´ Polly had a duty to become a wife and mother, perhaps in acknowledgment that a young woman could not achieve eminence as a natural philosopher. He reminded her that there was still great honor and dignity in accepting those FIGURE 7 SKETCH OF BENJAMIN domestic roles because they contributed to society. Polly apparently understood FRANKLIN’S GARDEN AT PASSY Franklin’s intentions and returned a gentle rebuke of her own, responding, “I Benjamin Franklin have so Šrm a reliance on your sincerity and regard, that I think, if you imagin’d March “, “™ Ink on paper my pursuit of Knowledge would be detrimental, you would not have given me APS. any encouragement, but have check’d my Curiosity, knowing I should have chearfully submitted to your Judgement.”­™ As Polly pointed out, Franklin actively encouraged her education and scientiŠc interests. e statement also re§ected Franklin’s own priorities during these years: accepting his expanding role of diplomat and public servant and decreasing his attention to experimentation and observations of the natural world.

Franklin’s engagement in intellectual discourse with women is further evidenced by his social life in France. While Franklin served as Minister to France, he attended salons—gatherings where men and women discussed intellectual topics—hosted by the musician and composer Anne Louise Boyvin d’Hardancourt Brillon de Jouy in Paris and by Anne-Catherine de Ligniville Helvétius in Auteuil, near Passy. ese salons were attended by a number of “statesmen, philosophers, historians, poets, and men of learning of all sorts.”­ƒ Franklin was also friendly with Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier and her husband Especially overlooked in studies of Franklin’s science are Jemima, Joseph, Peter, Antoine Lavoisier, a chemist. Madame Lavoisier was a chemist in her own King, Othello, George, Bob, and Jack, the woman, men, and children enslaved right and regularly worked with her husband in the laboratory and edited his by the Franklin family. Very little is known about them or the speciŠc work they publications. Women in these intellectual circles participated in public life performed, and the Franklins left few records of them. Jemima, who appears in and facilitated Franklin’s scientiŠc and political networks in France.´ ough an account book purchasing sugar, was likely in domestic service, aiding Deborah the exhibition Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist was unable to include objects and Sally. Deborah sent Othello to school, or intended to, before he died at highlighting these Frenchwomen and their in§uence on Franklin’s career, they a young age. Peter and King went to London with Benjamin and William. should not be overlooked. King ran away and was found in the English countryside, where he received an education from an unnamed woman (no. “„).´ It is not clear whether any of these enslaved people performed any scientiŠc labor. Yet it is likely that at least the

26 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 27 older men assisted Franklin with some of his experiments and observations. ey e present owner of this boy is Mr. James-Hill-Clark, whom I may have “caught” lightning from the house’s lightning rod or helped Franklin informed of what had passed between Dr. Franklin and myself install the Pennsylvania stove (another of Franklin’s inventions) in his home. . . . he informed me, that while he was in England before, he ey may have carried scientiŠc instruments for Franklin and his peers as they received a letter from his lady, in which was some of the wool traversed Philadelphia performing experiments. Peter and King may have helped of a white negro child’s head, by way of curiosity and when I Franklin record water temperatures as they crossed the Atlantic. Jemima may mentioned it to Mr. Clark, he assured me that this very boy was have served or cooked for the men who gathered at the Franklin home to discuss shewed in Pennsilvania as a great rarity.´´ and perform experiments. At the very least, their labors enabled the Franklins to live comfortably, allowing Franklin the time to pursue science. is excerpt reveals aspects of the Franklin household’s attention to what might be called “racial topics.” First, Benjamin Franklin found the topic of human Although Franklin’s position on slavery has received increased attention in recent di¡erence worthy of discussion with James Parsons, a physician. Second, Deborah years, his engagement with the science of human di¡erence has undergone demonstrated her own interest in the discourses about racial di¡erence by less scrutiny. Historians generally agree that Franklin’s anti-slavery views choosing to attend the public exhibition of an enslaved child in Philadelphia, developed gradually over time. His commitment to the abolitionist cause is to obtain a specimen of the child’s hair, and to feel it was worthwhile to send it ambiguous and a matter of some debate. It was not until ““ that he wrote a abroad for Franklin’s inspection and investigation. clear, public anti-slavery statement, and there is no evidence that he freed any of his enslaved people in his lifetime. Franklin appears to have become a vocal Such public displays of enslaved people whose appearances challenged supporter of abolition only when it would no longer damage his political career contemporary understandings of skin color were common in England, following the American Revolution. He left no personal re§ections explaining continental Europe, and the colonies. People of African descent with albinism his changing views on abolition.´• Franklin also did not write original theories or vitiligo—a condition that a¡ects pigmentation and results in areas of lighter on human origins or the causes of human di¡erence and skin color. However, and darker skin—were often studied, exhibited, and subjected to curiosity the monogenesis versus polygenesis debate, the debate over whether all humans and titillating public displays, such as the exhibition Deborah attended in were the same species or if there were multiple human origins, was a critical Philadelphia. Such inquiry was also supported by institutions like the Royal ™th-century discourse, with far-reaching consequences for the development of Society and the APS, which encouraged examining enslaved people at their scientiŠc racism and the justiŠcations for slavery.´­ meetings, and publishing descriptions of “exotic” individuals in their publications alongside theories about what caused such “anomalies.”´„ An overlooked article published in the “„´ volume of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society reveals not only Franklin’s engagement in In “™„, John Morgan, APS Member, doctor, and co-founder of the medical school scientiŠc speculation about human origins, characteristics, and capabilities but at the College of Philadelphia, published an “Account of a motley coloured, or pye also Deborah’s (no. “•). e article, titled “An Account of the White Negro shown Negro Girl and Mulatto Boy, exhibited before the Society” in volume two of the before the Royal Society” and submitted by James Parsons, includes a detailed Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (no. “­). According to Morgan, physical description of an unnamed, enslaved child who had white skin and hair two enslaved children—Adelaide and Jean Pierre—were examined at a May “™­ despite being born to Black parents. Today, we know the child had a genetic meeting of the APS. ough it is unclear if these young children were actually condition called albinism. In the ™th century, enslaved people with albinism were publicly examined at the APS meeting, the account features graphic descriptions studied by scientists who wondered how people with light skin could be born to of their entire bodies. It is clear that Morgan, one of the volume’s editors, wanted Black parents. Many scientists believed that they were the key to understanding readers to believe that the examination occurred, as per the established scientiŠc whether all humans were of the same species. Parson’s article included the practices of the day. Morgan’s account was widely circulated and republished, and following passage, implicating the Franklins in the study and exploitation of the second volume of the Transactions was purchased in large numbers.´“ us, the Black bodies: APS proudly enhanced its status by participating in the widespread circulation of the graphic and invasive descriptions of these children’s bodies in the name of scientiŠc research and prestige.

28 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 29 Moreover, the account was included in the second volume of the Transactions, identities. He wrote that people from Africa were “black or tawny” while Asians which the APS published to bolster its reputation as the center of science and Indigenous Americans were “tawny.” Most Europeans were “swarthy,” except in the United States and to honor Franklin, while drawing attention to the for Anglo-Saxons who were “purely white.” He continued, institution’s relationship to the esteemed statesmen and scientist. e second volume, the Šrst one published after the American Revolution, is indicative of And while we are, as I may call it, Scouring our Planet, by the new nation’s ongoing fascination with Black bodies. e publication also clearing America of Woods, and so making this Side of our honored Franklin, the APS founder and President at the time, who contributed Globe re§ect a brighter Light to the Eyes of Inhabitants in Mars four essays to it, including “Maritime Observations.” Eleven of the other essays or Venus, why should we in the Sight of Superior Beings, darken expanded on Franklin’s earlier research and covered topics of particular interest its People? why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them in to him, including waterspouts, electric eels, and smoking chimneys. ree of the America, where we have so fair an Opportunity, by excluding all four illustrations in the volume accompanied Franklin’s tracts. As Joyce Chaplin Blacks and Tawneys, of increasing the lovely White and Red? has observed, the volume was essentially an ode to Franklin’s scientiŠc career.´™ But perhaps I am partial to the Complexion of my Country, for Morgan’s inclusion of the account of Adelaide and Jean Pierre supported the such Kind of Partiality is natural to Mankind.„ volume’s intention to show o¡ the “best of ” American science and honor the APS’s founder. e inclusion of a study about human bodies, one that relied on us, describing his preference for Europeans as a “natural” prejudice, Franklin the exploitation of enslaved, two-year-old children forcibly removed from their proposed increasing the number of people of European descent in the Americas families, was considered necessary to establish the APS as a serious institution. through immigration, and excluding or replacing Africans and Indigenous Americans.„ Franklin’s writings on other topics reveal how he absorbed the contemporary scientiŠc discourse about human nature, as well as how his views evolved over In “„, Franklin revised Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind time. Originally drafted in “´ , Franklin published a text in “´´ about population for another publication, eliminating clause ­ altogether (no. “ƒ). He also growth and immigration to the British North American colonies called amended clause , so that the passage read, “almost every Slave being from Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind (no. “™). e essay, which argued the Nature of Slavery a ief.” „ is subtle revision, which blamed the that the rapid growth of the British-American population could be advantageous condition of slavery for turning enslaved people into thieves, reversed the to the British economy, was a response to recent regulations that aimed to protect earlier implication that criminality was inherent in people of African descent. the English economy by curbing manufacturing in the colonies. Relying on ese changes remained in place when it was reprinted in “„ and again by dominant theories about human di¡erence and the association of negative traits Franklin in the fourth edition of Experiments and Observations on Electricity with darker complexions, Franklin’s treatise consisted of ­ clauses. Two are of ( “„ƒ). ese revisions are indicative of Franklin’s changing ideas regarding particular concern. Clause  disputed an English argument that the cheap labor slavery and human di¡erence during the “´s. „• provided by enslaved people would unfairly position colonists to compete with British factories. Franklin argued that slavery was not cheap labor, since enslavers A series of letters discussing the Bray School for African American children in had to purchase enslaved people at high costs and then continue to incur expenses Philadelphia sheds further light on Franklin’s evolving ideas around this period for clothing, food, and maintenance. Further, he argued that enslaved people (nos. “´–““). While residing in London, Franklin was approached by members of worked only halfheartedly, as they had no incentive to work hard. Enslavers also the Associates of Dr. Bray, a philanthropic Christian organization interested in had to bear the “Expence of a Driver to keep [the enslaved person] at Work, and founding schools for African American children. ey solicited Franklin’s help his Pilfering from Time to Time, almost every Slave being by Nature a ief.”´ƒ Šnding a location and schoolmaster in Philadelphia. Franklin, intrigued by the is passage concluding that slavery was, in the long run, a bad investment, relied venture, corresponded with John Waring, Secretary of the Associates, warning on Franklin’s apparent assumption that an inclination to theft was inherent in Waring that few people educated enslaved children, “partly from a Prejudice that people of African descent. Finally, in clause ­, Franklin drew upon the prevailing Reading and Knowledge in a Slave are both useless and dangerous; and partly practice of categorizing a peoples’ origin and value by complexion, on a spectrum from an Unwillingness in the Masters and Mistresses of common Schools to from “purely white” to Black. Complexions correlated with national or ethnic take black Scholars, lest the Parents of the white Children should be disgusted.”

30 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 31 Nevertheless, Franklin approached the school as an experiment, writing that if the Miseries of Public Prisons in “™“ (no. ™“), which not only promoted prison the children could be instilled with “good Principles” perhaps the school would reform but also drew upon medical expertise to promote the beneŠts of exercise “be found useful” and survive.„­ Deborah Franklin was recruited to report back on and fresh air to reform prisoners. And eventually, Franklin lent his weight to the the school. Deborah wrote to Franklin on August ƒ, “´ƒ that she was impressed Pennsylvania Abolition Society, becoming its president in “™“. Yet in Franklin’s with the students at the school and determined to enroll Othello, a child who was lifetime, these organizations engaged in exclusionary practices. Higher education enslaved in the Franklins’ household.„´ was restricted to white men and the leadership of these organizations was white and male. Even the Bray School and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society were When Franklin returned to Philadelphia, he visited the school and “examined” dependent on white philanthropists rather than directed by African American the children on their reading skills and catechism and observed their behavior. leaders.„™ en he wrote to Waring: In his last will, Franklin signaled his awareness of his fortuitous rise to wealth I was on the whole much pleas’d, and from what I then saw, have and privilege: “having myself been bred to a manual art, printing, in my native conceiv’d a higher Opinion of the natural Capacities of the black town, and afterwards assisted . . . I wish to be useful even after my death, if Race, than I had ever before entertained. eir Apprehension possible, in forming and advancing other young men.”„ƒ Franklin acknowledged seems as quick, their Memory as strong, and their Docility in that his career was only possible because he beneŠted from the assistance of every Respect equal to that of white Children. You will wonder others who had wealth and in§uence. Franklin sought to o¡er help to other perhaps that I should ever doubt it, and I will not undertake to working-class men in the form of scholarship money. He also left bequests to justify all my Prejudices, nor to account for them.„„ the cities of Philadelphia and Boston for civic improvement and to a number of civic and educational institutions. Franklin’s promotion of useful knowledge Notably, Franklin admits to his prejudices. But Franklin, who changed his mind thus continued beyond his lifetime. Today, the organizations founded and about the abilities of Black children he observed in a school context, seems supported by Franklin are increasingly inclusive and have contributed to the resigned to neither understanding nor ridding himself of “all my Prejudices.” development of sciences, arts, and culture in the United States, as Franklin Rather, he viewed the school as an experiment in learning and the children hoped they would. as specimens to be observed and tested to gauge whether their education was successful. ough the letter is a powerful statement about Franklin’s willingness to confront his biases and admit that his preconceived notions were wrong, it also reveals that he approached these children of color largely in terms of scientiŠc On a day that many U.S. Americans associate with celebrations of experimentation. Indeed, it would be many years before Franklin publicly spoke independence and equality, Franklin began an exchange with his sister that out against slavery.„“ turned into a re§ection on inequality. In a letter dated July ­, “™„, Franklin told Jane Franklin Mecom that she should not apologize for her self-described “bad e involvement with the Bray School of Philadelphia was just one example Spelling” because she always spelled phonetically. Franklin assured her that was of Franklin using his privileged position and resources to promote public good perfectly sensible. He told her a story about an educated man and woman who and educate others. He also spearheaded the Library Company of Philadelphia could not Šgure out that “yf ” was a phonetic spelling for “wife.” According to and the APS, two organizations that continue to promote useful knowledge. Franklin, “yf ” was “a much better as well as shorter Method of Spelling Wife, Franklin and his colleagues were involved with the founding of other institutions, than by Doubleyou, i, ef, e, which in reality Spells, Doubleyifey.” “ To prove this including the Pennsylvania Hospital, the College, Academy, and Charity School point, he noted that the couple’s chambermaid, Betty, immediately recognized of Philadelphia, which became the University of Pennsylvania (no. ™ ), and the that “yf ” was pronounced “wife.” Šrst medical school in the British North American colonies (nos. ™•–™„). ese institutions helped bring formal education and scientiŠc study to the United On July  , “™„, Mecom responded to Franklin’s letter, remarking that States, training the next generation of scientists. Franklin also joined other “sometimes the Betys has the Brightest understandings” (no. ƒ). Bettys, i.e., organizations that promoted public good, including the Society for Alleviating undereducated, working-class women, could indeed be society’s brightest. Perhaps

32 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 33 Mecom saw Betty as a kindred spirit. At the very least, it seems Betty’s story Franklins of the world because they have long had the power to record and encouraged Mecom to re§ect on the relationship among intelligence, education, preserve their stories. ey had access to education and networks that recognized and status. She brie§y summarized the moral philosopher Richard Price: their work as useful knowledge, rather than as insigniŠcant menial labor. As a society, we would do well to remember, like Franklin, that all peoples can produce Dr. Price thinks ousands of Boyles, Clarks and Newtons have useful knowledge and contribute to improving society. Probably been lost to the world, and lived and died in Ignora[ns] and meanness, mearly for want of being Placed in favourable Situations, and Injoying Proper Advantages, very few we know is Able to beat thro all Impedements and Arive to any Grat Degre of Superiority in Understanding.“ NOTES SpeciŠcally, Mecom wondered how many potential Sir Robert Boyles, Samuel I want to give a special acknowledgment to Emily A. Margolis who provided feedback on early drafts of Clarkes, and Sir Isaac Newtons had been “lost to the world” because they were this essay and whose research and insights were invaluable to the development of Dr. Franklin, Citizen not born into privileged circumstances. en Mecom continued, adding her Scientist. Many of the ideas presented in this essay were developed in close collaboration. own re§ection by stating, as “we know” few people are able to “beat thro all 1 Benjamin Franklin has been the subject of numerous biographies, monographs, collected essays, articles, and exhibitions. Biographical sources consulted for Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist include: I. Bernard Impedements” to education or self-improvement. In the  st century lexicon, such Cohen, Benjamin Franklin’s Science (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ƒƒ); J. A. Leo Lemay, ‡e unequal opportunities and rewards are referred to as “structural inequality.” Life of Benjamin Franklin, • vols. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ´–™); Joyce E. Chaplin, ‡e First Scienti†c American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius (New York: Basic Books, „); Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale University Press, •); and “We know.” ose two powerful words show Mecom’s self-awareness of her E. Philip Krider, “Benjamin Franklin’s Science,” in Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, ed. Page Talbott (New Haven: Yale University Press, ´), „•–ƒ“. is project is also indebted to the situation in life and gently remind Franklin of his origins. Franklin and Mecom many editors of ‡e Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ­• vols. (New Haven: Yale University Press, ƒ´­– ƒ); were born into the same working-class family. Mecom was not formally educated, of a projected ­“ volumes, ­• have been published. roughout this essay, I refer to ‡e Papers of Benjamin Franklin Digital Edition by the Packard Humanities Institute and sponsored by the American and throughout her life she remained self-conscious about her spelling and her Philosophical Society and Yale University, which includes as yet unpublished materials and is available lack of education. She married young, at age ´, and her husband never adequately at franklinpapers.org. Unless otherwise noted, the Franklin papers I refer to in the APS collection come from the APS’s extensive Benjamin Franklin Papers Collection. ese can also be found in ‡e Papers of supported the family. She worked hard to Šnancially support herself, her many Benjamin Franklin. children, and other relatives. In her old age, her brother paid for her housing. 2 e deŠnition of citizen science was informed by Rajul Pandya, Kenne A. Dibner, and the National Franklin himself had to leave school at age  and seemed destined for a life as a Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.), eds., Learning through Citizen Science: working-class man, like his father, his brothers, and other relatives. Nevertheless, Enhancing Opportunities by Design, Consensus Study Report (Washington, DC: e National Academies Press,  ™). he managed to beat through any impediments to join the elite ranks of Boyles, 3 For all “nos.” mentioned in parentheses throughout text, see the “Illustrated Checklist” that follows the Clarkes, and Newtons. Hardworking, smart, stubborn, and more than a bit lucky, essay. Franklin also enjoyed some advantage: as a white man, he was able to move 4 Benjamin Franklin, A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America, through society with more freedom than any woman or person of color. at “„™ ed. (Philadelphia, “­•), APS. For a recent history of the early APS, see Gary B. Nash, “When We fact alone gave him an advantaged access to the patronage and institutions that Were Young: e American Philosophical Society in the ™th Century,” Proceedings of the American “ Philosophical Society „•, no. (March  ƒ): –´. See also WhitŠeld J. Bell, Jr., Patriot-Improvers: promoted science. Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society, vol. , ‘’“”–‘’–— (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, ƒƒ“). How many great minds have been lost to the world because they were born into 5 Londa Schiebinger, “ScientiŠc Exchange in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World,” in Soundings in Atlantic History: Latent Structures and Intellectual Currents, ‘™šš–‘—”š, ed. Bernard Bailyn and Patricia disadvantageous circumstances? What about the Janes and Bettys of the world— L. Denault (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ƒ), ƒ­–•™; and Susan Scott Parrish, American or Franklin’s other sisters, Elizabeth, Hannah, Anne, Mary, Sarah, and Lydia? Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History in the Colonial British Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Or Deborah, frequently remembered as Franklin’s abandoned and beleaguered Press, „), „­–“„, •–™. For more on the relationship between intellectual developments in the wife? What about Jemima, Peter, King, Othello, George, Bob, and Jack, and British North American colonies and Early Republic and abroad, see Caroline Winterer, American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason (New Haven: Yale University Press,  „). other enslaved people who labored in Franklin’s households and contributed in 6 undocumented ways to Franklin’s success? History remembers the Benjamin Winterer, American Enlightenments, esp. ™–“; and Parrish, American Curiosity.

34 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 35 7 Parrish, American Curiosity, “­–•„; Kathleen S. Murphy, “Translating the Vernacular: Indigenous 19 Ellen R. Cohn, “Benjamin Franklin, Georges‐Louis le Rouge and the Franklin/Folger Chart of the and African Knowledge in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic,” Atlantic Studies ™, no. (March Gulf Stream,” Imago Mundi ´, no. (January ): ­–­; and Chaplin, First Scienti†c American,  ): ƒ–­™; Londa Schiebinger, “Agnotology and Exotic Abortifacients: e Cultural Production of ƒ„–, ™ƒ–ƒ. Ignorance in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 20 ­ƒ, no. • (September ´): • „–­•; and Londa Schiebinger, Secret Cures of Slaves: People, Plants, and Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, • „–´. Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World (Stanford: Stanford University Press,  “). 21 Benjamin Franklin, “A Letter from Dr. Benjamin Franklin, to Mr. Alphonsus Le Roy, Member of 8 Guramantee was Mather’s spelling for Coromantee, a term used to describe Akan and Twi speakers from Several Academies, at Paris. Containing Sundry Maritime Observations,” Transactions of the American modern-day Ghana on the Gold Coast of Africa. It is likely that Onesimus came from this region. Philosophical Society  ( “™„): •„. Cotton Mather to John Woodward,  July “ „, in George L. Kittredge, “Some Lost Works of Cotton 22 Benjamin Franklin, Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (Passy, “™­). Mather,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society ­´ ( ƒ – ƒ ): ­; Cotton Mather, ‡e Angel of Bethesda by Cotton Mather, ed. Gordon W. Jones (Barre, MA: American Antiquarian Society and 23 Carla Mulford, Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire (New York: Oxford University Press,  ´), • – •. Barre Publishers, ƒ“), “; [Cotton Mather], An Account of the Method and Success of Inoculating the 24 Small-Pox, in Boston in New-England (London: Printed for J. Peele, “); [Benjamin Franklin], Preface Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, esp. •–•ƒ; Michael Brian Schi¡er, Draw the Lightning Down: to William Heberden, Some Account of the Success of Inoculation for the Small-Pox in England and America. Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment (Berkeley: University of Together with Plain Instructions, By Which Any Person May Be Enabled to Perform the Operation, and California Press, •), esp. ­“–´ , „–„ƒ; Delbourgo, Most Amazing Scene, •–“­; and Krider, Conduct the Patient through the Distemper (London: Printed by W. Strahan, “´ƒ), ´; Stanley Finger, “Benjamin Franklin’s Science.” Doctor Franklin’s Medicine (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, „), ­ƒ–„´; and Margot 25 Minardi, “ e Boston Inoculation Controversy of “ – “: An Incident in the History of Race,” ‡e Benjamin Franklin, “How to Secure Houses, &c. from Lightning,” in Poor Richard Improved William and Mary Quarterly „ , no. (­): ­“–“„. (Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D. Hall, “´•). 26 9 [Joseph Breintnall], “Rattlesnake Herb,” in Poor Richard, ‘’”’ (Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Schi¡er, Draw the Lightning Down, ™ƒ–ƒ; Delbourgo, Most Amazing Scene, „™–“­; and Chaplin, First Franklin, “•“); and Martha Robinson, “New Worlds, New Medicines: Indian Remedies and English Scienti†c American, ´ƒ–„•. Medicine in Early America,” Early American Studies •, no. (Spring ´): ƒ­– . 27 Benjamin Franklin, “To All Captains and Commanders . . .” March , ““ƒ, APS. Cook died in 10 Mark Catesby, ‡e Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, rev. ed. (London: February ““ƒ before he could beneŠt from Franklin’s largesse. For biographies that speciŠcally discuss Printed for Benjamin White, ““ ), : . On the return to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, see Franklin’s use of science to become a statesman, see Chaplin, First Scienti†c American; and Morgan, Deborah McGregor, “Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Environment, and Our Future,” Benjamin Franklin. Morgan argues that Franklin saw his service as a statesman as his most important American Indian Quarterly ™, no. •–­ (­): •™´–­ ; and Will Harling and Bill Tripp, “Western contribution to the country. Klamath Restoration Partnership: A Plan for Restoring Fire Adapted Landscapes” (Klamath National 28 Ebenezer Kinnersley, “Notice is hereby given . . .” (Newport, “´), broadside, e Rosenbach; and Forest, June •,  ­). Ebenezer Kinnersley, A Course of Experiments, in that Curious and Entertaining Branch of Natural 11 James Delbourgo, A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity and Enlightenment in Early America Philosophy Called Electricity (Philadelphia: A. Armbruster, “„­). For more on Kinnersley, see J. A. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, „), „, ™•–™ƒ; and Andrew S. Curran, ‡e Anatomy of Leo Lemay, Ebenezer Kinnersley: Franklin’s Friend (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Blackness: Science and Slavery in an Age of Enlightenment (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, ƒ„­); Schi¡er, Draw the Lightning Down, ™•–™ƒ; and Delbourgo, Most Amazing Scene, ƒ„– ´. For  ). women’s participation in electrical demonstrations, see Schi¡er, Draw the Lightning Down, ™–™™; and Delbourgo, Most Amazing Scene, ƒ– ™. 12 Kathleen S. Murphy, “Collecting Slave Traders: James Petiver, Natural History, and the British Slave 29 Trade,” ‡e William and Mary Quarterly “, no. ­ ( •): „•“–“; James Delbourgo, Collecting the Delbourgo, Most Amazing Scene, „; and Schiebinger, Secret Cures of Slaves, , “. World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum (Cambridge: e Belknap Press of Harvard 30 BF to Peter Collinson, September “´•, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. In the ™th century, the term University Press,  “); and O. R. Impey and Arthur MacGregor, eds., ‡e Origins of Museums: ‡e family often encompassed all members of the household, free or enslaved. Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe (Oxford: Oxford University, ƒ™´). 31 13 Joseph Priestley, ‡e History & Present State of Electricity (London: Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall- Parrish, American Curiosity; and Chaplin, First Scienti†c American. Mall, J. Johnson and B. Davenport in Pater-noster Row, and T. Cadell in the Strand, “„“), ™. 14 David Hume to Benjamin Franklin (BF),  May “„, APS. William Franklin also sent his father observations on electrical matters when Franklin was away from Philadelphia. See, for example, William Franklin to BF,  July “´•, APS. 15 Lemay, Life of Benjamin Franklin, :••­–´„; James N. Green and Peter Stallybrass, Benjamin Franklin: 32 Writer and Printer (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, „); and Jessica C. Roney, Governed by a BF to Deborah Franklin,  June “´™, APS; and Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, •™. Spirit of Opposition: ‡e Origins of American Political Practice in Colonial Philadelphia (Baltimore: Johns 33 For recent scholarship on Deborah and Sally Franklin, see Jennifer Reed Fry, “‘Extraordinary Freedom Hopkins University Press,  ­), „ƒ–“ƒ. and Great Humility’: A Reinterpretation of Deborah Franklin,” ‡e Pennsylvania Magazine of History 16 Special thanks to Jessica Linker for sharing her research on Franklin and Breintnall’s nature printing, and Biography “, no.  (April •): „“–ƒ„; Vivian Bruce Conger, “‘ ere Is Graite Odds between A which informed this and the following paragraph. See also Jennifer L. Roberts, “ e Veins of Mans Being At Home And A Broad’: Deborah Read Franklin and the Eighteenth-Century Home,” Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin’s Nature-Print Currency,” Grey Room „ƒ ( ™): ´–“ƒ. Joseph Gender and History  , no. • (November ƒ): •ƒ–„“; and Carla J. Mulford, “Benjamin Franklin Breintnall’s two albums of nature prints are in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and Women: Or, Franklin’s Women,” Pennsylvania History ™“, no. • (Summer ): ­´­–ƒ•. For their accession nos. P. .“. and P. .“.. lives during the American Revolution, see Vivian Bruce Conger, “Reading Early American Women’s Political Lives: e Revolutionary Performances of Deborah Read Franklin and Sally Franklin 17 Special thanks to Anisha Gupta for sharing her insights on print and paper technology. Bache,” Early American Studies „, no.  ( ™): • “–´. See also Susan E. Klepp, “Benjamin Franklin and Women,” in A Companion to Benjamin Franklin, ed. David Waldstreicher (Malden, MA: Wiley- 18 Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, ­– „; and Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin: ‡e Birth of Blackwell,  ),  –••. e APS Digital Franklin Project is uncovering more information about Ingenuity (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,  ™). Deborah Franklin’s shopkeeping through the transcription, digitization, and analysis of the Franklin account books. Special thanks to Bethany Farrell and Cynthia Heider for sharing information about the Franklin ledger books, especially the Deborah-related materials.

36 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 37 34 Fry, “Extraordinary Freedom and Great Humility,” “•; Finger, Doctor Franklin’s Medicine, •–„; Susan 51 Rapport des commissaires chargés par le Roi de l’examen du magnétisme animal (Paris: Imprimerie royale, Hanket Brandt, “Marketing Medicine: Apothecary Elizabeth Weed’s Economic Independence during “™­); Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, ƒ•–•; and Robert Darnton, Mesmerism and the End of the the American Revolution,” in Women in the American Revolution: Gender, Politics, and the Domestic Enlightenment in France (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ƒ„™). World, ed. Barbara B. Oberg (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,  ƒ), „ –„´. 52 May  and June ƒ, “´ƒ, Account book of Mary Langdale Coates, “­™– ““, Library Company of 35 BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, “ July ““ , APS. It is unknown if Mecom ever sent her brother the red Philadelphia; Gary B. Nash, “Franklin and Slavery,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society dye recipe. Special thanks to Julie Fisher for sharing her research on the Folger family, particularly ´, no. ­ („): „ ™–•´; Kevin J. Hayes, “New Light on Peter and King, the Two Slaves Benjamin Abiah Folger Franklin. See Julie Fisher, “Up Biblium, the nd Edition,” APS Blog, June  ,  ƒ, Franklin Brought to England,” Notes and Queries „, no.  ( June ,  •): ´–ƒ; David Waldstreicher, https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/biblum-nd-edition; and Julie Fisher, “Peter Folger and Up Biblium,” Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution (New York: Hill and Wang, APS Blog, December ,  ™, https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/peter-folger-and-biblum. See also ­); and Mulford, “Benjamin Franklin and Women,” ­™–™­. Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: ‡e Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,  •), 53 – ƒ; and Carla Mulford, “Benjamin Franklin, Traditions of Liberalism, and Women’s Learning in See, for example, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, “At the End, an Abolitionist?” in Talbott, Benjamin Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” in “‡e Good Education of Youth”: Worlds of Learning in the Age of Franklin, “•–ƒ“; Waldstreicher, Runaway America, esp. •–•ƒ; and Nash, “Franklin and Slavery.” e Franklin, ed. John Pollack (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ƒ), – . For more on enslaved members of the Franklin household either died enslaved or disappeared from the archival Franklin’s father, see Nian-Sheng Huang, “Franklin’s Father Josiah: Life of a Colonial Boston Tallow record. Bob was still enslaved by Richard and Sally Franklin Bache when Franklin died, though Chandler, „´“– “­´,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society ƒ, no. • (): i– ´´. Franklin’s will left funds to Richard Bache with the stipulation that “in consideration thereof, he would immediately after my decease manumit and set free his negro man Bob.” See Benjamin Franklin, Will 36 BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, “ July ““ , APS; and BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, ´ October ““ƒ, APS. and Codicil, July “, “™™, APS.

37 Jane Franklin Mecom, “Receipt for Crown Soap,” ““ – “™„, APS. Franklin requested the recipe more 54 Curran, Anatomy of Blackness; Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: ‡e De†nitive History of than once between ““ and “™„. John Franklin’s wife, Elizabeth, also made and sold crown soap in Racist Ideas in America (New York: Nation Books,  „), esp. ´– •­; and Katy L. Chiles, Transformable Boston. Lepore, Book of Ages, ƒ“–ƒ™, ´“,  ; and Mulford, “Benjamin Franklin and Women,” ­„–„. Race: Surprising Metamorphoses in the Literature of Early America (New York: Oxford University Press,  ­), „´–™ƒ. 38 BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, ™ April “™„, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 55 39 James Parsons, “An Account of the White Negro Shewn before the Royal Society,” Philosophical For example, Gordon Wood called Sally “less lively and intelligent” than Polly Stevenson, to whose Transactions of the Royal Society of London ´´ ( “„´): ­„. e exhibition would have occurred between education Franklin paid attention. See Gordon S. Wood, ‡e Americanization of Benjamin Franklin “´“ and “„ when Franklin lived in London, and the hair apparently accompanied one of Deborah’s (New York: Penguin Press, ­), •. For more on how Sally has been treated in the historiography of missing letters from these years. Franklin, see Klepp, “Benjamin Franklin and Women.” 56 40 Curran, Anatomy of Blackness, ƒ– “; Ilona Katzew, “White or Black? Albinism and Spotted Blacks Jane Franklin Mecom to BF, ƒ May “™„, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World,” in Envisioning Others: Race, Color, and the Visual in Iberia and Latin America, ed. Pamela A. Patton (Boston: Brill,  „). 41 Jonathan Williams, Jr. to BF, „ December “™´, APS. 57 John Morgan, “Some Account of a Motley Coloured, or Pye Negro Girl and Mulatto Boy, Exhibited 42 Jonathan Williams, Jr. to BF, ´ April “™„, APS. See also “Jonathan will be glad to assist you (for the before the Society in the Month of May, “™­ for eir Examination, by Dr. John Morgan, from Instruction’s sake),” BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, “ October “™´, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. the History Given of em by eir Owner Mons. Le Vallois, Dentist of the King of France at 43 Jane Franklin Mecom to BF, ƒ May “™„, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Guadaloupe in the West Indies,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society  ( “™„): •ƒ–ƒ´. e APS Minutes for May ´, “™„ mentions, “Two papers one giving an account and description of a living 44 Jane Franklin Mecom, “Receipt for Crown Soap,” [ “™„– “ƒ­], Franklin-Bache Papers, APS. snake in the eye of a living horse the other describing two spotted Negroe children were presented 45 by Dr. Morgan and read.” According to the Minutes, a paper on the subject was read by Morgan. Mulford, “Benjamin Franklin, Traditions of Liberalism,” ­; Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, “ –“; It is unclear from this notation if the children were physically present at the meeting when the and WhitŠeld J. Bell, “‘All Clear Sunshine’: New Letters of Franklin and Mary Stevenson Hewson,” paper was read aloud, though it is possible. See American Philosophical Society, Minutes, ““­– “™“, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society , no. „ ( ƒ´„): ´ –•„. APS Archives. e reason for the discrepancy is unclear. Morgan’s account was re-printed in other 46 Polly Stevenson to BF, „ June “„, James S. and Frances M. Bradford Collection, APS. publications, including ‡e Annual Register (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, “™“): ´•–´´; American Museum • (Philadelphia, “™™): •“–•ƒ; and ‡e New Lady’s Magazine (London, September “ƒ): ­­•–­´. 47 BF to Polly Stevenson, June “„. Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Also in Benjamin Franklin, Experiments For more on this meeting and publication, see Chiles, Transformable Race, ™•, “ƒ–™, ƒ–ƒ , fn. ™; and Observations on Electricity Made in Philadelphia in America, ­th ed. (London, “„ƒ), ­­™. on the APS’s discussions and publications on the subject of human di¡erence, see ibid., „™–“•, “„–““, ™•–™´, ƒ–ƒ•. 48 Polly Stevenson to BF, • June “„, James S. and Frances M. Bradford Collection, APS. 58 Chaplin, First Scienti†c American, • „– “; and Chiles, Transformable Race, ™•. 49 BF to Madame Helvétius, [October ““™?], Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 59 50 Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c. (Boston: Claude-Anne Lopez, Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris (New Haven: Yale University S. Kneeland, “´´), „. is pamphlet was as an addendum to [William Clarke], Observations On the Press, ƒƒ); Bruce Gustafson, “ e Music of Madame Brillon: A UniŠed Manuscript Collection from Late and Present Conduct of the French, with Regard to ‡eir Encroachments upon the British Colonies in Benjamin Franklin’s Circle,” Notes ­•, no. • (March ƒ™“): ´–­•; Dorothy Medlin, “Benjamin Franklin’s North America. Bagatelles for Madame Helvétius: Some Biographical and Stylistic Considerations,” Early American Literature ´, no. (March ƒ™): ­–´™; A. Owen Aldridge, “Feeling or Fooling in Benjamin Franklin’s 60 Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, ­– ´. ‘ e Elysian Fields,’” Early American Literature •ƒ, no. (March ­):  –™; Cassandra T. Eagle 61 and Jennifer Sloan, “Marie Anne Paulze Lavoisier: e Mother of Modern Chemistry,” ‡e Chemical Mulford, Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire, ´–„„. For more on how contemporary discourse Educator •, no. ´ (October ƒƒ™): – ™; Susan M. Stabile, “Salons and Power in the Era of the Revolution: regarding human di¡erences a¡ected Franklin’s other writings, see also Chiles, Transformable Race, „´–™ƒ. From Literary Coteries to Epistolary Enlightenment,” in Benjamin Franklin and Women, ed. Larry E. 62 Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, &c. (Boston: Tise (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, ), ƒ–­™; and Carla Mulford, “Franklin, B. Mecom, “„), ´­. is was published as an addendum to ‡e Interest of Great Britain considered with Women, and American Cultural Myths,” in Tise, Benjamin Franklin and Women, •–™. regard to Her Colonies and the Acquisitions of Canada and Guadaloupe.

38 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ESSAY 39 63 Mulford, Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire, „„; and Lapsansky-Werner, “At the End, an Abolitionist?” 64 BF to John Waring, • January “´™, APS. John C. Van Horne, “ e Education of African Americans in A Benjam Frkl imelne Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia,” in Pollack, “‡e Good Education of Youth,” “–ƒƒ.

65 Extract of a Letter from Mrs. Franklin in Philadelphia, to B.F. in London, dated Aug. ƒ. “´ƒ, Papers of Benjamin Franklin; Van Horne, “Education of African Americans”; and Pollack, “‡e Good Education of 1706 1718 1723 1724 Youth,” ­–­•. Born to Josiah and Apprenticed to brother Ran away to Traveled to London and 66 BF to John Waring, “ December “„•, APS. Abiah Folger Franklin James, a printer Philadelphia worked in a print shop 67 Lapsansky-Werner, “At the End, an Abolitionist?”; Van Horne, “Education of African Americans,” ™„–™“; Waldstreicher, Runaway America; and Nash, “Franklin and Slavery.” in Boston

68 Pollack, “Good Education of Youth”; Simon P. Newman, “Benjamin Franklin and the Leather-Apron Men: e Politics of Class in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” Journal of American Studies ­•, no.  (August ƒ): „ –“´; Roney, Governed by a Spirit of Opposition, „ƒ–“ƒ, ƒ – •; and Paul Kahan, 1728–1748 1730 1743 1751 Eastern State Penitentiary: A History (Charleston, SC: History Press, ™), „. For recent histories of the early APS, see Linda Greenhouse, “Dinner with Ben Franklin: e Origins of the American Operated a print shop Entered into common- Founded the American Achieved international Philosophical Society,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society „•, no. (March  ƒ): –ƒ; and Nash, “When We Were Young.” in Philadelphia law marriage with Philosophical Society fame with the Deborah Read with Philadelphia London publication 69 Franklin, Will and Codicil. botanist John Bartram of his Experiments 70 BF to Jane Franklin Mecom, ­ July “™„, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. and Observations on 71 Jane Franklin Mecom to BF,  July “™„, Franklin-Bache Papers, APS. See also Lepore, Book of Ages, Electricity  – •,  „– ™.

72 For more on Jane Franklin Mecom and her relationship with her brother, see Lepore, Book of Ages.

1751–1764 1757–1762 1759 1764–1775 Elected member of the Represented the colony Received an honorary Represented Pennsylvania Assembly of Pennsylvania in doctorate from the Pennsylvania in London University of St. London, again Andrews and referred to hereafter as Dr. Franklin

1768 1774 1776 e American Philosophical Society merged with the Deborah Read Franklin Helped write the American Society for Promoting Useful Knowledge died on December ƒ Declaration of to become the American Philosophical Society Held Independence at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge (APS), and Franklin was elected President

1777–1785 1787 1790 Served as Minister to Served as Member of Died on April “ France for the United the U.S. Constitutional in Philadelphia States and lived in Convention in Passy, near Paris Philadelphia

40 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST TIMELINE 41 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706–1790) dedicated himself to research, invention, and sharing knowledge for the “benefit of mankind in Illustrated Checklist general.” Franklin believed that all people could and should engage with science, and that science could transform society for the better. For these reasons, Franklin was America’s first citizen scientist. Franklin’s working-class origins and self-education distinguished him from other elite scientists, known in the 18th century as natural philosophers. He recognized that science could take many forms and that all people could produce useful knowledge, including the soapmakers and sailors in his family. The knowledge and labor of diverse people enabled his success. As a citizen scientist, Franklin created institutions that used “FOR THERE IS NO RANK IN NATURAL KNOWLEDGE science to benefit and educate others. However, he participated in a OF EQUAL DIGNITY AND IMPORTANCE WITH THAT system of knowledge production that often reinforced and produced inequality. The American Philosophical Society (APS), an institution OF BEING A GOOD PARENT, A GOOD CHILD, founded by Franklin in 1743 for promoting useful knowledge, invites A GOOD HUSBAND, OR WIFE, A GOOD NEIGHBOUR you to reflect on Franklin’s legacy as a citizen scientist. OR FRIEND, A GOOD SUBJECT OR CITIZEN” HOW CAN YOU CONTINUE AND IMPROVE FRANKLIN’S MISSION? –B. Franklin, 1760

42 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 43 Known fi rst as a scientist and later as a statesman, Franklin came to represent the self-made American. Images of the celebrated citizen scientist were shared all over the world as his fame grew. The objects shown here include only a small selection of 18th-century representations and relics of 2 Franklin. As he wrote to his daughter Sally, the medallions as well as “the pictures, busts, and prints, (of which copies upon copies are spread every where) have made your father’s face 1 as well known as that of the moon.”

1 6 PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN PROFILE SKETCH OF FRANKLIN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 3 Isidoro Bianchi Benjamin Franklin Bache Paris, c. “™s Philadelphia, unknown date Electrical printing on silk Ink on paper Franklin-Bache Papers, APS. Franklin-Bache Papers, APS.

2 7 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S TOOTH, BUST OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PRESERVED AS RELIC Unknown artist “ƒ After “““ 5 Tooth, gold, and paper Marble APS,  .. Gift of Jean Starr APS, ƒ. . Gift at the bequest and Allen Pergrin,  . of B. Franklin Kahn, ™.

3 8 MINIATURE PORTRAIT OF PORTRAIT MEDALLION BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Jean-Baptiste Nini Unknown artist, after Paris, “““ Mason Chamberlin Terra-cotta 4 After “„ APS,  .C.•„. Gift at the Watercolor on ivory bequest of Francis Sergeant APS, ´™.P.“™. Childs, ƒ™ƒ.

4 9 AU GENIE DE FRANKLIN BASRELIEF PORTRAIT OF Marguerite Gérard after BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Jean-Honoré Fragonard Isaac Gosset Paris, ““™ London, “„„ Etching Beeswax APS. APS, „.S. . Gift of Frances Margaret Bradford, ƒ„. 5 BASRELIEF PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN James Tassie, after Isaac Gosset

London, after ““­ 8 Blue jasperware APS, ƒ.´. Gift at the bequest of B. Franklin Kahn, ™. 6 7 9

44 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 45 Trsltic Cu
ents  Knowledge In the ™th century, London was the scientiŠc center of the British Empire. Colonists who desired to be taken seriously as scientists sought the recognition of London’s elite individuals and institutions. ey sent letters describing their environment along with specimens—objects of scientiŠc interest such as plants and animals—to contacts in England. Colonists imported books and scientiŠc instruments to support their in- vestigations. However, Europeans valued colonial North America more for its natural resources than for the talents of the people who lived there. e trade of enslaved Africans directly and indirectly sustained this network of scientiŠc exchange.

Franklin participated in this transatlantic exchange of knowledge with great success. From Philadelphia, he built a network with connections on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As the Šrst American-born colonist to receive international praise for his research, Franklin ensured recognition for American science.

This painting of Philadelphia’s favorite citizen was one of two 10 copies made of a 1766 original, which was publicly exhibited PORTRAIT OF DR. FRANKLIN in London. The first copy hung in Franklin’s Philadelphia Charles Willson Peale, after David Martin home. This one was gi‰ed to the APS. Franklin appears as Philadelphia, ““ the ideal natural philosopher working in his study, watched Oil on canvas over by a bust of his role model, the English scientist Sir APS, ´™.P. . Gift of Charles FIGURE 8 Isaac Newton. The artist celebrates Franklin’s intelligence Willson Peale, “™´. EAST PROSPECT OF THE and practical skills by illuminating both his head and hands CITY OF PHILADELPHIA in equally bright light. Franklin’s fine clothing, wig, and pose George Heap mark him as a privileged gentleman, worlds away from the “„ modest circumstances of his youth. Colored engraving APS.

46 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 47 “FROM A CHILD I WAS FOND OF READING, AND ALL THE LITTLE MONEY THAT CAME INTO MY HANDS WAS EVER LAID OUT IN BOOKS.” –B. Frkl

Reading was an important part of Franklin’s self-education 15 18 and scientific practice. These books from his library reveal PHILOSOPHICAL A COURSE OF EXPERIMENTAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHY, VOL. Ž some of his interests. Franklin read everything from French ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON J. T. Desaguliers scientific journals, to Latin texts on water, to popular English Royal Society of London London, “­­ almanacs. London, “´• Bound volume Bound volume APS. LEFT TO RIGHT APS. 11 13 16 19 HISTOIRE NATURELLE, VOL. Œ THE PHILOSOPHY OF HYDRODYNAMICA MAGNALIA CHRISTI Georges-Louis Leclerc, EARTHQUAKES Daniel Bernoulli AMERICANA; OR, THE Comte de Bu¡on William Stukeley ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY Strasbourg, “•™ OF NEWENGLAND Paris, ““™ London, “´„ Bound volume Cotton Mather Bound volume Bound volume APS. Gift of John G. Biddle, This was Franklin’s personal copy of Robert Boyle’s writings. 20 APS. Gift of Georges-Louis APS. ™ “. London, “ Boyle founded the Royal Society of London, the British Em- THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS, Leclerc, Comte de Bu¡on. Bound volume VOL. Ž APS. pire’s premier scientific institution. Franklin sought recogni- 12 14 17 Robert Boyle, compiled by tion from the Society and followed the natural philosopher’s OPTICKS SELECTION OF ALMANACKS HISTOIRE DE L'ACADÉMIE Peter Shaw FOR THE YEAR Ž‘’­ ROYALE DES SCIENCES example by studying many topics, including those listed on Sir Isaac Newton London, “•™ London, “ Compiled by Benjamin Académie Royale des Sciences this title page. Bound volume Bound volume Franklin Paris, “™ APS. APS. London, c. “„ Bound volume Bound volume APS. Gift of Benjamin APS. Franklin.

48 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 49 PATRONIZING SCIENCE

Young Franklin sought patrons to support his early scientiŠc work. Patrons enabled scientists to conduct and publish their research by providing money, supplies, and access to scientiŠc networks. Institutions such as the Royal Society of London and the French Royal Academy of Sciences were patrons for the advancement of knowledge. Wealthy individuals acted for personal glory, as they would be celebrated in resulting publications. is system favored educated, white men who could work within business and political networks to meet sponsors. ose who lacked connections due to their social status, including most women, men of the working classes, enslaved people, and Indigenous peoples, produced useful knowledge without support or recognition.

21 This book illustrates 22 ABOVE 23 RIGHT PETIVER’S WORKS how European scientists MEDICINA BRITANNICA FRANKLINIA ALATAMAHA James Petiver understood Indigenous- omas Short (author), William Bartram John Bartram (commentator), London, „ƒ´– “ ­ made objects as natural Philadelphia, after “““ Bound volume of multiple texts Benjamin Franklin (printer) Hand-colored engraving specimens. A Carolina pipe APS. Gift of Colonel Robert Philadelphia, “´ Violetta DelaŠeld-Benjamin Carr, ™´ . made by the Westo people Bound volume Smith Barton Collection, APS. appears among insects APS. and plants. John Bartram, The original edition of Botanist William Bartram Franklin’s colleague, this household manual named this North American received this book from Sir advised on the medicinal flowering shrub in honor Hans Sloane, founder of the uses of England’s plants. of Franklin, the Bartram British Museum. Philadelphia botanist family’s friend and patron. John Bartram adapted Bartram was the first this book for colonial scientist of European readers. He added italicized descent to describe the notes on finding English plant, which he grew in plants in North America his family’s Philadelphia and described local garden. substitutions. The owner of this volume preserved a plant specimen between the pages.

50 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 51 24 Supported by English and THE NATURAL HISTORY OF colonial patrons, British CAROLINA, FLORIDA, AND THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, VOL. – naturalist Mark Catesby traveled to North America Mark Catesby to study nature. European London, ““ Bound volume scientists were interested APS. in indigenous species like bison, which Catesby illustrated here. Franklin purchased a copy of this book for his Philadelphia colleagues.

In the text, Catesby complained that “Indians had burned the woods,” which prevented him from collecting the plant illustrated with the bison. What Catesby described as a “great disappointment” was an Indigenous land management practice that helped maintain Carolina’s ecosystem.

Today, as climate change and settlement patterns threaten plant and animal populations and produce more frequent and destructive wildfires, some environmental scientists advocate for a return to the traditional ecological practice of controlled burning. Indigenous peoples have always produced useful knowledge, though European and U.S. authorities o‰en failed to recognize their scientific contributions.

52 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 53 26 OPPOSITE LETTER TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN David Hume Edinburgh, May , “„ Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Papers, APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­. Franklin’s successful electrical experiments and visit to Britain helped change perceptions of North America’s potential. As Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote to Franklin, “America has sent us many good things, Gold, Silver, Sugar, Tobacco, Indigo &c. But you are the first Philosopher.”

25 In this letter to the New York naturalist Cadwallader Colden, DRAFT OF A LETTER TO Franklin mentions that their mutual patron, Peter Collinson, CADWALLADER COLDEN was sharing their scientific writings in London. Letters such Benjamin Franklin as this sustained 18th-century scientific communities. Philadelphia, August „, “­“ Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Papers, APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­.

54 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 55 “AS WE ENJOY GREAT ADVANTAGES FROM THE INVENTIONS Useful Knowledge  Making OF OTHERS, WE SHOULD BE GLAD OF AN OPPORTUNITY As a citizen scientist, Franklin was committed to being useful to TO SERVE OTHERS BY ANY INVENTION OF OURS, others and freely shared his inventions and ideas. He addressed AND THIS WE SHOULD DO FREELY AND GENEROUSLY” some of society’s most pressing issues, from maritime navigation and counterfeit currency, to smallpox epidemics and destructive electrical storms. Franklin approached scientiŠc challenges by –B. Frkl drawing on both his theoretical knowledge and practical experi- ences. He turned any available space into a laboratory, including homes, workshops, and ships. Careful observation and controlled experimentation characterized Franklin’s scientiŠc practice. SCIENTIFIC TYPE Remembered as a singular genius, Franklin recognized that all At age , Benjamin Franklin became an apprentice people could produce useful knowledge and worked closely with to his brother, James, from whom he learned the family, friends, and enslaved printing trade. His time working in a print shop gave members of his household. Franklin a lifelong appreciation for the knowledge of tradespeople. e printed texts he worked with Operating within a society that exposed him to new worlds and ideas. In “™ he privileged knowledge produced established a print shop in Philadelphia, through by elite white men, many of which he made in§uential connections. Mastering and later experimenting with print technology, Franklin’s collaborators and Franklin recognized the power of words and images sources went uncredited. to share knowledge with many audiences. Retiring as a printer in “­™, the citizen scientist nevertheless continued to use print to shape society.

FIGURE 9 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 27 Fi‰een-year-old Benjamin DRAWING ELECTRICITY ENGLISH LIBERTIES Franklin likely performed FROM THE SKY Henry Care (author), the manual labor of printing After Benjamin West James Franklin (printer) this book in his brother’s Unknown date Boston, “ Boston print shop. Franklin’s Lithograph Bound volume APS. APS. apprenticeship gave him access to books on various subjects, including politics and science.

56 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 57 28 “BATCHELORSHALL” George Webb (author), Benjamin Franklin (printer) Philadelphia, “• Letterpress APS.

George Webb and Franklin were part of a men’s club that socialized at Batchelors Hall, north of Philadelphia. Franklin privately printed this poem for its members. He designed the publication to highlight his superior skills and build his local network early in his career.

29 30 OPPOSITE STENCIL SET PRINT OF LEAVES, FEATHER, Jean Gabriel Bery AND FABRIC Paris, c. “™ – “™ Joseph Breintnall Walnut and brass Philadelphia, “• – “­­ APS, ´™.­™. Ink impression on paper e Library Company of Philadelphia. Franklin maintained a lifelong interest in print technology and font design. In support of his botanical He ordered this stencil set studies, Philadelphia while living in France in naturalist Joseph Breintnall the 1780s. The nearly 400 recorded the physical stencils include alphabets characteristics of leaves in nine distinct fonts, a using printed impressions. nameplate, and decorative He also experimented with elements. printing feathers and fabric. Breintnall later expanded the applications of this technology with his friend Franklin.

58 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 59 31 Breintnall wrote an essay RATTLESNAKE HERB on the medicinal uses of Joseph Breintnall the rattlesnake herb, and Philadelphia, June “, “•„ illustrated the plant on the Ink impression on paper back using his nature print Du Simitiere Collection, e Library Company of method. He acknowledged Philadelphia. that the information came 32 Franklin edited and published Breintnall’s essay in Poor “RATTLESNAKE HERB,” POOR Richard’s Almanack, an inexpensive annual collection of from Indigenous peoples, RICHARD’S ALMANACK, Ž‘ ‘ though he did not credit useful knowledge. To help readers identify the rattlesnake Joseph Breintnall and herb, they invented a new printing technology. They specifi c sources. Benjamin Franklin illustrated the essay by adapting Breintnall’s nature print Philadelphia, “•„ Bound volume method to mass print leaves. APS.

60 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 61 Franklin realized his and 38 Breintnall’s nature-printing PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL invention could be useful William and omas Bradford against counterfeiting Philadelphia, December ™, ““­ because the unique Letterpress patterns of leaves and APS. fabrics were not easily reproduced. Franklin started printing currency Franklin understood the using this technology power of images. In 1754, in 1739 for the colonial he designed a political government. Franklin’s cartoon using the image associates continued the of the North American practice a‰er his retirement rattlesnake. It rallied British from printing. colonists against the French. Other printers repurposed 33–34 TOP the famous image in 1774 to PENNSYLVANIA CURRENCY unite colonists against the Benjamin Franklin and British. David Hall Philadelphia, “´ƒ and “„­ Stereotype and letterpress Duane Family Collection, APS. Gift of Morris Duane, ƒ´“– ƒ™.

35 CENTER FOUR DOLLARS, MARYLAND Anne Catherine Green and Frederick Green Annapolis, April , ““­ Stereotype and letterpress Samuel Breck Collection, APS. Gift of Samuel Breck, ™´„. FIGURE 10 36 BOTTOM LEFT “JOIN, OR DIE,” THE EIGHTY DOLLARS, U.S. PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE, David Hall and William Sellers Benjamin Franklin Philadelphia, January ­, ““ƒ May ƒ, “´­ Stereotype and letterpress Library of Congress. Samuel Breck Collection, APS. is is Franklin’s original Gift of Samuel Breck, ™´„. cartoon.

37 BOTTOM RIGHT COUNTERFEIT EIGHTY DOLLARS, U.S. Unknown maker After January ­, ““ƒ Engraving and letterpress Samuel Breck Collection, APS. Gift of Samuel Breck, ™´„.

62 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 63 39 BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON INDEPENDENT CHRONICLE Benjamin Franklin Growing up near Boston Harbor with seafaring Passy, [March , “™] relatives, Franklin showed interest in the sea from Letterpress APS. his youth. Crossing the Atlantic as a political o°cial, Franklin used his time at sea to study the ocean. As a citizen scientist, he desired to improve the speed and Knowing the power of print safety of sea travel, knowing that maritime science to shape public opinion, had political and economic consequences. rough 40 Franklin anonymously CHART OF THE GULF STREAM published this hoax his experiments and observations, Franklin came to Benjamin Franklin and newspaper in France appreciate the relationship between water and air, Timothy Folger, APS and circulated it to the leading him to speculate on climate. His publications Philadelphia, “™„ Engraving from bound volume British press. He hoped on these topics late in his life reveal that his passion APS. the fictitious article about for the sea never wavered. the British and their Seneca allies, in which he exploited racist stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, would influence the peace negotiations in favor of the United States following the American Revolution.

Careful readers picked up on clues that this paper was a hoax created by Franklin. He used fonts made especially for his press in France, which were distinct from those used by the real Independent Chronicle. Some readers recognized his satirical voice from his other writings. Today, as in the 18th century, media literacy skills are essential for people to evaluate a news source and acknowledge biases. Timothy Folger and his cousin, Franklin, were the first to chart the Gulf Stream in 1768. Understood by sailors like Folger but unfamiliar to officials, this warm current impacted transatlantic travel. The first American chart appeared in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.

64 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 65 41 ABOVE In the Transactions, Franklin described inventions and “MARITIME OBSERVATIONS” improvements to boating practices, illustrated here. He based Benjamin Franklin, APS some of his designs on technologies developed by Pacific Philadelphia, “™„ Islanders and Native Americans, who he nevertheless called Bound volume “savages.” APS.

42 LEFT Using a similar cane, Franklin publicly demonstrated oil’s CANE WITH OIL RESERVOIR ability to still waves. He poured oil, hidden in the cane’s Unknown maker handle, onto bodies of water. Franklin read about this Probably ™th century phenomenon as a child, observed it at sea, and confirmed it Bamboo, staghorn or bone, and repeatedly through experiment. metal APS, ƒ.­. Gift of H. H. Harjes, ƒ ´. 43 Franklin and his colleagues debated the cause of WATERSPOUT, EXPERIMENTS waterspouts. He correctly theorized that water is pulled AND OBSERVATIONS ON ELECTRICITY, —TH ED. upward into a swirling tower, illustrated here. Others incorrectly believed that waterspouts pulled water downward Benjamin Franklin from the sky. London, “„ƒ Bound volume APS. Gift of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

66 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 67 44 45 METEOROLOGICAL PASSPORT FOR CAPTAIN IMAGINATIONS AND JAMES COOK CONJECTURES Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Passy, March , ““ƒ Passy, c. “™­ Ink on paper Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Archives, APS. Miscellaneous Collection, APS.

Following a particularly Franklin believed war cold summer and “severe” should not interrupt winter in 1783, Franklin science, as new knowledge wrote this theory about improved “the common climate. Franklin was one of Enjoyments of human many 18th-century scientists life.” During the American who theorized about the Revolution, Franklin wrote relationship between air, this passport for the English water, and global climate. explorer James Cook, granting him protection from American ships during Franklin advocated for his scientific voyage. international cooperation to study weather and water temperatures around the earth to help people “take such measures as are possible and practicable to secure themselves” from the “mischiefs” of weather. His concern for global air circulation is shared by climate scientists today.

68 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 69 EXPERIENCING ELECTRICITY 48 BATTERY OF LEYDEN JARS Unknown maker Franklin’s interest in electricity began in “­´ when After “­„ the Library Company of Philadelphia received Glass, metal, and wood APS, ´™.•„. Gift of Joseph electrical equipment and descriptions of experi- Hopkinson, ™•„. ments from its London patron, Peter Collinson. e Library Company, founded in “• by Franklin and Electricians stored static electricity in metal-coated his fellow tradesmen to increase access to knowledge, glass containers called gave Franklin the space and tools to perform his Leyden jars. Franklin was Šrst electrical experiments. So began an obsession first to correctly theorize with a topic that had already taken Europe by storm. how they worked. He Franklin developed new theories and inventions, invented a method of working around the city and out of his home. e connecting multiple international publication of his electrical writings jars into a “battery.” It discharged the jars together, made him a celebrity and led to important political allowing for more powerful appointments. applications of electricity.

46 Eighteenth-century GLASS TUBE FOR ELECTRICAL electrical researchers, 49 EXPERIMENTS called “electricians,” LETTER TO BENJAMIN Wistarburgh Glass House generated static electricity FRANKLIN Salem County, New Jersey, by rubbing glass tubes with Peter Collinson c. “­„ London, February ´, “´ Glass various materials. They used Ink on paper APS, ´™.•™. the charged tube to study Benjamin Franklin Papers, the electrical properties of APS. Gift of Charles attraction and repulsion. Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­.

Franklin communicated

47 Gentleman’s Magazine his experiments and “EXPERIMENTS ON published this article observations on electricity ELECTRICITY” summarizing important in a series of letters to Peter Albrecht von Haller (author), European electrical Collinson, a merchant, Edward Cave (publisher) experiments. English botanist, and patron to London, March “­´ Bound volume scientist Peter Collinson many colonial scientists. APS. sent a copy of it, along with Impressed with Franklin’s a glass tube, to the Library work, Collinson told him Company of Philadelphia in this letter of plans to in 1745. These gi‰s sparked publish the correspondence Franklin’s interest in in London. electricity.

70 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 71 50 EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON ELECTRICITY, ŽST ED. Benjamin Franklin (author), Peter Collinson (editor) London, “´ Bound volume APS.

This book established Franklin’s reputation as an important electrician. It included Franklin’s letters to Collinson describing new electrical experiments in a way that invited others to repeat them. When they replicated Franklin’s results, Europeans were forced to take colonial scientists seriously.

51 EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS ON ELECTRICITY, ŒTH ED. Benjamin Franklin (author and editor) London, ““­ Bound volume APS. Gift of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 52 FIGURE 11 “HOW TO SECURE HOUSES, TOP PORTION OF High demand for &C. FROM LIGHTNING,” POOR LIGHTNING ROD Franklin’s Experiments RICHARD’S ALMANACK, Ž‘Œ and Observations led to c. “´„ Benjamin Franklin e Franklin Institute, five English editions and Philadelphia, “´ Philadelphia, PA. translations in French, Bound volume Photo: Peter Harholdt. German, Italian, and Latin APS. in his lifetime. Franklin added writings to the fourth Franklin invented the lightning rod to protect buildings from and fi‰h English editions fires caused by lightning strikes. The rod redirected the bolt’s reflecting his other scientific charge into the ground. He described this useful invention interests. here to benefit the broadest audience possible.

72 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 73 53 55 HISTORY & PRESENT STATE OF PROPOSED ELECTRICAL ELECTRICITY EXPERIMENTS ON THE Joseph Priestley TORPEDO FISH London, “„“ Benjamin Franklin Bound volume London, August , ““ APS. Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Franklin encouraged the Miscellaneous Collection, APS. chemist Joseph Priestley to write this history of Torpedo fish confused electrical research. It scientists with their ability included the first complete to numb people with a description of Franklin’s shock. Franklin devised famous 1752 kite and experiments, described key experiment, which here, to determine whether confirmed the ancient the animals had electrical theory that lightning and properties. Shockingly, they electricity are “of the same do, as Franklin’s colleagues nature.” later proved.

54 ESSAI SUR L'ELECTRICITÉ Abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet Paris, “­„ Bound volume APS.

French scientist Abbé Nollet wrote about electricity in this book. Franklin’s theories later challenged Nollet’s work, leading to a rivalry. Franklin never answered Nollet’s criticisms directly, allowing friends to defend him.

74 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 75 56 58 LETTER ON THE CURE OF L'EXPÉRIENCE SUR RHEUMATISM L'ELECTRICITÉ Benjamin Franklin Mme. Veuve Turgis after London, c. ““• Charles-Amédée-Philippe Van Ink on paper Loo Benjamin Franklin Papers, Paris, After “““ APS. Gift of Charles Hand-colored engraving Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­. APS.

A‰er electrifying their own bodies—accidentally or In this public spectacle, a man electrifies a woman. She intentionally—during experimentation, Franklin and others holds a rod that will painfully shock the Black youth for the wondered about medical applications of electricity. In entertainment of the elite audience. Such scientific practices this dra‰ of a letter, Franklin questioned an unidentified reinforced unequal social relationships based on gender, electrician on his attempt to cure rheumatism, a type of race, and class. arthritis.

57 L’ANTIMAGNÉTISME Jean-Jacques Paulet Paris, “™­ Bound volume APS.

59 ADVERTISEMENT FOR Franz Mesmer, criticized PUBLIC ELECTRICAL in this book, claimed DEMONSTRATIONS healing powers through Ebenezer Kinnersley (author), manipulation of a bodily Ann and James Franklin magnetic fluid, similar to (printers) electricity. The exaggerated Newport, March „, “´ Letterpress illustration, shown here, A“´n, e Rosenbach, mocked Mesmer’s medical Philadelphia. performances. King Louis XVI of France requested that Franklin investigate Electricians demonstrated the science of electricity for Mesmer. Franklin concluded public entertainment and education, as well as profit. that the power of suggestion Ebenezer Kinnersley toured the colonies performing was responsible for experiments designed with his friend and collaborator, Mesmer’s results. Franklin. Audiences from Boston to the West Indies saw the experiments advertised here.

76 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 77 FIGURE 15 Thunder house exper- THUNDER HOUSE FIGURE 12 “I erected an iron rod to iments demonstrated REPRODUCTION OF draw the lightning down Rev. John Prince how lightning rods safely FRANKLIN’S BELLS into my house, in order to “™ƒ conducted electricity Tin, mahogany, brass Courtesy of e Franklin and protected buildings. make some experiments Courtesy Harvard Institute. on it, with two bells to University Collection Here, a house with a give notice when the rod of Historical ScientiŠ c rounded lightning rod, Instruments. should be electrify’d.” designed by one of Franklin’s rivals, explodes. — B. Franklin to Franklin’s pointed Peter Collinson, lightning rod saves September 1753 a house nearby.

FIGURE 13 DETAIL OF CORK BALLS FIG. VII Illustration from Experiments and Observations, ´th ed. ““ Engraving APS. FIGURE 14 PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN “Two large cork balls, Mason Chamberlin suspended by silk strings, “„ and both well and equally Oil on canvas electrifi ed, separate to Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. a great distance . . . the Wharton Sinkler, ƒ´„, electric fl uid is attracted ƒ´„-™™- . strongly by all other matter that we know of, while the parts of that fl uid mutually is portrait represents Benjamin Franklin as “ the Painter has had a Print done from it . . . I FIGURE 16 Franklin exchanged repel each other.” LETTER TO notes about electrical an American scientist. See how he is dressed have taken a Dozen of them to send to Boston WILLIAM FRANKLIN — B. Franklin to observations and theories plainly in a simple setting, while performing . . . to visit my Friends there, I hope a long Visit July •, “´• Ebenezer Kinnersley, with friends and family. electrical experiments? He sent printed copies in this Shape will not be disagreable to them.” Ink on paper February 20, 1762 APS. of this portrait to friends and family. — B. Franklin to Jonathan Williams, February †‡, ˆ‰Š‡

78 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 79 60 SCIENTIFIC HOMES COPLEY MEDAL ENGRAVING Royal Society of London London, “´• Franklin’s citizen science began in the home, where Bound manuscript and diverse people produced and exchanged useful engraving Address of Earl of MacclesŠ eld knowledge. Household and trade sciences, often to Royal Society, APS. Gift of dismissed as the labor of women and tradespeople, A.D. Bache, ™™. shaped Franklin’s scientiŠ c practice even after he 62 DESCRIZIONE DELLA STUFA entered elite circles. His parents operated a soap- DI PENSILVANIA Franklin’s electrical and candle-making business from their Boston Benjamin Franklin experiments won him praise residence. His mother-in-law, Sarah White Read, Venice, “ƒ from the most important Bound volume scientifi c institution in the made medicines in their Philadelphia home where APS. British Empire. In 1753, the he and Deborah ran a press. All of these sciences As Pennsylvania fi rewood supplies declined, Franklin Royal Society of London turned his homes into laboratories and inspired his invented a stove that used less wood to warm homes. He awarded Franklin its inventions. Franklin used his London and Paris resi- continued to improve his 1739–1740 design based on theories prestigious Copley Medal, dences as scientiŠ c gathering places. e members of of air circulation. It attracted international interest, as this illustrated here. Three years the Franklin households, including enslaved people, later Italian publication suggests. later he was elected to enabled his success. membership. 61 HARVARD DIPLOMA BOX Unknown maker Boston, “´• Tin and paint APS, ™­. . Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­.

Colonial institutions celebrated Franklin’s scientifi c achievements. Harvard awarded him its fi rst honorary degree for “considerable improvements in Learning.” Franklin received several honorary degrees—meaningful recognition for a man whose formal education ended at age 10.

FPO

silo diploma/ribbon FIGURE 17 DIPLOMA OF MASTER OF ARTS HARVARD

“´• Ink on parchment Benjamin Franklin Diplomas Collection, APS. Gift of Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­.

80 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 81 63 OPPOSITE PORTRAIT OF DEBORAH READ FRANKLIN Benjamin Wilson, after unknown artist London, c. “´™– “´ƒ Oil on canvas APS, ´™.P.­­.

This is the only surviving portrait of Deborah Franklin. Deborah helped manage the Franklin businesses and household. During Franklin’s absences from Philadelphia, she became part of his scientific network, sending him information and specimens. Acknowledging her importance in his life, Franklin displayed her likeness in his London home.

64 Franklin attached a lightning rod to his home so that he LETTER TO DEBORAH and members of his household could catch lightning for FRANKLIN his experiments. Connected bells rang when the rod was Benjamin Franklin electrified. Here, at Deborah’s request, Franklin explained London, June , “´™ how to silence them. Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Papers, APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­.

82 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 83 65 66 MINUTES OF THE APS MINIATURE CHESS SET APS Unknown maker A‰er closely observing Philadelphia, September ™, ™th century “™“ Leather, ivory, paint, and silver her tea, Stevenson wrote Bound manuscript volume APS, ƒ.´. Gift of Frances to Franklin to float her Archives, APS. Margaret Bradford, ƒ„. theory of how bubbles form. She based her Franklin opened his 67 explanation on experiments residences for scientific LETTER TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and scientific reading. demonstrations and Mary “Polly” Stevenson They frequently discussed discussions, including Franklin met Polly Stevenson in 1757 when he boarded with London, January •, “„ science, and Franklin this APS Meeting in his her family in London. As she grew up, they became like Ink on paper later published some of Philadelphia home. Sarah family. Franklin likely gi‰ed her this chess set, a “beneficial James S. and Frances M. their correspondence “Sally” Franklin Bache lived Bradford Collection, APS. Gift amusement” that “strengthened” the mind. in Experiments and with her father, and likely of James S. and Frances M. Bradford, ƒ´„ and ƒ„. Observations. filled the essential role of hostess to his guests listed here.

84 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 85 68 69 LETTER TO RECEIPT FOR CROWN SOAP JANE FRANKLIN MECOM Jane Franklin Mecom, Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (diagram) London, July “, ““ Boston, between ““ and “™„ Ink on paper Ink on paper Jane Mecom Collection, APS. Benjamin Franklin Papers, APS. Gift of Charles Writing to his beloved sister, Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­. Franklin described the legacy of cloth dyeing in Upon Franklin’s request, their father’s family. Then Mecom sent this detailed he requested a recipe for four-page soap recipe. red dye, which Mecom She described the process learned from their mother, based on her experiences Abiah Folger Franklin. He and observations. Below, respected their mastery of Franklin drew a diagram for the science of cloth dyeing. cutting soap according to her instructions.

86 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 87 70 RECEIPT FOR CROWN SOAP Jane Franklin Mecom Boston, probably after “ƒ Ink on paper Franklin-Bache Papers, APS. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Bache, ƒ•“.

Franklin never mastered soapmaking and continued to request Mecom’s assistance. As she told him, “There is a good deal of Phylosephy in the working of crown soap.” He encouraged other family members to study the theory and practice of it.

71 72 PREMIER VOYAGE AÉRIEN LETTER TO Ch. Launois and N. Sauvage WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN Paris, c. “™• William Franklin Hand-colored engraving London, December „, “™­ APS. Ink on paper William Temple Franklin Papers, APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton Fox, ™­.

As minister to France from 1777 to 1785, Franklin lived Temple Franklin lived with his grandfather in Paris when he near Paris, a scientific center where technology reached received this letter. His father, William, sent it by balloon new heights. This print shows the view he and his guests from England with Dr. Jeffries, a scientist studying the enjoyed from his terrace of the first piloted balloon flight on atmosphere during flight. As former postmaster, Franklin November 21, 1783. likely delighted in the first documented airmail delivery.

88 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 89 OBSERVATIONS ON HUMANKIND

People have long associated qualities such as moral Today, scientists know that there is no such thing character and intelligence with appearance, culture, as biological “race.” Yet racism persists. Racism is and country of origin. ese assumptions shaped the expressed explicitly through behaviors such as hate way many ™th-century scientists, including Franklin, speech and crimes. Racism exists implicitly through investigated the sources of human di¡erences. ey the unintentional but still damaging beliefs and incorrectly concluded that people were born with assumptions that a¡ect the way we interact with unchangeable qualities signiŠed by their skin color, others. ese biases are the underpinnings of struc- or complexion. Westerners organized people into a tural racism. spectrum based on complexion. ey linked positive qualities to the lightest complexions and negative Structural racism is the way community and indi- qualities to the darkest complexions. e English, vidual practices, policies, laws, and institutions—all identifying as “purely white,” reserved the very best of which are slow and di°cult to change—privilege qualities for themselves. some members of society more than others.

Maintaining ™th-century speculations, later scientists roughout his lifetime, Franklin re§ected on his problematically categorized people into “races.” e own prejudices and confronted and modiŠed his destructive e¡ects of their research, which o¡ered views on human di¡erence. Some of his writings on support for racism and white supremacy, endure in public policy and education reveal these changes. As modern society. a citizen scientist, he was willing to learn and grow. We can take a lesson from Franklin’s willingness to confront his own prejudices.

73 Deborah Franklin attended the Philadelphia exhibition of “AN ACCOUNT OF THE WHITE an enslaved child who had white skin and hair even though NEGRO SHOWN BEFORE THE ROYAL SOCIETY” the child was born to dark-skinned parents. (Today we know this child had a genetic condition called albinism.) Deborah James Parsons, Royal Society of London collected a lock of the youth’s hair and sent it to Franklin London, “„´ in support of his study of human difference. He shared the Bound volume “specimen” with London colleagues, as recorded here in the APS. Royal Society’s Transactions.

90 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 91 75 LETTER TO JOHN WARING Benjamin Franklin London, January •, “´™ Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Miscellaneous Collection, APS.

Franklin was interested in debates over how and what people of African descent could learn. He assisted John Waring, a member of an English Christian charity, with founding a Philadelphia school for African American children. Franklin wondered if such a school could survive, since most slaveowners believed that “Reading and Knowledge in a Slave are both useless and dangerous.”

74 “ACCOUNT OF A MOTLEY COLOURED, OR PYE NEGRO GIRL AND MULATTO BOY, EXHIBITED BEFORE THE SOCIETY” John Morgan, APS Philadelphia, “™„ Bound volume APS.

Eighteenth-century scientists studied bodies that defied the simple categorization of Black or white. At a 1784 meeting, APS Members examined two enslaved children, Adelaide and Jean Pierre, whose bodies had areas of lighter and darker skin. (Today we know they had a genetic condition called vitiligo.) The APS published descriptions of the inspection, seen here in its Transactions.

92 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 93 76 77 LETTER TO LETTER TO JOHN WARING DEBORAH FRANKLIN Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Philadelphia, December “, “„• London, June “, “„ Ink on paper Ink on paper Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin Papers, Miscellaneous Collection, APS. APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­. When Franklin returned to Philadelphia, he visited the In this letter, Franklin African American school. acknowledged receiving The experience changed Deborah’s positive account him. Franklin reported to of the Philadelphia African Waring that he now had American school and “a higher Opinion of the her decision to enroll natural Capacities of the Othello, the Franklin black Race, than I had ever family’s enslaved youth. He before entertained . . . I will returned news of Peter and not undertake to justify King, two enslaved men he all my Prejudices, nor to had brought with him to account for them.” London. Ironically, King had run away and was working for an Englishwoman who provided him with an education.

94 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 95 78 “OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE INCREASE OF MANKIND,” ŽST ED. Benjamin Franklin (author), S. Kneeland (printer) Boston, “´´ Pamphlet APS.

In this text about immigration and population growth, Franklin advocated public policies based on the dominant theories about human difference. In clause 24, he argued that America should privilege European immigrants over all others, including Indigenous peoples who were already living on the land.

79 “OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE INCREASE OF MANKIND,” –ND ED. Benjamin Franklin (author), Benjamin Mecom (printer) Boston, “„ Pamphlet APS.

80 Franklin promoted public health through the practice of SOME ACCOUNT OF THE Published only five years smallpox inoculation. He used survival statistics to prove the SUCCESS OF INOCULATION a‰er the original, Franklin’s FOR THE SMALLPOX IN benefits of inoculation for all people, even as he categorized revised edition reveals his ENGLAND AND AMERICA them by skin color. Franklin credits a white doctor for changing attitudes about Benjamin Franklin inoculation’s success in Boston. An enslaved man named human nature. First, he London, “´ƒ Onesimus actually taught the doctor the West African removed the explicitly Bound pamphlet medical treatment. APS. racist clause 24. Second, in clause 12 he acknowledged that the criminal behavior he previously blamed on the nature of African people was caused by the inhumane “Nature of Slavery.”

96 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 97 For Benef€  “Mkind”  General Franklin remained committed to advancing useful knowledge for “the BeneŠt of Mankind in General” even as his responsibilities as a public servant demanded more of his time. He believed that “there is no Rank in Natural Knowledge of equal Dignity and Importance with that of being . . . a good Neighbour or Friend, a good Subject or Citizen.”

Franklin applied his privileged position to civic improvement by founding or patronizing institutions that promoted research and education, empowering the next generation of American citizen scientists. Many of these institutions still exist today, including the American Philosophical Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania. However, in his lifetime, the vast majority of people who beneŠted were elite, white men. 81 Franklin proposed founding a school to produce “Men PROPOSALS RELATING TO qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, THE EDUCATION OF YOUTH IN PENSILVANIA and to their Country.” He suggested courses in science, history, and morality taught through lectures and hands- Benjamin Franklin on experiences. The institution, previously known as the Philadelphia, “­ƒ Pamphlet College, Academy, and Charity School of Philadelphia, APS. Gift of J. P. Norris, ™ ´. became the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.

FIGURE 18 LE DOCTEUR FRANCKLIN COURONNÉ PAR LA LIBERTÉ Jean Claude Richard abbé Saint Non ““™ Aquatint and etching APS.

98 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 99 82 By the late 18th century, 87 APOTHECARY CERTIFICATION Franklin and his peers had CONSTITUTION OF THE FOR JAMES HUTCHINSON PHILADELPHIA SOCIETY, FOR become the patrons they Isaac Bartram ALLEVIATING THE MISERIES OF once sought in Europe. PUBLIC PRISONS Philadelphia, ““• They supported the next Ink on paper Philadelphia, “™ƒ James Hutchinson Papers, generation of American Pamphlet APS. Gift of S. Pemberton leaders, like James APS. Hutchinson, ƒ„. Hutchinson, who began his distinguished medical career as an apprentice In 1787, Franklin joined a prison reform society, whose with Philadelphia’s Bartram constitution and mission appeared in this pamphlet. family. Drawing on recent medical studies, reformers encouraged the rehabilitation of criminals, in part through training in profitable trades and exposure to fresh air. The Society’s efforts resulted in the Eastern State Penitentiary, which opened in 1829.

83–86 TICKETS TO MEDICAL LECTURES Benjamin Rush, William Shippen, Adam Kuhn, James Hutchinson Philadelphia, ““– “ƒ Stencil, letterpress, and 88 engraving A PROPOSAL FOR PROMOTING James Hutchinson Papers, USEFUL KNOWLEDGE AMONG APS. Gift of S. Pemberton THE BRITISH PLANTATIONS IN Hutchinson, ƒ„. AMERICA Benjamin Franklin Philadelphia, “„™ Franklin and his friends Pamphlet founded both the APS. College of Philadelphia’s Medical School and the In 1743, Franklin and friends Pennsylvania Hospital, the formed a club for discussing first institutions of their useful knowledge and kinds in British America. improving society. Joining Students attended ticketed with another group in 1768, lectures on medical theory it became the American and observed patient care Philosophical Society. at the Hospital. Tickets Franklin’s 1743 proposal was for Adam Kuhn’s lectures reprinted, as displayed here, appeared on the back of to mark the occasion. playing cards.

100 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 101 90 BACK OF THE STATE HOUSE William Birch Philadelphia, “ƒƒ Hand-colored engraving APS.

This print shows familiar landmarks of Franklin’s Philadelphia: the APS’s Philosophical Hall, the original Library Company of Philadelphia, and the State House (Independence Hall). The presence of women and Indigenous peoples shows that 18th-century public life was more diverse than institutional records admit.

89 PROJECTION OF THE TRANSIT OF VENUS, OBSERVED AT PHILADELPHIA, JUNE , Ž‘­™ John Ewing (author), APS Philadelphia, ““ Bound volume APS. Gift of Hiester Muhlenberg.

91 LETTER TO The first volume of the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Transactions of the George Washington American Philosophical New York, September •, “™ƒ Society featured Ink on paper observations of Venus as Benjamin Franklin Papers, it traveled across the sun. APS. Gift of Charles Pemberton and Mary Fox, ™­. The Society participated in this global effort, which allowed scientists President Washington wrote to the ailing 83-year-old to calculate the distance Franklin, praising his “philosophic mind.” He encouraged his between the earth and sun. friend to take comfort in knowing that his life’s labors were This publication brought “beneficial to our Country and useful to Mankind.” Franklin the APS international passed away on April 17, 1790. recognition.

102 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 103 92 LETTER TO DR. FRANKLIN “Lost to World” Jane Franklin Mecom Boston, July  , “™„ Ink on paper When Franklin died, his work as a citizen scientist had made him Franklin-Bache Papers, APS. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin the most recognizable American in the world. He had risen above Bache, ƒ•“. his working-class origins and counted presidents and kings among his friends. A‰er reading a book on moral philosophy by Richard Price, Mecom Jane Franklin Mecom’s world rarely extended beyond her birth- reflected to her brother: place of Boston, except through the letters she and her brother “Thousands of Boyles Clarks exchanged their entire lives. Denied formal education, married at and Newtons have Probably been lost to the world, and ´, and forced to support her aging parents,  children, and other lived and died in Ignorans family, she watched her brother “beat thro all Impedements” using and meanness, mearly for want of being Placed in advantages unavailable to her. Mecom’s life and legacy stand in favourable situations, and stark contrast to her brother’s. Injoying Proper Advantages, very few we know is Able to Unequal opportunities and rewards for people based on gender, beat thro all Impedements and Arive to any Grat race, ethnicity, religion, and class continue to shape society. Today, Degre of superiority in we rephrase Mecom’s letter reproduced and quoted here, to ask: Understanding.” How many people, like Jane, have been “lost to the world” because they were born into circumstances beyond their control?

104 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST ILLUSTRATED CHECKLIST 105 Selected Bibliography FOR DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST

Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette, and Christine Blondel, eds. Science Golinski, Jan. “Enlightenment Science.” In ‡e Oxford Illustrated Murphy, Kathleen S. “Collecting Slave Traders: James Petiver, Stern, Jeremy A. “Jane Franklin Mecom: A Boston Woman in and Spectacle in the European Enlightenment. Burlington, VT: History of Science, edited by Iwan Rhys Morus, ™– . Oxford: Natural History, and the British Slave Trade.” ‡e William and Revolutionary Times.” Early American Studies ­, no. („): Ashgate Publishing, ™. Oxford University Press,  “. Mary Quarterly, •rd ser., “, no. ­ ( •): „•“–“. ­“–ƒ . Bunker, Nick. Young Benjamin Franklin: ‡e Birth of Ingenuity. New Green, James N., and Peter Stallybrass. Benjamin Franklin: Writer ———. “Translating the Vernacular: Indigenous and African Talbott, Page, ed. Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,  ™. and Printer. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, „. Knowledge in the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic.” Haven: Yale University Press, ´. Chaplin, Joyce E. ‡e First Scienti†c American: Benjamin Franklin Hayes, Kevin J. “New Light on Peter and King, the Two Slaves Atlantic Studies ™, no. ( ): ƒ–­™. Tanford, Charles. Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves: An Informal History and the Pursuit of Genius. New York: Basic Books, „. Benjamin Franklin Brought to England.” Notes and Queries „, Nash, Gary B. “Franklin and Slavery.” Proceedings of the American of Pouring Oil on Water with Re§ections on the Ups and Downs of Chiles, Katy L. Transformable Race: Surprising Metamorphoses in the no.  ( •): ´–ƒ. Philosophical Society ´, no. ­ („): „ ™–•´. Scienti†c Life in General. Durham: Duke University Press, ƒ™ƒ. History in the Literature of Early America. New York: Oxford Heilbron, J. L. Electricity in the ‘’th and ‘—th Centuries: A Study of ———. “When We Were Young: e American Philosophical Tise, Larry E., ed. Benjamin Franklin and Women. University Park: University Press,  ­. Early Modern Physics. Berkeley: University of California Press, Society in the ™th Century.” Proceedings of the American Pennsylvania State University Press, . Cohen, I. Bernard. Benjamin Franklin’s Science. Cambridge: Harvard ƒ“ƒ. Philosophical Society „•, no. (March  ƒ): –´. Waldstreicher, David, ed. A Companion to Benjamin Franklin. University Press, ƒƒ. Hogarth, Rana A. Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Di¦erence Newman, Simon P. “Benjamin Franklin and the Leather- Malden: Wiley-Blackwell,  . Cohn, Ellen R. “Benjamin Franklin, Georges-Louis le Rouge and in the Atlantic World, ‘’—š–‘—“š. Chapel Hill: University of Apron Men: e Politics of Class in Eighteenth-Century ———. Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the the Franklin/Folger Chart of the Gulf Stream.” Imago Mundi North Carolina Press,  “. Philadelphia.” Journal of American Studies ­•, no.  (August American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang: ­. ƒ): „ –“´. ´, no. (January ): ­–­. Kendi, Ibram X. Stamped from the Beginning: ‡e De†nitive History of Winterer, Caroline. American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in Conger, Vivian Bruce. “Reading Early American Women’s Political Racist Ideas in America. New York: Nation Books,  „. Parrish, Susan Scott. American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History the Age of Reason. New Haven: Yale University Press,  „. Lives: e Revolutionary Performances of Deborah Read Lemay, J. A. Leo. Ebenezer Kinnersley: Franklin’s Friend. in the Colonial British Atlantic World. Chapel Hill: Published Franklin and Sally Franklin Bache.” Early American Studies „, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ƒ„­. for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press, „. no.  ( ™): • “–´. ———. ‡e Life of Benjamin Franklin. • vols. Philadelphia: ———. “‘ ere is Graite Odds between A Mans being At Home University of Pennsylvania Press, ´–™. Pollack, John, ed. “‡e Good Education of Youth”: Worlds of Learning in the Age of Franklin. New Castle: Oak Knoll Press, ƒ. And A Broad’: Deborah Read Franklin and the Eighteenth- Lepore, Jill. Book of Ages: ‡e Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin. New Century Home.” Gender and History  , no. • (November ƒ): York: Alfred A. Knopf,  •. Roberts, Jennifer L. “ e Veins of Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin’s •ƒ–„“. Nature-Print Currency.” Grey Room „ƒ ( ™): ´–“ƒ. McGregor, Deborah. “Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Curran, Andrew S. ‡e Anatomy of Blackness: Science and Slavery in Environment, and Our Future.” American Indian Quarterly ™, Robinson, Martha. “New Worlds, New Medicines: Indian Remedies an Age of Enlightenment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University no. •–­ (­): •™´–­ . and English Medicine in Early America.” Early American Press,  . Studies •, no. (Spring ´): ƒ­– . Meyers, Amy R. W., and Lisa L. Ford, eds. Knowing Nature: Art and Darnton, Robert. Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in Science in Philadelphia, ‘’“š–‘—“š. New Haven: Yale University Roney, Jessica C. Governed by a Spirit of Opposition: ‡e Origins of France. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, ƒ„™. Press,  . American Political Practice in Colonial Philadelphia. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,  ­. Delbourgo, James. A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity Meyers, Amy R. W., and Margaret Beck Pritchard, eds. Empire’s and Enlightenment in Early America. Cambridge: Harvard Nature: Mark Catesby’s New World Vision. Chapel Hill: Schiebinger, Londa. “Agnotology and Exotic Abortifacients: e University Press, „. Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American Cultural Production of Ignorance in the Eighteenth-Century Delbourgo, James, and Nicholas Dew, eds. Science and Empire in the History and Culture by the University of North Carolina Press, Atlantic World.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Atlantic World. New York: Routledge, ™. ƒƒ™. ­ƒ, no. • (September ´): • „–­•. Finger, Stanley. Doctor Franklin’s Medicine. Philadelphia: University Minardi, Margot. “ e Boston Inoculation Controversy of “ – “: ———. “ScientiŠc Exchange in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic of Pennsylvania Press, „. An Incident in the History of Race.” ‡e William and Mary World.” In Soundings in Atlantic History: Latent Structures and Quarterly „ , no. (­): ­“–“„. Intellectual Currents, ‘™šš–‘—”š, edited by Bernard Bailyn and Fleming, James Rodger. Historical Perspectives of Climate Change. Patricia L. Denault, ƒ­–•™. Cambridge: Harvard University New York: Oxford University Press, ´. Morgan, Edmund S. Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale Press, ƒ. University Press, •. Fortune, Brandon Brame, and Deborah Jean Warner. Franklin and ———. Secret Cures of Slaves: People, Plants, and Medicine in His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth-Century Mulford, Carla. Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire. New the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. Stanford: Stanford America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian National Portrait York: Oxford University Press,  ´. University Press,  “. Gallery, ƒƒƒ. ———. “Benjamin Franklin and Women: Or, Franklin’s Women.” Schi¡er, Michael Brian. Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Fry, Jennifer Reed. “‘Extraordinary Freedom and Great Humility’: Pennsylvania History ™“, no. • (Summer ): ­´­–ƒ•. Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. A Reinterpretation of Deborah Franklin.” ‡e Pennsylvania ———. “Benjamin Franklin’s Savage Eloquence: Hoaxes from the Berkeley: University of California Press, •. Magazine of History and Biography “, no.  (April •): Press at Passy, “™.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical „“–ƒ„. Shapin, Steven. “ e Invisible Technician.” American Scientist ““, no. Society ´, no. ­ (™): ­ƒ–´•. „ ( ƒ™ƒ): ´´­–„•.

106 DR. FRANKLIN, CITIZEN SCIENTIST SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 107 FINIS