the tercentenary courant 2005...the tercentenary courant philadelphia, february 2005 issue 1 “i...

The Tercentenary Courant

Philadelphia, February 2005 Issue 1

“I confess I am a little unreasonableas a Correspondent. I wish to hearfrom my Friends by every Pacquet,and presume they may excuse me ifI write once a Year.”

(Franklin to Abbe Martin Lefebvre de laRoche, Philadelphia, April 22, 1787.)

The Tercentenary Relocates –and Redesigns

The Benjamin FranklinTercentenary greeted the

beginning of a new year with sev-eral exciting developments. Mostnoticeably, we have moved ouroffices to a new location onRittenhouse Square, Philadelphia.This move coincided with our needto build up our logo into a moreeasily trade-marked design. Theresult (which can be seen on thetop-left of the masthead) is thework of Bart Marable of TerraIncognita, the firm that has pro-duced our new web design. Wewere particularly taken by the

frame’s visual echo of Franklin’sfamous “Join or Die” political car-toon – let us know what youthink.

Terra Incognita has,meanwhile, com-

pleted Phase 1 of oursite, http://www.ben-franklin300.org. Itsdesign was inspired byFranklin’s PennsylvaniaGazette, and incorpo-rates Poor Richard’saphorisms withprinter’s ornamentsand a period colorscheme. At themoment, you can usethe website to check theTercentenary’s exhibitionschedule, search for upcomingevents, read about our consortiumand board, and link to our institu-tional partners. Work on Phase 2– which will include uploadingthe Frankliniana database as wellas an interactive almanac of exhi-bition highlights – has alreadybegun.

Fundraising Complete!

We have also come to thesuccessful end of our major

fundraising efforts. In the finalquarter of 2004, we brought inover $4.5 million, closing ourfundraising gap and allowing usto concentrate on finalizing theexhibition plans, and to further

develop public and educationalprogramming.

In total, generous supportfor the Benjamin

Franklin Tercentenary hascome from: The PewCharitable Trusts; TheCommonwealth ofPennsylvania, through ThePennsylvania Historicaland Museum Commission,The Philadelphia

Workforce DevelopmentCorporation, and TheDepartment ofCommunity andEconomic Development;The John Templeton

Foundation; The AnnenbergFoundation; The Department ofthe Interior, through IndependenceNational Historical Park; TheFlorence Gould Foundation; TheNational Endowment for theHumanities and National ParkService, through the SaveAmerica’s Treasures GrantProgram; The Barra Foundation,Inc.; The Lenfest Foundation; Mr.and Mrs. Po and Helen Chung;and The McLeanContributionship.

Acommemorative program ofthis scope and scale needs

extraordinary commitment fromindividuals and institutions alike. Italso draws heavily on the generosityof contributors. We are enormously

Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary 135 S. 18th Street, Suite 702, Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-557-0733 ww.benfranklin300.org

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. Printed by B. Franklin, at the New Printing Office near the Market.

Join or Die Snake Cartoon in Pennsylvania Gazette.Engraving. 1754. Library Company of Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania Gazette (Issue855). Newspaper. 1745. Walter J.and Leonore Annenberg RareBook and Manuscript Library,University of Pennsylvania. Photoby Peter Harholdt.

grateful to all of these donors forbelieving in the importance of thisanniversary celebration and forvaluing Franklin as we do.

New Staff Hired

The Benjamin FranklinTercentenary has also hired

two new staff members: an efficientand charming Office Manager,Brent Kissel; and Dana Devon,Director of EducationalProgramming. Dana comes to usfrom the National ConstitutionCenter, where, as Director of WebPrograms, she developed andedited current constitution-relatednews stories, as well as oversaw thedevelopment and implementationof online educational programmingand interactive exhibits. Theseincluded the piloting of a digitalweb-based interactive Constitutionand interactive Timeline. Beforejoining the NCC, Ms. Devontaught in the areas of employmentlaw, ethics and criminal justice, andconstitutional criminal procedure.Ms. Devon also worked at theUniversity of Pennsylvania LawSchool Center on Professionalism,where she researched, developedand taught case studies in legalethics and professional responsi-bility. A former attorney, Ms.Devon practiced employment andcivil rights law. Ms. Devon receivedher B.A. in political science fromBrandeis University and her lawdegree from NortheasternUniversity School of Law.

French Honorary CommitteeFormed

To help bring the BenjaminFranklin Tercentenary’s exhi-

bition and programming toFrance, and to celebrate Franklin’simportant legacy of Franco-American friendship and diplo-macy, the Tercentenary hasformed a French HonoraryCommittee. The Committee hadits inaugural meeting in October,2004, at a lunch generously hostedby American AmbassadorHoward H. Leach.

The French HonoraryCommittee is under the high

patronage of Mr. Jacques Chirac,President of the French Republic.It consists of the following distin-guished members, all of whomdeserve our heartfelt thanks fortheir generous support andencouragement, which has beenmanifested in genuine expressionsof personal and professionalinterest: Ambassador Howard H.Leach, co-chairman; AmbassadorJean-David Levitte, co-chairman;Monsieur Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, Director général,Etablissement publique du muséeet du domaine national deVersailles; Monsieur Françoisd’Aubert, Minister Delegate forResearch; Professeur Etienne-Emile Baulieu, President del’Académie des Sciences, EmeritusProfessor honoraire au College deFrance; Monsieur Jean-RenéBernard, Président de France-Amériques; Monsieur MichelBesson, Président National,Associations France/Etats-Unis;Madame Bertrand Chatel de

Brancion, Regent, Daughters ofthe American Revolution,Rochambeau Chapter; MonsieurBertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris;Monsieur Renaud Donnedieu deVabres, Ministre de la culture et dela communication; MonsieurJacques Friedmann, Président duConseil d’Orientation, QuaiBranly; Monsieur Michel Garcin,Président, Fondation Franco-Américaine; Monsieur Paul Girod,Président du groupe d’amitié-France-Etats-Unis du Sénat;Monsieur Jean-Noël Jeanenney,Président, Bibliothèque nationalede France; Monsieur Jean-MarcLeri, Conservateur Général, MuséeCarnavalet; Madame ChristineMalphettes, State Regent,Rochambeau Chapter, Daughtersof the American Revolution;Monsieur Maurice Marchand-Tonel, Président, Chambre deCommerce Franco-Américaine;Monsieur Thierry de Montbrial,Director, Institut Français des rela-tions internationales (IFRI);Monsieur Hélie de Noailles,President, Sons of the AmericanRevolution; Madame LaurencePaye-Jeanneney, GeneralAdministrator, ConservatoireNationale des Arts et Métiers;Monsieur Axel Poniatowski,Président du groupe d’amitié-France-Etats-Unis; Monsieur PierreRosenberg, Académie Française;Monsieur Pierre Taittinger, Mairedu 16e Arrondissement (Passy);Monsieur Daniel Thoulouze,Directeur de la culture scientifiqueet technique du CNAM etDirecteur du Musée des Arts etMétiers.



The Benjamin FranklinMemorial Coin Act Is Passed

It is also our great pleasure toannounce that both houses of

Congress have passed the BenjaminFranklin Memorial Coin Act. TheAct was signed into law – as PublicLaw 108-464 – by PresidentGeorge W. Bush on December 21,2004. Coin bills require two-thirdsco-sponsorship, which is not easilyachieved. A tremendous expressionof appreciation and thanks is thusdue to all who helped achieve thattarget: Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.and his staff, particularly CatherineGraham, Legislative Assistant;Congressman Castle and his staff,particularly Emily Pfeiffer; SenatorSpecter and his staff, particularlyTom Dower; Senator Santorumand his staff, particularly ZackMoore and Ashley Horning;Governor Rendell’s office; PeterGrollman of IKON; and numerousothers, including many Friends ofFranklin, who called their Senatorson our behalf.

Public Law 108-464 authorizesthe production of limited edi-

tion coins minted to commemorateBenjamin Franklin. The US Mint isplanning to produce 500,000 silverdollars, half of which will feature ayoung Franklin, and the other halfan older Franklin. TheTercentenary will be closelyinvolved with the coin’s design andproduction. This bill ensures thatthe 300th anniversary of Franklin’sbirth is appropriately marked, as

described in the BenjaminFranklin TercentenaryCommission’s enabling legislation.

Ben Franklin 300 Philadelphia

B en Franklin 300 Philadelphia isthe name we’ve chosen to

encompass the year-long com-memoration of BenjaminFranklin’s 300th birthday in thePhiladelphia region. The celebra-tion will run from fall 2005through 2006, and will focus onthe Tercentenary’s exhibition,Benjamin Franklin: In Search of aBetter World, at the NationalConstitution Center. However, itwill also include an exciting arrayof complementary exhibitions,lectures, symposia, concerts andspecial events, in conjunction withoffers at many of the region’s his-torical and cultural organizations,restaurants and hotels. Moredetails on which institutions arejoining in the celebrations, as wellas descriptions of their variousprograms, can be found atwww.benfranklin300.org, on oursearchable calendar.

Marketing and P.R. Plans

The Benjamin FranklinTercentenary is working

closely with the GreaterPhiladelphia Tourism MarketingCorporation (GPTMC), in aneffort to ensure that our marketingand public relations campaign forBen Franklin 300 Philadelphia willbe as effective and wide-rangingas possible. The GPTMC ishelping to coordinate all of theTercentenary’s marketing in thegreater Philadelphia area. Thisproductive and mutually beneficial

relationship has been funded by agrant from the Commonwealth ofPennsylvania. The GPTMC can bevisited at http://www.gophila.com.

Also assisting the Tercentenaryin the goal of celebrating

Benjamin Franklin throughout hisbirthyear, 2006, across thePhiladelphia region, is thePhiladelphia Convention andVisitors Bureau. They have alreadyhelped secure Benjamin Franklin: InSearch of a Better World’s placementas the top-rated attraction for busgroups in 2005 in ABA’s Destinationsmagazine. More information aboutthem can be found at their website,http://www.pcvb.org/.

All Ben Franklin 300Philadelphia events and mate-

rials will be unified with thegraphic identity shown below,which features a one-line sketch ofFranklin’s profile created by BenWolf and owned by the LibraryCompany of Philadelphia.

Exhibition Catalogue NearsCompletion

The lavish companion book forBenjamin Franklin: In Search of a

Better World (Yale University Press) isnow approaching completion. Thecomplete contents of the book,including edited essays and finalart, have entered the advanced



copyediting stage. The book willinclude over 250 color illustrations,many of them published here forthe first time, and a series of orig-inal essays by today’s preeminentFranklin scholars, written to behighly accessible. Initial scholarlyreviews of the book have been verypositive.

Because of the extraordinarilygenerous grant we’ve received

from The John TempletonFoundation, a copy of this bookwill be sent to every public librarysystem in the United States – a fit-ting tribute to the man whofounded our nation’s first publiclibrary. This book’s rare combina-tion of scholarly content withbroad distribution will guaranteethat insightful interpretations ofFranklin’s life, message, and histor-ical impact will now be readilyaccessible around the country forgenerations to come.

Phase II Begins

The end of the DesignDevelopment phase of the

exhibition came in December 2004,when Tercentenary staff met withStaples & Charles, the exhibitdesigners, and with a More PerfectUnion, the media designers. Thelayout of the exhibit has been fur-ther refined, and the direction andaesthetic of the media and interac-tives have been largely established.Accordingly, we are now enteringPhase II of the exhibition produc-tion.

Save These Dates

Columbus Day Weekend, 2005:For a parade to welcome

Franklin to Philadelphia

December 14 and 15, 2005:For the exhibition’s opening

festivities

January 17, 2006: For the bigbirthday bash

More details about each ofthese events will be posted

on our website,www.benfranklin300.org, in theupcoming months.

Frankliniana DatabaseUpdate

Momentum is building in theFrankliniana Database

project, as every object that wecan authenticate for the databaseseems to bring another object withit. A visit to the University ofPennsylvania brought up the factthat the University has a portraitof Ben attributed to ThomasGainsborough - about which wehad no record. Examination ofthe University's file on thepainting revealed that a local con-servator had seen it some yearsago. A call to the conservatorresulted in her re-examination ofthe painting, and her consultationwith an associate who has workedon Gainsborough's paintings. Shehas expressed interest in “chasing”the attribution. But, the paintingwent from “not known” to “by



For example, the study of twochairs that descended in the

family of Polly Stevenson,Franklin’s London “daughter,” hasconfirmed that they are a true pair.X-ray examination of several jointshas revealed significant construc-tion details; and a third chair ofthe set has just been found. Byresearch in the wills of Polly’sdescendents, we hope to determinehow many were in the original set,and how the chairs passed fromgeneration to generation.

Among the more colorfulobjects that have survived from

Franklin’s ownership are parts of atea set that he purchased in France,from a pottery sponsored by theDuc d’Angouleme. They are nowspread among several institutions.The database will be a means ofgathering them together, at leastvisually, for the first time in morethan a century. Database curatorConnie Hershey is now workingwith our web designers, and youshould be able to explore some ofher wonderful discoveries for your-selves at www.benfranklin300.orgby early summer.

Gainsborough” to “not byGainsborough” to “definitelyperiod canvas, and maybe byGainsborough,” and who knowswhere it will end.

the tercentenary courant 2005...the tercentenary courant philadelphia, february 2005 issue 1 “i...

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