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Virtual Talks Available Online!

Virtual Talks on demand

All past virtual talks are available on our YouTube channel here. Find playlists of themed talks below:

Upcoming Virtual Events 

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Ben’s Book Club: ‘Incomparable World’ by S I Martin

Tuesday 26 October 2021, 5pm UK/12pm ET. Register to watch the livestream here

This month S I Martin will do a reading and discuss his book Incomparable World which reimagines 1780s London, showcasing the untold stories of African-American soldiers grappling with their post-war freedom. Bursting with energy and vivid detail, Incomparable World boldly uncovers a long-buried narrative of black Britain.

Limited tickets will be available to attend in person at Benjamin Franklin House. Buy tickets to attend here.  Drink Included! 

 

Ben’s Book Club: ‘The Cabinet’ by Dr Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Wednesday 3 November, 12pm ET/5pm GMT. Register here 

Headshot of author Dr Lindsay M Chervinsky, smiling at the camera and the cover of her book The Cabinet

Dr Chervinsky, Senior Fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies, and Professorial Lecturer at the School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University, will discuss her book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, which reveals how George Washington created one of the most powerful bodies in the federal government.  

 

Robert H Smith Lecture in American Democracy: Justin Webb

Monday 8 November 2020, 5pm GMT/12pm ET 

Our annual Robert H Smith Lecture in American Democracy will once again be held in partnership with the LSE Department of Government. This year, the lecture will be on the theme of “Is American Democracy Under Threat?” with journalist Justin Webb. 

 

Book Launch: ‘Washington at the Plow’ by Bruce A. Ragsdale

Tuesday 23 November, 1pm ET/6pm GMT

Tom McCall Photography

Bruce A. Ragsdale will discuss his book, Washington at the Plow: The Founding Farmer and the Question of Slavery which depicts the “first farmer of America” as a leading practitioner of the New Husbandry, a transatlantic movement that spearheaded advancements in crop rotation.

Register here to attend virtually or here to attend in person. Drink included!

 

Ben’s Book Club: ‘Running from Bondage’ by Karen Cook-Bell

Wednesday 15 December, 12pm ET/5pm GMT. Register here

Karen Cook-Bell, Associate Professor of History at Bowie State University, will discuss her book, Running from Bondage, recounting the important stories of enslaved women, who comprised one-third of all runaways, and the ways in which they fled, or attempted to flee, bondage during and after the Revolutionary War.

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin and the Gulf Stream

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Did you know that Ben Franklin crossed the Atlantic 8 times in his life? He kept busy on these long journeys by charting the Gulf Stream. Learn more about this ocean current and why it is so important to our climate today, developing an understanding of Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action and Sustainable Development Goal 14: life below water. Create your own convection current at home!

Activity materials: 1 empty spice jar, food colouring, 1 large plastic container, kettle, water, ice (optional)

Safety Notice! Make sure an adult boils the kettle and pours the hot water

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS3: Energy changes and transfers

Most Suitable for KS3 (US Grades 6-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the full class and demonstration below:

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin’s Swim Fins

Replica swim fins on display at the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia, part of Independence National Historical Park

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Did you know that Ben Franklin was a keen swimmer as a young man? Learn how he used his knowledge of water and air dynamics to create devices to help him swim more quickly. Build on this understanding to create paper boats and race them!

Activity materials: paper, straws, tape, scissors, large plastic container/ bath tub/ paddling pool

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS2: Forces (Y3, Y5)

KS3: Forces

Most Suitable for KS2 and KS3 (US Grades 2-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the full class and demonstration:

You can download ‘how to make a paper boat’ visual instructions here 

How to make a paper boat

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin’s Fuel-efficient Stove

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Did you know Ben Franklin was an environmentalist ahead of his time? Ben discouraged waste and even designed a special stove to save fuel. Learn how we are following in his footsteps today by developing renewable energy sources and working towards Sustainable Development Goal 7: affordable and clean energy. Create your own anemometer to measure wind speed!

Activity materials: 5 paper cups, 2 straws, 1 pencil with a rubber, 1 push pin, 1 hole punch

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS3: Energy

Most Suitable for KS3 (US Grades 6-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the full class and demonstration:

How to make an anemometer:

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin’s Bifocals

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries can illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Have you ever wondered how glasses work? Learn how light helps us to see and how Ben made one of the first pairs of bifocal glasses. Use the science of refraction to carry out magic tricks!

Activity materials: 1 glass or jar filled with water, 2 pieces of paper, felt tip pens

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS2: Light (Y3, Y6)

KS3: Light Waves

Most Suitable for KS2 and KS3 (US Grades 2-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the class and demonstration below:

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin’s Glass Armonica

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Did you know that Ben Franklin invented a musical instrument called the glass armonica? Uncover his process of invention and how he harnessed the science of sound to play mesmerising music. Try making your own music with glasses and by creating a musical instrument!

Activity materials: 3 glasses, 1 jug of water, 1 spoon, 1 small plastic container/ cardboard box (e.g. and empty tissues box), rubber bands, 1 cardboard tube (optional)

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS2: Sound (Y4)

KS3: Sound Waves

Most Suitable for KS2 and KS3 (US Grades 2-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the class and demonstration below:

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Live Science Class for Kids: Ben Franklin’s Lightning Rod

Join our series of weekly virtual classes to learn how Ben Franklin’s inventions and scientific discoveries illuminate the national curriculum! You can recreate all the featured science demonstrations at home using household materials.

Did you know that Ben Franklin was one of the fathers of electricity? Learn about Ben’s famous kite and key experiment and how this led to the invention of the lightning rod. Try your hand at some practical activities to explore static electricity!

Activity materials: 2 balloons, 1 piece of paper, 1 spoon

Links to the Science Curriculum:

KS2: Electricity (Y4, Y6)

KS3: Static Electricity

Most Suitable for KS2 and KS3 (US Grades 2-8) but all ages welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact education@benjaminfranklinhouse.org

Watch the class and demonstration below:

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Virtual Talk: Benjamin Franklin in London – the British life of America’s Founding Father

 

For fifths of his long life, Benjamin Franklin regarded himself as British. In 1757 he arrived in London as one of the most celebrated scientists of his age and as a political representative who fiercely advocated a Great British empire of North America. From his London home in Craven Street, here in what is today’s Benjamin Franklin House, he fought to keep that ambition alive right up to March 1775, when he was forced to take ship for America to escape arrest by the British authorities.

George Goodwin, our Honorary Author in Residence at Benjamin Franklin House, captures the fullness of Dr Franklin’s life in the heaving metropolis of 18th century London. He describes Franklin’s friendship with men such as Joseph Priestley and the notorious Francis Dashwood, charts Franklin’s political cooperation with Prime Ministers William Pitt the Elder and the Marquess of Rockingham, and details the final antagonism with the ‘mangling ministers’ in Lord North’s administration which ultimately made Franklin the fiercest of American patriots. In a highly illustrated talk, George tells Benjamin Franklin’s London story with wit and verve.

As well as great friend of this house, George is an Eccles Centre Makin Fellow at the British Library, was the 2018/9 Busey Family Fellow at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, and has twice been a Fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. George is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

George’s book, Benjamin Franklin in London: The British Life of America’s Founding Father (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, UK; Yale University Press, USA), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

Among the review praise was T H Breen’s comment, in the Times Literary Supplement, that “George Goodwin captures as well as any recent biographer just why Franklin’s contemporaries found him so captivating.”

You can order your UK copy here and US copy here or here.

 

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Virtual Talk: Reflecting on the US Primaries

Philip Davies, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, De Montfort University, discusses what the primary season holds and reflects on the months since the opening contests in Iowa and New Hampshire: both the winnowing of a huge field of Democratic hopefuls and the fortunes of those Republicans with the temerity to challenge President Trump.  Looking forward he will speculate on what to expect from the Democratic and Republican Conventions, and anticipate the routes that might be taken to Election Day in November.

Watch the full talk and Q&A below:

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Virtual Talk: What Would Benjamin Franklin Think About Facebook?

As both a publisher and postmaster, Benjamin Franklin frequently had to confront the vexing challenge of squaring the ideals of truth and liberty with the realities of immorality and the threat of harm to private and public interests. While he advocated fiercely for the rights of journalists, Franklin also committed himself to restricting material from his publications that “might countenance Vice, or promote Immorality,” as well as “such things as might do real Injury to any person.” Always, he worried that “an evil magistrate intrusted with power to punish for words would be armed with a weapon the most destructive and terrible.” As we ponder the prospect of greater censorship of social media, Franklin’s experiences and views shed necessary light on our best path forward in tumultuous times.

Amy Werbel, Fulbright Scholar to the United Kingdom and Professor at the State University of New York-Fashion Institute of Technology, is the author of Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock (Columbia University Press, 2018).

Watch the full talk and Q&A here: