Ben Franklin

Candles were an important source of after-dark light in the early United States, so it makes sense that one of the first patents would be related to improving them.

What the First Three Patents Say About Early America

Gunpowder, fertilizer, soap, candles and flour were all important to Americans

The dead letter office circa 1922. The contents of unresolvable dead letters and packages are periodically sold off by the USPS.

A Brief History of American Dead Letter Offices

The United States postal system was established on this day in 1775, and mail started going "dead" very soon after

One of 50 rooms in the Colonial Revival mansion in Rochester, New York, where George Eastman lived for 27 years.

Visit the Homes of America's Greatest Inventors

Within these walls, our nation's most brilliant tinkerers once ate, slept and imagined

Benjamin Franklin's portrait on the 2009 design of the hundred dollar bill.

Benjamin Franklin Was a Middle-Aged Widow Named Silence Dogood (And a Few Other Women)

The founding father wrote letters in the voice of female pseudonyms throughout his life

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin Was One-Fifth Revolutionary, Four-Fifths London Intellectual

The enterprising Philadelphian was late to adopt the revolutionary cause, but infused America with English ideals

David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway preview the “Giving in America" display at the National Museum of American History.

The Day a Bunch of Billionaires Stopped by the Smithsonian

A new effort to study the history of philanthropy is announced and a number of significant charitable contributions are recognized

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Benjamin Franklin Worked Here

Step into the London house where the inventor, scientist and founding father lived and worked

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Dear Sir, Ben Franklin Would Like to Add You to His Network

Historian Caroline Winterer’s analysis of Franklin’s letters applies big data to big history

Ben Franklin was made a military commander during the French and Indian War because of his experience in the Pennsylvania Assembly.

When Ben Franklin Met the Battlefield

Most famous today as a founding father, inventor and diplomat, Franklin also commanded troops during the French and Indian War

Second Time Around

Invented by Ben Franklin but lost to history, the glass harmonica has been resurrected by modern musicians

Actress Meg Faragher as Polly Stevenson Hewson, the daughter of Franklin's landlady, guides visitors through a high-tech presentation dramatizing Franklin's London years.

Ben Franklin Slept Here

The ingenious founding father's only surviving residence, in London, is reborn as a museum

In the summer of 1776, Franklin (left, seated with Adams in a c. 1921 painting) advised Jefferson on the drafting of the nation's founding document.

Benjamin Franklin Joins the Revolution

Returning to Philadelphia from England in 1775, the "wisest American" kept his political leanings to himself. But not for long

"When Bandogs Howle and Spirits Walk"

Studying the nighttime hours across the centuries, says historian Roger Ekirch, sheds light on preindustrial society

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