Finding Franklin: A Resource Guide

External Web Sites

American Philosophical Society

Provides an overview of the Franklin Papers archive at the American Philosophical Society, a collection that constitutes some 60 percent of the surviving Franklin papers. Also contains an online collection of Franklin images and artifacts.

Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History

A documentary history of Franklin's life created by J.A. Leo Lemay, Professor of Colonial American Literature at the University of Delaware. Provides a detailed year-by-year chronology broken down into separate eras of Franklin's career.

Benjamin Franklin: An Extraordinary Life. An Electric Mind

A companion web site to the PBS documentary Benjamin Franklin, this site contains biographical information, an interactive timeline, and a teacher's guide with lesson plans.

Benjamin Franklin: Glimpses of the Man

The Franklin Institute's site explores Benjamin Franklin's career as a scientist, an inventor, a printer, and a statesman. Commemorates Franklin's 300th birthday by providing answers to frequently asked questions and links to K-12 educational resources.

Benjamin Franklin House

The Benjamin Franklin House, which is located in London, is the world's only remaining Franklin home. For nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775, Franklin lived in this house.

The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary is a private, non-profit alliance established to mark the three-hundred-year anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth (1706-2006). This site contains an interactive exhibition, educational resources for teachers and students, a timeline, trivia, essays, an annotated list of Franklin-related web sites, and a bibliography for adults and young readers. Also includes the Frankliniana Database, an electronic catalog of known surviving objects with a close association to Benjamin Franklin.

The Electric Benjamin Franklin

Designed by the Independence Hall Association, this site includes biographical information, primary source material, a timeline, a compilation of quotations, interactive games, images, streaming videos, and the complete text of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Also includes Temple's Diary, a multi-part fictional narrative for kids written in the voice of Franklin's grandson.

Finding Franklin (NARA)

This exhibit uses the records of the Mid Atlantic Region to uncover Benjamin Franklin's legacy with regard to the creation and operation of the Federal government from its inception through the Civil War.

Franklin and His Friends: Portraying the Man of Science in Eighteenth-Century America

An online exhibit from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

The Friends of Franklin

An international membership society dedicated to promoting the study and scholarship of Benjamin Franklin. Includes information about membership, upcoming events, and Franklin-related resources on the Web.

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin

The official Web site of the authoritative edition of Benjamin Franklin’s Papers, from Yale University. Including online edition of the papers.

State Library of Pennsylvania: Ben Franklin Collection

This collection includes more than ninety digitized items by and about Benjamin Franklin, selected from the State Library of Pennsylvania's holdings in commemoration of Franklin's 300th birthday.