Franklin Institute records

Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1824, in honor of America's first scientist, Benjamin Franklin, The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest and most important science institutes in the nation. Its mission is to inspire a passion for learning about science and technology.

On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughan Merrick and William H. Keating founded The Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts. The original purpose was to honor Benjamin Franklin and advance the usefulness of his inventions. In addition to conducting scientific inquiry, the Institute fostered research and education by running schools, publishing the influential Journal of The Franklin Institute, sponsoring exhibitions, and recognizing scientific advancement and invention with medals and awards. The Franklin Institute Awards program, begun in 1824, is America's oldest and most prestigious recognition of achievement in science and technology.

From 1826 to 1933, The Franklin Institute was housed in a Greek Revival building on South Seventh Street in Old City Philadelphia that was built for the Institute by noted architect John Haviland. (The building is now home to the Philadelphia History Museum.) On January 1, 1934 the new Franklin Institute science museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway opened to the public, one of the first museums in the nation to offer a hands-on approach to learning about the physical world. Capital campaigns in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century enabled major physical and programmatic expansion to the facility, which contains over 400,000 square feet of exhibit space, two auditoriums, the Tuttleman IMAX Theater, the Fels Planetarium, and the Karabots Pavilion. The museum is also home to the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, one of only a handful of national memorials owned by a private institution.

As of 2016, The Franklin Institute offers twelve world-class permanent exhibits that provide hands-on learning experiences that introduce and reinforce key science concepts in creative and engaging ways. The Institute also hosts major traveling exhibits that draw local, national, and international visitors to the museum. As an American Association of Museums-accredited organization, the Institute holds curatorial collections that are considered national treasures.

The Institute's programmatic offerings serve a range of audiences, with a focus on underserved youth in Philadelphia and beyond. It also presents public lectures, academic symposia, and opportunities for discussion of current science events. The Institute is a founding organizer of the Philadelphia Science Festival, which was established in 2011, and has been a lead or partner in more than a dozen federal grant-funded programs through agencies including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and NASA.

Bibliography

The Franklin Institute. "Mission & History." 2016. Accessed August 22, 2016. https://www.fi.edu/about-us/mission-history.

The Franklin Institute records, 1824-2016, consist of administrative and financial records, membership materials, files from various departments and committees at The Franklin Institute, property records and materials relating to the Institute's building, photographs and audiovisual materials, publications, marketing materials, ephemera, and other materials. The records are divided into twelve series as follows: Series I. Administrative Series II. Financial Series III. Department files Series IV. Committees and sections Series V. Journal of the Franklin Institute Series VI. Benjamin Franklin Memorial, Incorporated Series VII. Property and buildings Series VIII. Events Series IX. Research facilities Series X. Institutional history reference files Series XI. Photographs, drawings, and audiovisual Series XII. Pamphlets, ephemera, and other materials. For additional description, see the series and subseries in the inventory listing.

Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2014-2016 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.

In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute directly for more information.

The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute: The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute general lantern slide collection, late 19th century-early 20th century

The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute: Journal of The Franklin Institute lantern slides, 1881-1921

Publisher

The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute

Sponsor

This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Finding aids author

Finding aid prepared by Sarah Leu and Anastasia Matijkiw through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories

Creator

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Subject

Interactive science museums

Science

Science museums

Science--Societies, etc

Organization

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.). Committee on Exhibitions.

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.). Committee on Science and the Arts.

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.). Library.

Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.)

Joint Committee on Meteorology of the American Philosophical Society and the Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.).

Monograph (Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.)).

Place

Philadelphia (Pa.)

Language

English