Franklin Remixed

Ben’s Rich Life

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1736

Ben Franklin didn’t start out rich – but he got rich – the hard way, by working tirelessly in his print shop. His wealth enabled Franklin to retire from his business at age 42 – and to begin a life full of creative inventing, reading and contemplation, and civic and political activism.

Keep reading to learn more about how Ben acquired his wealth (in some good and some ugly ways) and the wonderfully rich life that he led.

Title page, 1733 Poor Richards Almanac

Ben Franklin knew that his tiny booklet of facts, Poor Richard’s Almanack, could provide a great deal of profit. As a printer, one of his many jobs, Franklin first published almanacs for other writers like Thomas Godfrey and John Jerman. When Franklin realized how much money he could make, he decided to print and publish his own almanac beginning in 1733. At this time, most people bought almanacs because the books were like mini encyclopedias. They contained pieces of information about everyday life that were useful. The almanacs cost two shillings per dozen, which was not a whole lot for each almanac. However, because many people bought an almanac (one in ten!), there were large profits. In addition to the fact that almanacs were common, people also bought Franklin’s almanac because he was a very popular person. Franklin also spread the word by advertising for the almanac in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. In the preface to Franklin’s 1733 almanac, Richard Saunders, a fictional character, wrote that his little almanac could be quite profitable. He wrote, “I am excessively poor, and my wife, good woman, is, I tell her, excessively proud… and has threatened more than once to burn all my books if I do not make some profitable use of them for the good of the family.” Franklin was a very smart man to use his almanac as a way to acquire enormous wealth.

-Joshua C.

Cover, 1752 Poor Richards Almanac

Some people valued their copies of Poor Richards Almanack so much, they crafted beautiful covers in which to house them, like this one from 1752.

- Joshua C.

Front page of the The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1736

One of the ways that Franklin made money was by printing the Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin printed a new issue of the Gazette every week; we know how often this paper was published by looking at the dates on the top of the page (January 6-13). Franklin wrote about interesting and unexpected topics, such as being drunk as shown in the image above. Within the newspaper Franklin made lots of money by selling ads — including ads for slave auctions. Not only did he sell the ads, but at one point he bought and sold slaves himself and offered a reward for runaway slaves. Later, Franklin became an anti-slavery activist.

-Julie R

Section III with Building a Community (Junto) tree, Fighting Fires platform, and cases

In 1727 Ben Franklin started the Junto Club with ten of his “cleverest acquaintances.” In this club members debated politics, discussed morals, posed intellectual questions, and drank beer (which they got from an ale store across the street). The Junto Club lasted for forty years.

As the Junto Club became more popular, Ben started other clubs, and he focused on city improvements. With his acquaintances, he created the volunteer fire department, the first lending library in America, the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, and other organizations. Ben Franklin was networking without even knowing it!

This picture (from the Franklin 300 exhibition at the National Constitutional Center) shows how each individual person (on the tree) helped make an improvement. When you press a button, one rod on the tree will light up, and it will show a person’s name. When you press all of the buttons at the same time, all the rods will light up, and it shows you need many people working together to really improve society. Ben Franklin introduced this spirit of democratic collaboration to America!

-Joshua C.

An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places

Franklin not only invented great things, but he also helped promote himself. This was one of Franklin’s business strategies. He would create an invention or found an organization, print up accounts of his work, and sell them. This brought in a lot of publicity for Franklin, and people would buy his inventions and join his organizations. Franklin even included instructions on how to use his inventions, showing people how easy they were to use. You can tell Franklin printed and sold the accounts by looking at the text on the bottom of this page.

-Julie R.

Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754

Ben helped to found the Pennsylvania Hospital (which exists to this day!) in 1751 and then wrote this account of its history. Ben was very good at promoting himself!

- Julie R.

A Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia

The Catalogue of Books is a very smart marketing technique invented by Benjamin Franklin. The way it worked was he printed up a list of books from the Library Company of Philadelphia, the country’s first lending library. Then he would sell it to people who would like a directory of these books for future reference. In the 1800’s only rich eople would have been able to read. Having many books and reading were symbols of wealth.

-Aedhan L.

“Lion’s Mouth” box

Imagine you walk into a library sometime in the 1730’s, and you see a box mounted on the wall that says, “Gentlemen are requested to deposit in the Lion’s Mouth the titles of such books as they may wish to have imported.” At a library today you can’t choose what books you want to have imported. Imported from where? Why imported? You would want to have a book imported from Britain because in America at that time, they did not have many books, whereas in Britain there would have been many books.

-Aedhan L.