Mystic Puritan

Capacious indeed is the mind that could invent Daylight Savings Time and the urinary catheter. Benjamin Franklin, whose countenance peers primly from the $100 bill (implicitly reminding us that “a penny saved is twopence earned”), had, shall we say, a lot more energy than that portrait implies. The man invented a musical instrument (the glass armonica), created the first public library in the U.S., established the principles of electricity, charted the Gulf Stream, combated slavery, and still managed to find time to woo French hotties half his age. In a two-day series of lectures and concerts titled “Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America,” Humanities West explores his life, loves, music, journalism, scientific discoveries, diplomacy, and community organizing (yes, in the Obama sense of the term). Tonight’s keynote address by historian Gary Nash, “Benjamin Franklin, Social Revolutionist, In Philadelphia, America’s First City,” discusses how Franklin helped set the foundation for our civil society. A musical performance on the glass armonica follows. On Saturday, Dee Andrews examines how Franklin’s “brand” has evolved through the years. He may never actually have flown that kite, but he remains the most electrifying of the Founding Fathers.

The keynote address begins at 8 p.m.
Oct. 17-18, 2008