Copresented with the Carpenters' Company

In 1740, Franklin would have the readers of his Pennsylvania Gazette believe that he was no more than “a poor ordinary Mechanick of this City.” They knew better. America’s earliest printing magnate, Franklin became a role model for other Philadelphia artisans striving to elevate themselves. By witty anecdote and lampooning editorial, Franklin’s newspaper fostered public appreciation of the artisan and the recognition of talent over right of birth.

Historian Jay Robert Stiefel is an authority on the crafts and commerce of Colonial Philadelphia. A native of that city, he studied history at the University of Pennsylvania and Christ Church, Oxford. Stiefel’s writings and lectures on social history have restored to the historical record many early craftsmen, artists, and merchants whose prominence had been obscured by the passage of time. Copies of his current book are available for purchase and inscription, The Cabinetmaker’s Account: John Head’s Record of Craft & Commerce in Colonial Philadelphia, 1718-1753 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2019)