Franklin Printing Press
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Download IIIF ManifestRequest permissionsDownload image PrintID: SIA2010-2429 or 17539-B or MAH-17539B
Creator: Unknown
Form/Genre: Photographic print
Date: c. 1890s
Citation: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 285, Box 17, Folder: 3
The Franklin Printing Press, an English common press, from the Historic Relics Collection. In 1768, Benjamin Franklin visited the printing company in London where he had apprenticed in the 1720s. Franklin purportedly took a turn at this press, although he had not operated a press when he worked there. The press was then deemed so historically valuable that it was purchased and transported to the United States, where it went on display in the Patent Office Building and later went to the Smithsonian as the "Franklin Press."
Franklin, Benjamin 1706-1790
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
See also RU 95 Box 53, Folder 9 Negative Number 9160 for similar photograph.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 285, Box 17, Folder: 3
Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu
c. 1890s
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SIA2010-2429 or 17539-B or MAH-17539B
Color: Black and White; Size: 4 3/4w x 8h; Type of Image: Object; Medium: Photographic print