Jun
06

Today in Smithsonian History: June 6, 1967

Benjamin Franklin Printing Press

The Franklin Printing Press, an English common press, from the Historic Relics Collection. In 1768, Benjamin Franklin visited the printing company in London where he had apprenticed in the 1720s. Franklin purportedly took a turn at this press, although he had not operated a press when he worked there. The press was then deemed so historically valuable that it was purchased and transported to the United States, where it went on display in the Patent Office Building and later went to the Smithsonian as the “Franklin Press.”

June 6, 1967 Two halls covering the period 1640 to 1851 open in the “Growth of the United States” exhibition in the National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History. Many objects of particular interest representing the arts, technology and science are on display, including a printing press used by Benjamin Franklin, the wheels and gears from a 1774 grist mill from Chester County, Pa., and a house frame from Ipswich, Mass., dating from the 1690s and 1750s.


Posted: 6 June 2019
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