Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World
Online Site Support Notebook: Speakers for Programs
Your state humanities council has a list of scholars who have experience with public programming, and many humanities councils have formal Speaker's Bureaus. Check to see if there are scholars who specialize in Franklin and/or the Revolutionary Period.
The Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lectureship Program (
www.oah.org/activities/lectureship/2007/index.php) also offers lecturers (for a $1,000 fee) who specialize in Franklin and the Revolutionary period.
The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary offered the following speaker suggestions during the 2006 Franklin Tercentennial year. We have not re-checked the contact information for each entry -- if you have any problems contacting potential speakers, please e-mail the ALA Public Programs Office at
publicprograms@ala.org
Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World companion book authors
Walter Isaacson
isaacson@aspeninsitute.org
202.736.5840
Washington, D.C.
Prof. J. A. Leo Lemay
lemay@udel.edu
302-831-8011
Wilmington, DE
Jim Green (Franklin as printer/librarian)
215-546-3181
jgreen@librarycompany.org
Philadelphia, PA
Prof. Billy G. Smith (Franklin and civic improvement, social historian)
bgs@montana.edu
406-994-5207
Bozman, MT
Prof. E. Philip Krider (Franklin and science)
520-621-6836
krider@atmo.arizona.edu
Tucson, AZ
Prof. Robert L. Middlekauff (Franklin and politics)
rlmiddlek@juno.com
510-642-1971
Berkeley, CA
Ms. Ellen Cohn (Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Yale, expert on all aspects of Franklin, particularly music)
Ellen.cohn@yale.edu
203-432-1815
New Haven, CT
Emma Lapsansky (Franklin and slavery/abolition)
elapsans@haverford.edu
610-896-1274
Philadelphia, PA
Edmund Morgan
Edmund.morgan@yale.edu
203-432-1366
New Haven, CT
Page Talbott (Chief Curator and Associate Curator, Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World--specialist interest in Franklin's material world.)
pagetalbott@aol.com
610-667-7496
Philadelphia, PA
Others
Rosalind Remer (Executive Director, Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary. Specialist interest in Franklin as businessman, entrepreneur/economy and business climate of early America)
rremer@benfranklin300.org
215.557.0733
Philadelphia, PA
Roy Goodman (Reference Librarian of the American Philosophical Society, collector of Franklin in popular culture, and knowledgeable about the most obscure Franklin topics -- Franklin and agriculture, for instance.)
rgoodman@amphilsoc.org
215.440.3408
Philadelphia, PA
David Rhees (Executive Director, The Bakken: A Library and Museum of Electricity in Life -- Franklin and the history of electrical experimentation)
rhees@thebakken.org
612-926-3878
Minneapolis, MN
Richard Beeman (Professor of History at Penn, particular focus on Franklin and diplomacy with France and England, and Franklin and the American Revolution.)
rbeeman@sas.upenn.edu
610-566-3773
Philadelphia, PA
Michael Zuckerman (Professor of History at Penn, Franklin and character/culture)
mzuckerm@history.upenn.edu
Philadelphia, PA
Gordon Wood (Professor of History at Brown, Franklin becoming an American)
Gordon_Wood@brown.edu
401-863-2820
Providence, RI
Claude Ann Lopez (retired, Papers of Benjamin Franklin at Yale, Franklin and the ladies of France, Franklin in France)
(203) 389-1953
New Haven, CT
Stacy Schiff (Franklin in France, Franklin and diplomacy)
smschiff@aol.com
New York, NY
Philip Dray (Franklin and science)
lpdray@aol.com
718 486-5974
New York, NY
Agent: Jynne Martin
JyMartin@Randomhouse.com
(212) 572-2476
James Srodes
Franklin Biographer
srodesnews@msn.com
202-232-5312
Washington, DC
Kerry Walters (Franklin and Religion)
kwalters@gettysburg.edu
Gettysburg, PA
Paul Pasles (Franklin and mathematics)
paul.pasles@villanova.edu
610-519-7345
Philadelphia, PA
Joe Wos (Franklin and cartoons)
www.onceuponatoon.com
412-798-9273
joewos@onceuponatoon.com
Mark Skausen
Franklin Biographer and Descendant
914-591-8083
Irvington, NY
