Benjamin Franklin

White House report accuses Smithsonian museum of 'ideological capture'

A 162-page White House report released in July criticized the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, citing exhibits like 'The Electric Dr. Franklin,' which speculated Benjamin Franklin may have used enslaved people in electrical experiments. The report argued the museum has shifted from historical education toward what it called 'extreme political activism.' The Franklin exhibit closed in 2025 but remains viewable online.

arstechnica.com · 2026-09-27

Smithsonian essay traces how Benjamin Franklin used pseudonyms to speak freely

A Smithsonian magazine special report examines how Benjamin Franklin repeatedly invented fictional authorial personas—such as the widow Silence Dogood and the unwed mother Polly Baker—to publish opinions he couldn't voice under his own name. As a teenager, Franklin used the Dogood persona to sneak past his brother's ban on printing his writing, while Polly Baker's fictional courtroom defense skewered unequal treatment of unmarried mothers versus the men who fathered their children.

smithsonianmag.com · 2026-08-30