Before he invented the lightning rod, charted the Gulf Stream, or helped to draft the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin was Postmaster of Philadelphia from 1737 to 1753. What can we learn from his colonial American post office ledgers?
For decades, scholars have studied the many letters, notes, and account books that Benjamin Franklin produced over the course of his eventful lifespan (1706-1790). The American Philosophical Society holds the majority of these items, including the less frequently analyzed ledgers and documents that Franklin created while working as Postmaster of Philadelphia.
"Franklin's Philadelphia Post Office Ledgers: A Glimpse Into Colonial Correspondence Networks" is a multi-year digital initiative by the American Philosophical Society's Center for Digital Scholarship intended to remedy this gap in the scholarship by bringing Franklin's post office documentation to the foreground. This project is a part of the Society's Open Data Initiative.