Thank you, Benjamin Franklin for inventing half-moon glasses, Franklin stoves, lightning rods, lending libraries, and so much more.
This puckish man didn’t do everything right. He supported the turkey as our national bird instead of the eagle, but his humorous, practical ingenuity provided many bright spots in America’s early national character.
Some claim his lightning rod discovery came soon after his wife wearied of his experiments and said, “Ben, go fly a kite.”
Whether true or not, his name is linked to many useful innovations. I’m a great fan of his pot belly stove, the warmest heat I’ve ever enjoyed, but today let’s celebrate his creation of the lending library.
While working for minimum pay as his older brother’s printing apprentice, Ben saw a market for writing clever pamphlets reporting weather forecasts, household hints, puzzles that sold for pennies and enjoyed print runs of 10,000 copies per year.
As evident from clever aphorisms in his Poor Richard’s Almanac like, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” once he began rising in the world, Franklin realized that paid subscriptions to a lending library would allow more people to access and share books than individuals could ever buy and possess on their own.
Andrew Carnegie later added government funding to expand the concept to provide the public libraries we enjoy today.
I currently have active library cards in Mississippi and two cities in Minnesota. The next time you breeze into a library and walk out with as many books as you want, thank your local librarian. Also tip your hat or bob your head with heartfelt thanks to dear old savvy Ben.
Since 1914, America has honored him as a revered statesman, inventor, diplomat, and founding father by printing his face on our $100 bill. Between 1948 and 1962, they also stamped him our half dollar coin. In case you don’t possess an abundance of the former, try to corner the latter which in approved Franklin style are now worth many times their original value.
Franklin’s birthday is January 17th, but I suggest celebrating him more often as a lively, witty, creative American who has contributed much to our national life.
What would you like to thank him for?
I’ve always enjoyed learning about Ben Franklin! Thanks for more information.
Thanks. What a fun, resourceful hero. We can probably never learn everything about all the ways he’s contributed to our USA.
Of course Franklin was only kidding about the turkey being a better symbol of the country than an eagle.
I think it’s interesting that he played chess in the bathtub. More interesting is that he bequeathed 1000 lbs. sterling to both Boston and Philadelphia but said they had to let it grow for 200 yrs. It was worth millions of dollars by then. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/21/us/from-ben-franklin-a-gift-that-s-worth-two-fights.html