Snapshots of the Past

Franklin - Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia – Historic Print

Franklin - Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, [no date recorded on caption card] — historic print
Franklin - Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, [no date recorded on caption card]. Historic print from the Philadelphia collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Franklin - Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, a historic print rich in period detail. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Franklin - Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia

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Here Franklin appears in the role of librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, an institution he helped found in 1731 with a circle of friends from his debating club, the Junto. Members pooled their money to buy books that all of them could borrow, an early model for the subscription libraries that spread across colonial America. The record gives no date for this halftone, which was printed as an illustration in a later book about Franklin's life, so it shows how later writers chose to remember him. The picture pairs him with Philadelphia's civic and intellectual life, a part of his career that often gets less attention than his science and politics.

Created / published[no date recorded on caption card]
Medium1 photomechanical print : halftone.
NotesIllus. in: Halman, Scenes from the Life of Benjamin Franklin, opp. p. 21. No ref. copy. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: B.I.; Geogr.; Libraries.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 946 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-149835

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