Call Number:

UPV 502

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: University Archives and Records Center

Extent:

12 cubic feet

Language:

English

Date:

1862-2008 (inclusive) and 2001-2006 (bulk)

Creator:

Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

Form:

Photographs, Minutes (administrative records), Bylaws (administrative records), Clippings, and Collectibles

Abstract:

To celebrate Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday, which fell on January 17, 2006, five institutions in the Philadelphia area formed in 2000 an alliance named Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Consortium. The Consortium initiated a grand multifaceted and internationally-involving scenario for the celebration. The full name of the project is Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, or "Ben Franklin 300, 1706-2006." This collection documents the organization, planning and operation of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary from the time the BFT Consortium was established in 2000 till the project was wrapped up in mid 2008.

Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the United States and a giant in science, inventing, entrepreneurship, social and civic activities, as well as world diplomacy, based most of his work in Philadelphia. His prolific and brilliant life left behind numerous landmarks in his home city. To celebrate his 300th birthday, which fell on January 17, 2006, five institutions in the area formed in 2000 an alliance named Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Consortium. The five institutions represented are: the American Philosophical Society, the Franklin Institute, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Consortium initiated a grand multifaceted and internationally-involving scenario for the celebration. The full name of the project is Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, or "Ben Franklin 300, 1706-2006."

To enforce such a grand project, the Consortium started by enlisting full support of the United States government. Thanks to the Consortium's vigorous lobbying effort, a legislation bill passed through the Congress in June 2001, giving the project a status of being an official celebration of the nation. To enact the bill H.R. 2362, a U.S. government commission was established under the name of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission, with the U.S. President as its honorary chairman. The 15-member Commission included six appointed by the President and eight by the Congress, among them, the then Senator Joseph Biden and Senator Arlen Specter, with the Librarian of Congress serving ex officio. The Commission had its organizational meeting in October 2003 and meeting periodically in subsequent years, played a critical role in seeing this monumental event to a resounding success.

Although the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary was formally incorporated in late 2003, a Franklin's 300th Steering Committee started to work as early as in November 2000. The Committee was later renamed Franklin Tercentenary Advisory Committee (2001), Franklin Tercentenary Consortium Advisors Meeting (2002), and Franklin Tercentenary Consortium Advisory Board (2003). The Advisory Board was in charge of the Tercentenary project. A president and executive director, assisted by a chief curator, took care of the project's daily administration.

The core program for the celebration was a thematic traveling exhibition entitled "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World." The exhibition opened at the National Consitution Center in Philadelphia in December 2005. To boost the unprecedented event, gala parties were held in Philadelphia to mark Franklin's 299th and 300th birthday in 2005 and 2006. After its six-month display in Philadelphia, the exhibition moved on to St. Louis, Houston, Denver, and Atlanta in succession before traveling overseas to Paris, where it ran from November 2006 to March 2008. The exhibition had a total audience of 750,000. For preservation and on-line access, a special on-line Frankliniana Database was created, serving as "a museum without walls." The database served as the core source of information for exhibited artifacts and for the published catalog of the exhibition, Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005). The Tercentenary's multifacted project was crowned with a Commemorative Coin Program. For a special issue by the U.S. Mint, the Congress passed a Benjamin Franklin Commemorative Coin Act in December, 2004. All of the programs, as well as the on-line database, were captured on a web site: www.benfranklin300.org, the management of which was taken over by Franklin and Marshall College when the Tercentenary dissolved at the end of 2008.

The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary project had a budget of over ten million, which was partially covered by federal appropriations and funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The bulk contribution was from the private sector, led by the Pew Charitable Trusts with a pledge of four million dollars.

This collection documents the organization, planning and operation of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary from the time the BFT Consortium was established in 2000 till the project was wrapped up in mid 2008.

The documentation of the project consists of the following main aspects:

1. Meeting records, 2000-2007, of the two governing and advisory bodies that initiated and oversaw the project, namely, the government-appointed Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission and the Franklin Tercentenary Consortium Advisory Board formed by an alliance of five local sponsoring organizations, three of which were founded by Franklin. Related to the two institutional bodies is also a file of lobbying services with the Congress.

2. Files of the main exhibition "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World," and other related programs, which include two functions to mark Franklin's 299th and 300th birthday in succession, a commemorative coin program, the Frankliniana database to document and make accessible on-line the entire event, and the publishing of a catalog. This group also includes two surveys of the exhibition.

3. All administrative papers recording transactions between the BF Tercentenary and consultants, designers and contractors that were invited to help create and produce the exhibition and other programs of the project; correspondence with counterpart institutions in all six venues of the exhibition-- Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, Denver, Atlanta and Paris; all administrative papers related to public relations, media coverage, and marketing activities; papers regarding financial activities, funding organizations, insurance policies, tax exemption concerns, and invoices. This group also includes correspondence from the president, executive director and chief curator of the Tercentenary.

4. Material of such special genres as photographs, compact disks with preserved photo images, clippings from press and other media, and slides.

The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Records are organized into two series: General Files and Chief Curator Files. Both series have been arranged alphabetically.