Dr Tristram Hunt: ‘The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain’

Join Benjamin Franklin House and Dr Tristram Hunt on 16th November @ 17.30, 36 Craven Street

An entrepreneur, abolitionist and beacon of the Industrial Revolution, Josiah Wedgwood was perhaps the greatest English potter. From his kilns in Stoke-on-Trent he changed the production of ceramics in Georgian England. Tristram Hunt, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and author of the acclaimed new biography of Wedgwood, The Radical Potter, calls him the ‘Steve Jobs of the 18th century’ for the way he changed consumer culture, and the impact and extraordinary contribution he has had globally.  In this talk, Hunt will also explore Wedgwood’s life beyond the pottery and looks at his radical politics, including his friendship and admiration for Benjamin Franklin, who he regarded as an enlightened thinker, fellow patriot, and loyal customer.

Limited tickets available, £15 –> Book now

Literary Prize 2023: SUBMISSIONS OPEN

The deadline for our Annual Literary Prize is fast approaching, but worry not! There is still over a month left before submissions close on Friday 15th December 2023 at 23:59.

Each year a question or quote exploring Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words. The competition is exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500. Winning entries will be published on our website.

The Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize is held in association with The Telegraph and endowed by Benjamin Franklin House Chairman John Studzinski, a leading executive and philanthropist.

2023 Competition

The Franklin quote for interpretation in 2022 is “Government must depend for its Efficiency either on Force or Opinion.” From ‘The Colonist’s advocate’, VII. (Feb 1, 1770)

Please find details of how to enter below:

  • Entries of 1000-1500 words must be sent to education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org by 23:59 on Wednesday 15th November
  • Entrants must be aged 18-25 years and living in the UK
  • Each Entrant is asked to provide their name, preferred email, postal address and phone number within the email and the entry attached as a word document. In addition entrants should provide their age and place of study (if applicable; if they are not in education, they should provide a biographical note explaining their current activities)
  • Entrants may submit only one entry; fiction or non-fiction

Shortlisted entries and the eventual winners will be announced in early 2024.

Please contact our Education Manager with any queries.

Three ties that bind? the relationship between the UK, US and France in a complex world

 

Join us for the annual Robert H Smith Lecture in Democracy which explores democracy in changing times inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s legacy as a statesman, political thinker and more.

The triumvirate relationship between the United Kingdom, the United States and France has long been a stabilising force in the western world and beyond. Ambassador Gerard Errera will discuss the current state of relations between the three countries in conversation with Benjamin Franklin House Director, Márcia Balisciano. This will be set against a backdrop of recent economic and political challenges to ultimately address the question of the future of multilateralism.

About Gerard Errera:

A career diplomat, Gérard Errera was Secretary General of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and French Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He also served as the French Ambassador to NATO and Director General for Political Affairs of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed “Ambassadeur de France,” a lifelong dignity, by the French President.  He is presently an international consultant.

About Márcia Balisciano:
Márcia Balisciano is founding Director of Benjamin Franklin House. She is also founding Chief Sustainability Officer at FTSE 20 global business, RELX. She holds a PhD in Economic History from the LSE and serves on the board of the Foundation for the (UN) Global Compact and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.

 

This event is open to all and free to attend, no ticket is required.

Seats are allocated on a first come first served basis.

 

Volunteers Needed!

Would you like to volunteer at Benjamin Franklin House? We have a variety of fantastic volunteering opportunities open at the House and want to hear from you!

Our volunteer team is essential to the daily running of the House. By volunteering with us you can meet new people and gain valuable heritage experience, we are currently looking for support in:

  • Front of House 
  • Social Media 
  • Education

If you are interested then keep reading!

Front of House Volunteers

As a front-of-house volunteer on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays you will be a vital aspect of our visitor experience. You will provide a warm welcome to visitors, introduce our main offering the Historical Experience and conduct Q&A sessions, process ticket bookings/sales, and more.

Autumn 2023: We are currently looking for more Front of House volunteers to assist with the running of our public offerings. Contact the Front of House Supervisor to apply or find out more about volunteering with Benjamin Franklin House.

Social Media Volunteers

As a social media volunteer you are a vital part of our community engagement.

You will create content for our TikTok and Instagram posts to help encourage visitors to Benjamin Franklin House and to promote our events!

Autumn 2023: We are currently looking for more Social Media volunteers to assist with the running of our online platforms. Contact the Front of House Supervisor to apply or find out more about volunteering with Benjamin Franklin House.

Education Volunteers

Our education volunteers support our Education Manager with workshops for KS2 pupils on Tuesdays in term time. This will involve leading engaging history and science workshops for pupils visiting the House. You will also be on hand to support our numerous Family Days which celebrate seasonal occasions such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If you are an aspiring teacher or would like to gain experience working with young people then this is a great opportunity that covers all Key Stages.

We are currently looking for more Education Volunteers to help support our School Visits and Family Days at Benjamin Franklin House. Please email our Education Manager at education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org to apply or find out more about volunteering.

We would like Education Volunteers to start from October/November so get in touch soon!

OPEN HOUSE @ Benjamin Franklin House 2023

We’re taking part in Open House 2023!

We’ll be free to enter and open on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th; Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September.

Visitors will be able to walk around at their own leisure

This is a drop-in open day, so there is no need to pre-book. To prepare and save time upon arrival, please download our guide on Bloomberg Connects. The app offers a ‘Self-guided Tour’ which we recommend visitors follow, as well as behind the scenes content and exclusive talks.

10am – 4pm – entry times on the hour.

Plan your day here!

 

To Begin The World Over Again: The Life of Thomas Paine

Join us on the 15th October for Ian Ruskin‘s one-man play exploring the life and achievements of the great Enlightenment figure and Founding Father, Thomas Paine.

“Our world would be a less enlightened place, were it not for this man.” – Ruskin

Run time: 1h 15 followed by Q&A session

Tickets £15 –> Book now

 

Recreating Franklin: What it Means to Bring Benjamin Franklin Alive

6 July 2023, 7pm

Join BFH Playwright in Residence, Michael London, and Royal Shakespeare Actor Keith Bartlett for an evening of bringing Benjamin Franklin alive in readings from the plays New World and Treason. Keith, who has played Franklin on stage and screen, will join together with Mike who has written several works on Franklin and his son William.

They will share their talents and a discussion of what it means to bring Benjamin Franklin alive to new audiences, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Tickets cost £5. Secure your seat here.

Breakfast Lecture with Mark Skousen

Tuesday June 6 2023, 8:30-9:30am, Benjamin Franklin House.

“Great Scot! How Ben Franklin and Adam Smith Worked Hand in Hand to Create a New Model of Prosperity”

In celebration of Adam Smith’s tercentenary (he was born in 1723), Chapman Prof. Mark Skousen, a direct descendant of Ben Franklin, explores how the American diplomat influenced the Scottish philosopher in writing The Wealth of Nations in support of free trade, laissez faire government, and American independence.

About Mark Skousen

Mark Skousen, Ph. D., is a 6th generation direct grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and has appeared as Franklin on many occasions. He and his wife completed Franklin’s Autobiography from 1757 to 1790 (“The Compleated Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” Regnery, 2006). Skousen is known as “America’s Economist.” He is a university professor, investment expert, and author of over 25 books. In 2022, he was appointed the first Doti-Spogli Endowed Chair of Free Enterprise at Chapman University after receiving “My Favorite Professor Award.” In 2018, he was awarded the Triple Crown in Economics in 2018 for his work in theory, history and education. He has the unique distinction of having worked for the government (CIA), non-profits (president of FEE), and several for-profit companies. In 2004-05, he taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School and Columbia University. Since 1980, Skousen has been editor in chief of Forecasts & Strategies, a popular award-winning investment newsletter. He was analyst for the CIA, a columnist to Forbes magazine, chairman of Investment U, and past president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York. He is the editor of his own website, www.mskousen.com, and is the producer of FreedomFest, “the world‘s largest gathering of free minds,” which meets every July (www.freedomfest.com). He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and has made regular appearances on CNBC and C-SPAN Book TV. He is the author of The Making of Modern Economics (Routledge) and The Maxims of Wall Street (Eagle Publishing). Based on his work The Structure of Production, the federal government began publishing in Spring 2014 a broader, more accurate measure of the economy, Gross Output (GO), every quarter along with GDP.

Missed out? Read about it here

Fulbright Lecture: Extinction Rebellion, Eco-Drama, and the Myth of “Saving the World”

Lecture is now available for viewing on our YouTube channel.

Lecture outline:

The climate and ecological emergency is also a crisis of the imagination.  We find ourselves in “a space between stories” (Charles Eisenstein), struggling to find language, symbols, and mythic images with the power to wake us up, clarify our existential situation, connect us with our love for the living world, and orient us toward action.

Coming one month after mass protests around Westminster by Extinction Rebellion and a coalition of environmental groups in late April 2023, this talk will examine the climate justice movement’s use of imagery and narrative to mobilize support and capture the collective imagination.  It will also show how the media and general public often respond to the mythic outline of disruptive actions rather than to the message or intentions of the activists carrying them out.

The talk will take as its central reference point the ancient Greek myth of Erysichthon, the arrogant king of Thessaly who cut down the sacred grove of Demeter.  The dynamics of the Erysichthon story can provide us with the foundation for an expanded definition of “eco-drama,” one that includes protest and nonviolent civil disobedience as modes of socio-dramatic action.  The talk will also examine the rewards and risks in invoking that most potent of heroic narratives: the myth of “saving the world.”

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session.

About the speaker: 

DANIEL LARLHAM is a performance researcher and theatre maker with a PhD in theatre from Columbia University and an MFA in acting from NYU. He has held academic appointments at Yale University’s Theater Studies Program, the Freie Universität Berlin (as a Humboldt Foundation Research Fellow), and Saint Mary’s College of California. Daniel is spending the 2022-23 academic year as a visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of Roehampton, London. His research project, “Heroism in the Anthropocene,” examines eco-activism in the UK from a mytho-dramatic perspective.

Location:

This is a hybrid lecture, hosted at both Benjamin Franklin House and live-streamed via Zoom. In person-attendees are invited to attend a pre-talk drinks reception in Franklin’s Parlour. Please arrive anytime after 4:30pm.

Tickets:

This lecture is free to attend in person or via Zoom, but a £5 donation is encouraged.

Booking is required.

4th of July at Benjamin Franklin House

Spend 4th of July at the home of Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin!

As a founder of the United States, Franklin was the only statesman to have signed all four documents that created a new nation, including The Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris, and The Constitution. The first of these was signed on 4 July 1776, the year after Franklin left this house!

Whether you’re an American expat or a just want to get in on the festivities with our friends across the pond, we are ready to welcome and celebrate with you!

Friday 30 – Sunday 2 July 2023, 11am-5pm

See Benjamin Franklin House decorated for the occasion and join us for our Architectural Tours on Friday and our Historical Experience show on Saturday and Sunday to learn all about the time Franklin spent in London on the cusp of revolution!

From £7.50 per adult – Purchase tickets via Art Tickets here.

 

Tuesday 4 July 2023, 4pm-7pm

Join us for our flagship offering, the Historical Experience, where the house will be transformed into a stage for a drama that tells the rich story of Franklin in London between 1757 and 1775. Available at 4pm, 5pm or 6pm.

  • Learn about the 16 years Franklin spent here
  • Discover the rooms as they were when he left for Philadelphia in 1775 to sign the Declaration of Independence
  • See the House dressed for the occasion
  • Be tempted by American-inspired drinks and snacks to complete your experience

A real Tuesday treat!

£15 per person (plus booking fees) – purchase tickets here