6pm
Join us either in person or online as Patrick Baty talks us through his long career of conserving some of England’s most remarkable historic homes, including his process of restoring the original ‘Franklin green’ color to the wooden-panelled walls of Benjamin Franklin House!
March 20, 2025 – 6pm
To mark the 250th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s hasty departure from London, we’re hosting a hybrid roundtable discussion featuring leading historians of Early America.
Founding Director Márcia Balisciano will deliver a special keynote speech highlighting the remarkable conservation efforts of the original board that saved Benjamin Franklin House. Then, moderator Ben Marsh will lead Liz Covart, Patrick Griffin, and Tara Bynum in a discussion reflecting on Franklin’s legacy 250 years on.
If you can’t join us in Ben’s parlour at 36 Craven Street, London, then we hope you’ll tune in online!
Join us for an after-hours tour of Benjamin Franklin House to celebrate Ben’s 319th birthday, complete with a glass of prosecco and a slice of birthday cake!
The event will start at 5pm, and capacity is limited.
Note: party hats strongly encouraged!
Márcia Balisciano is founding Director of Benjamin Franklin House. She is also founding Chief Sustainability Officer at RELX. She holds a PhD in Economic History from LSE and serves on the board of the Foundation for the (UN) Global Compact and the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens.
Michael Cox is a Founding Director of LSE IDEAS. He was Director of LSE IDEAS between 2008 and 2019. He is author or editor of several books, including Agonies of Empire: US Power from Clinton to Biden, a collection of essays titled The Post-Cold War World (2018), a centennial edition of J.M. Keynes’s The Economic Consequences of the Peace (2019), and a new edition of E. H. Carr’s 1945 classic Nationalism & After (2021).
9-11am: FREE drop-in social for postgraduate students
Whether you’re an American studying abroad, you have an interest in American studies, or you’re just hoping to celebrate Thanksgiving in the home of one of the United States’ most preeminent founding fathers, we hope you’ll join us a hot drink and a Thanksgiving treat! We’d love you meet you and hear about your research interests and experiences.
1-2:30pm and 3-4:30pm: Architectural Tour & Talk
Join us for a tour of Benjamin Franklin House, which will include autumnal refreshments and a talk on Benjamin Franklin and Native American relations in pre-Revolutionary Pennsylvania by Dr. Megan King (University of Kent).
Tickets for the Tour & Talk should be pre-booked here.
Join moderator Justin Webb, the BBC’s first North America Editor, Host of the Today Programme, and BFH’s Journalist in Residence, for a debate between Kristin Wolfe of Democrats Abroad UK and Greg Swenson of Republican Overseas!
Attend in person or online on Thursday, 24 October, with a chance to ask your own questions on who is best placed to lead the United States over the next four years: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.
Trick or treat! Join us at Benjamin Franklin House for a FREE fun-filled day as we explore the history of America’s spookiest holiday and craft some terrifyingly good decorations to take home!
Discover where Halloween comes from and why we celebrate it! Ever wonder why we carve pumpkins, dress up in scary costumes, and eat lots of candy? You’ll learn the answers to these questions and more as we uncover the mysteries behind this frightfully fun festival!
Create your very own Halloween-themed decorations to take home and decoration your coffins with. Glue sticks at the ready! There will be lots of arts and crafts happening throughout the session. Make your very own Halloween card, a garland of ghosts to hang from your rafters, and a wickedly wonderful witch ornament for your window.
Our Halloween event will be running twice on 29th October so BOOK NOW to secure your free ticket.
BOOK TICKETS
Tuesday 29th October – 11:00am-12:30pm
Tuesday 29th October – 1:30pm-3:00pm
This event is most suitable for families with kids ages 5-12. However, everyone is welcome dead or alive! This a FREE event, but donations are most welcome.
A Benjamin Franklin House debate competition in collaboration with the US Embassy London and the DAR Walter Hines Page Chapter.
Frankly Speaking 2025 will take place on Thursday 6th February 2025 and will be hosted by the United States Embassy London.
Benjamin Franklin exemplified Enlightenment beliefs like the primacy of reason and critical thought. In his role as a colonial agent, and later as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Franklin regularly had to advance his opinions in the face of challenge and criticism, which he did with careful argument and wit.
In that spirit, and to encourage tomorrow’s thinkers today, Benjamin Franklin House proudly holds the annual Frankly Speaking Debate Competition for upper secondary school students, in collaboration with the US Embassy London. The winner joins students from across Europe and the United States at the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute.
We run two debate competitions on the day. Our Junior Competition is for students in Years 10 and 11; our Senior Competition is for Years 12 and 13. All participants must be in the relevant year groups to participate in each respective competition.
Applications for the 2025 competition will open on Monday 30th September at 9am and close on Wednesday 20th November at 5pm. If you would like more information or would like to apply, please email education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org and request an application form.
Applications must be completed by a staff member. If you are a student and wish to participate – please inform a member of staff at your school.
Frankly Speaking 2025 will take place on Thursday 6th February 2025 and will be hosted by the United States Embassy London.
The individual winner of the Year 10/11 category will receive a private tour of the Houses of Parliament. The individual winner of the Year 12/13 category will join students from across Europe and the United States for an all-expenses-paid Summer school at the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellowship Summer Institute. In 2024, this was held at Purdue University, Indiana, over 4 weeks in June/July.
The 2024 competition took place on Wednesday 28th February. The heats, finals and awards ceremony were all be held at the United States Embassy London. The debates followed an ‘Extended Mace’ format with 2 students in each team. There is a Year 10/11 category and a Year 12/13 category.
For information about the 2025 competition and for an application form please contact our Education Manager.
Each year a question or quote exploring Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time is open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words. The competition is open exclusively for young writers, aged 18-25, with a first prize of £750, and a second prize of £500. Winning entries will be published online at www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org and https://www.telegraph.co.uk/
The Franklin quote for interpretation in 2024 is;
“Truth will be Truth tho’ it sometimes prove[s]… distasteful.” A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. (1725).
Please find details of how to enter below:
The 2024 Literary Prize Judges are;
Please contact our Education Manager with any queries.
We’re proud to be hosting an array of accomplished historians who have kindly donated their time to walk us through some of Franklin’s practical lessons and words of wisdom, fascinating friendships and connections, and contributions to American literacy.
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