The Franklins’ Shop Books, 1730-1748 -- A Virtual Discussion with the APS's Center for Digital Scholarship

The recording of this event has been uploaded to our YouTube.

Join Bayard Miller and David Nelson for the online launch of The Franklins’ Shop Books, 1730-1748--a new project created by the APS's Center for Digital Scholarship. 

Before he became a scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin was a printer.  In 1748, he believed his endeavors had earned him enough money to retire at the age of 42. This in turn freed his time to devote himself entirely to science and duties of state. Who was the young Franklin? How did he accumulate so much wealth so rapidly? What social contacts did he have that enabled this?

The Franklins’ Shop Books, 1730-1748, provides tools to explore these questions. The American Philosophical Society holds several of the account books and ledgers Benjamin Franklin and his wife Deborah Read Franklin used to document their business dealings. Though incomplete in nature, these volumes document many aspects of the Franklins’ business pursuits from the start of Benjamin’s printing business to his retirement.

By exploring these documents, we gain wider insight into how the Franklins’ shop operated. Not only do we see sales for Benjamin’s most successful publications, the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanac, we also see sales for other publications, such as Pamela and Cato Major. We see sales for print jobs and book bindings, as well as the exchange of paper, rags, and ink. But there are also more surprising sales: foodstuffs, furniture, scientific instruments. This launch will present and demonstrate the tools we have developed to explore these account books.

The event will take place on Wednesday, October 18 at 1:00 p.m. ET via Zoom. The event is free of charge, but registration is required to attend.

Bayard L. Miller is the Associate Director of Research, Engagement, and Technology at the American Philosophical Society. He has worked with APS digital collections and managed major digitization and digital humanities projects for over ten years. He holds an M.A. in Public history and archives from Temple University’s Center for Public History, as well as a B.A. in history from Temple University.

David Ragnar Nelson is the Digital Projects Specialist at the Library & Museum of the American Philosophical Society. He earned his Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pennsylvania, where his research focused on the history of material texts and the digital humanities. Prior to joining the APS, he worked at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Pennsylvania, overseeing the development of the Digital Beehive, a digital resource for navigating the "Bee-Hive" manuscript of Francis Daniel Pastorius, the founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania. While at Penn, he also taught in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and the Critical Writing Program. He holds a BA in Germanics and Comparative Literature from the University of Washington.