pcoming Events
Booking
For more information or to book any event, please call +44 207 839 2006, email
info@BenjaminFranklinHouse.org, or send a cheque made payable to Friends of Benjamin Franklin House along with the name of the event/date to Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street, London WC2N 5NF.
Friends, students, and those over 65 are entitled to a concessionary rate.
To listen to Podcasts from previous events please click here.
Benjamin Franklin House Events 2010
Join us for fascinating Franklinesque events: From monthly Monday talks, to the Craven Street lecture series featuring in-house Franklin scholar Lady Joan Reid; inventive comedy evenings and our annual 4th July party!
Lady Reid Lecture
Franklin in Portraiture
Wednesday 10 March, 6.30pm
During his long years in London, Franklin sat for many portraits including the famous likeness painted by David Martin in 1766, commissioned by Scottish merchant and Franklin friend, Robert Alexander. The talk will look at what this portrait and others of the period 'say' about Franklin and encompass Franklin's connection to 18th century London art - including as a member of the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufacture - and artists like Benjamin West, who himself had ties to Pennsylvania.
£5/3.50 Friends and concessions
National Science & Engineering Week
Saturday 20 March, Drop in between 11am – 3pm
In honour of Franklin, the science innovator, enjoy a free open day, suitable for all ages. The 2010 theme is earth: discover Franklin’s studies of water and movement and explore the Midden of Mystery in the courtyard to uncover some of the secrets the earth has kept for centuries.
Free for all
Franklin and his Craven Street Gazette
Monday 22 March, 1pm
Founding Director, Dr Márcia Balisciano will explore the real and the fictional in Franklin's Craven Street Gazette, his charming tale of life at his London lodgings.
£5/3.50 Friends and concessions
Easter Week Kids Days: The Craven Street Bones
Tuesday 6 April and Tuesday 13 April, 11am and 2pm
36 Craven Street was not just home to Benjamin Franklin. Anatomist William Hewson, also lived here and ran an anatomy school from the premises after his marriage to Polly, daughter of Franklin’s landlady in 1770. During restoration, over 1200 bones, the gruesome by-products of his trade, were uncovered. Find out more about this darker side of Franklin’s London, in the knowledgeable hands of trained archaeologist and House Education Manager, Sally Brewer.
£5 per child, free for adults
Reception in association with Chevening
Tuesday 13 April, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Benjamin Franklin House is proud to host a reception in association with Chevening, the country home of the UK Foreign Secretary. The evening reception in Franklin’s Parlour will feature a letter Franklin wrote from that very room in honour of William Pitt, the Elder.
£10/£8 Friends and concessions
