Scope and Content Note
The papers of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) span the years 1726 to 1907, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1770-1789. Consisting of correspondence, journals, records, articles, and other material, the collection reflects Franklin's many interests and activities.
Series I relates chiefly to Franklin's mission to France to obtain diplomatic recognition of the rebellious colonies as well as financial and military aid and to participate in the peace negotiations in Paris and London preceding the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The series contains seventeen interrelated volumes chiefly pertaining to Franklin's years in France. Six are letterbooks of the United States legation in Paris, 1779-1782. Other volumes include letters in French to Franklin, 1777-1780; records of the peace commissioners, 1780-1783; negotiations in London, 1775 (original and Franklin's corrected transcript); and Franklin's correspondence with David Hartley, 1775-1781. Single volumes include the Craven Street, London, letterbook, 1772-1773, one of the few pre-Revolutionary Franklin letterbooks to survive; the signed Petition of the First Continental Congress to the King, 16 October 1774; and Richard Oswald's journal concerning the peace commission, 1782.
Series II has been described in the Library's publication List of the Benjamin Franklin Papers in the Library of Congress compiled in 1905 by Worthington C. Ford. Of the fourteen volumes in this series, eleven represent a selection of Franklin's correspondence, 1726-1790 made by William Temple Franklin prior to his departure for London in 1791. The letters bear many editorial annotations, deletions, and other changes made by William Temple Franklin before publication of his three-volume work. This series also contains a volume of notes entitled “Medical, Nature Printing and Addenda” and two volumes of William Temple Franklin's papers.
Series III represents a miscellaneous group of Benjamin Franklin items gathered by the Library. It includes the original manuscript of Franklin's Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion; his correspondence with M. S. Hewson, 1760-1779; a facsimile copy of his ledger as postmaster general, 1775-1778; his correspondence with Jan Ingenhousz, 1777-1785; and other papers, 1728-1841 and undated.
Series IV includes copies of items held by other institutions and transcripts of material from Series I and II which is not on the microfilm of the Library's Benjamin Franklin Papers.
The Addition consists of a letter, 1753, from Franklin to George Whitefield concerning the importance of “good works” in the Christian faith. The letter written in an unknown hand is a print made from a microfilm in the American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.