• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Benjamin Franklin

The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

January 25, 2023 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben franklins world podcastIn this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Nancy Rubin Stuart, an award-winning historian and journalist and author of Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father (Beacon Press, 2022), joins Liz Covart to investigate the private life of Benjamin Franklin by using the women in his life as a window on to his experiences as a husband, father, and friend. [Read more…] about The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Cultural History, Podcasts, Social History, womens history

US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

January 10, 2023 by Alan J. Singer Leave a Comment

Robert E Lee Portrait at West PointIn 2023, the United States Military Academy will remove 13 Confederate symbols on its West Point campus. They include a portrait of Robert E. Lee dressed in a Confederate uniform, a stone bust of Lee, who was superintendent of West Point before the Civil War, and a bronze plaque with an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan.”

Art displayed in the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC, still includes images of 141 enslavers and 13 Confederates who went to war against the country. A study by the Washington Post found that more than one-third of the statues and portraits in the Capitol building honor enslavers or Confederates and at least six more honor possible enslavers where evidence is disputed. [Read more…] about US, NYS Continues To Honor Slavers, Racists, Traitors and Scoundrels

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, Albany, Alexander Hamilton, Alexander Macomb, Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, Black History, Civil War, Daniel Webster, Edward Livingston, Fernando Wood, George Clinton, George Washington, Henry Clay, James Duane, James Madison, James Monroe, John Dickinson, John Tyler, Ku Klux Klan, Manhattan, Martin Van Buren, Morgan Lewis, New York City, Peter Stuyvesant, Political History, Richard Varick, Robert Livingston, Rufus King, Samuel Morse, Slavery, Thomas Jefferson, West Point, William Havemeyer

Freemasons and the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

October 25, 2022 by Sean Kelleher 2 Comments

The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga - John TrumbullOver the years, much has been written about the Freemasons (or Masons) involved in the American Revolution, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere. Freemasonry is a voluntary self-betterment association that teaches moral, intellectual, and spiritual lessons through theatrical initiation ceremonies. [Read more…] about Freemasons and the Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Battle of Saratoga, Benjamin Franklin, Freemasonary, French History, John Burgoyne, Military History, Morgan Lewis, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable

Poor Richard’s Women: An Intimate Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

September 30, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Poor Richard's WomenEveryone knows Benjamin Franklin — the thrifty inventor-statesman of the Revolutionary era — but not about his love life. The most prominent among them was Deborah Read Franklin, his common-law wife and partner for 44 years.

Long dismissed by historians, she was an independent, politically savvy woman and devoted wife who raised their children, managed his finances, and fought off angry mobs at gunpoint while he traipsed about England. [Read more…] about Poor Richard’s Women: An Intimate Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Fraunces Tavern Museum, French History, London, Political History, Social History, womens history

Ken Burns’ Benjamin Franklin Documentary with Producer David Schmidt

May 4, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben franklins world podcast
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World Podcast, David Schmidt, a senior producer at Florentine Films and a senior producer on Ken Burns’ Benjamin Franklin, joins Liz to investigate documentary filmmaking and the life of Benjamin Franklin. [Read more…] about Ken Burns’ Benjamin Franklin Documentary with Producer David Schmidt

Filed Under: History Tagged With: American Revolution, Ben Franklin’s World, Benjamin Franklin, Documentary, film, Podcasts, Political History

The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

January 26, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

Dec 1754 Map of the English Colonies (LOC)William Shirley was the Royal Governor of Massachusetts, appointed by the King of England. Shirley had been a British official in England serving on negotiating committees with French officials determining boundaries. This had led Shirley to a thorough dislike of the French.

He was very aggressive and had been a stalwart advocate of invading Canada and driving the French out of North America. Shirley had written a strong criticism of the New York Congress for its resistance to an invasion of Canada in 1748. He was upset when New Jersey and Rhode Island refused to cooperate in the invasion because they were not threatened. [Read more…] about The Albany Congress of 1754: Native People, Colonists & the Monarchy

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany Plan of Union, American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Canajoharie, Colonial History, Connecticut, French And Indian War, French History, George Clinton, Haudenosaunee, Hendrick Theyanoguin, Indigenous History, James DeLancey, Kayaderosseras Creek, Lenape, Maryland, Massachusetts, Military History, Mohawk, Mohawk Valley, Mohican, New France, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Northwest Territory, Oswego, Pennsylvania, Political History, Rhode Island, Saratoga County, Schaghticoke, Stockbridge Indians, Virginia, West Canada Creek, William Johnson

Ben Franklin’s Life In London

January 26, 2022 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldBenjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706, to Abiah Folger and Josiah Franklin. Although Franklin began his life as the youngest son of a youngest son, he traveled through many parts of what is now the northeastern United States and the Province of Quebec and lived in four different cities in three different countries: Boston, Philadelphia, London, and Passy, France. [Read more…] about Ben Franklin’s Life In London

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Podcasts

The Joy of Eating: Billy Possum, Fat Men Clubs & Obesity History

December 20, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 4 Comments

William Hogarth, The Roast Beef of Old England, 1748 (Tate Britain)Weightism is a bias or discrimination against people who are overweight. It is based on a set of stereotypes about the abilities of overweight individuals and includes prejudices that they are self-indulgent, socially inept, and mentally slow. Obesity was judged to be incompatible with intelligence and acuity.

The weight stigma is a relatively modern one. Fat shaming started in the 1950s. In March 1954, Life magazine featured an article entitled “The Plague of Overweight” in which obesity was described as the most serious health problem of the day. Without any further consideration the condition was linked to gluttony. At the time, only around three percent of Americans were considered overweight.

From the Renaissance onward, obesity had suggested wealth and power. It pointed at the means to supply and enjoy the luxury of food. Plumpness equaled prosperity. If one’s body was a temple, then being the size of a cathedral signaled status. Physical proportion was a badge of economic and physical well-being, both in individual and national terms. [Read more…] about The Joy of Eating: Billy Possum, Fat Men Clubs & Obesity History

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Benjamin Franklin, Culinary History, Cultural History, Disability History, French History, James Fisk, Literature, Medical History, Oysters, William Howard Taft

Rise and Fall of Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica

September 7, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

Fraunces Tavern in New York CityIn 1719, Étienne [Stephen] De Lancey built his house on a site at 54 Pearl Street on the corner of Broad Street which had been given to him by his father-in-law Stephanus van Cortlandt, New York’s Mayor. The small yellow bricks used in its construction were imported from the Dutch Republic.

In 1762, his heirs sold the property to Samuel Fraunces who converted the home into a tavern, first named the Queen’s Head and later known as Fraunces Tavern. [Read more…] about Rise and Fall of Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Fraunces Tavern Museum, Music, Musical History, New York City

Polygamy: An Early American History

July 22, 2020 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldPolygamy is not a practice that often comes to mind when many of us think about early America. But it turns out, that polygamy was a ubiquitous practice among different groups of early Americans living in 17th and 18th-century North America.

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Sarah Pearsall, a University Teaching Officer, Fellow, and Historian at the University of Cambridge, joins us to discuss the surprising history of polygamy in early North America, with details from her book, Polygamy: An Early American History (Yale University Press, 2019). [Read more…] about Polygamy: An Early American History

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Books, Podcasts

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Arlene Steinberg on Study: Climate Change Has Altered Human-Raptor Relationships
  • Richard Daly on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Deb on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Don Rittner on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Pat Boomhower on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Carol Kammen on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Judith A Berdy on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Bob Meyer on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • Amber on The Decline of the New York State Museum
  • John Collier on Dr. John Swinburne’s Life in Crime, War & Politics

Recent New York Books

The Transcendentalist and their world
“The Amazing Iroquois” and the Invention of the Empire State
american inheritance
Norman Rockwell's Models
The 1947 Utica Blue Sox Book Cover
vanishing point
From the Battlefield to the Stage
field of corpses
Madison's Militia

Secondary Sidebar

Mohawk Valley Trading Company Honey, Honey Comb, Buckwheat Honey, Beeswax Candles, Maple Syrup, Maple Sugar
preservation league