Dr. Franklin Departs

"Dr. Franklin" left, not by carriage, on Thursday evening, December 11 for the The Library of Hattiesburg, Petal and Forrest County, Mississippi, the next stop on his tercentennial tour of America's libraries.

He was anxious to be on his way so as not to conflict in anyway with the library's celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln.

Brilliant Ideas Bulletin Board in Youth Services Dept.

This display was crafted by Debbie Graham of the Niles Youth Services Department during the Franklin Festival, presented in conjunction with the Benajmin Franklin: In Search of a Better World Exhbition.

Dr. Franklin's Reception in the Irish House of Commons

The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, Viscount Pery of Limerick, at the Opening Fall Session on Tuesday, October 8, in 1771, queried the House if “an American gentleman of distinguished Character and Merit” who wished to be present for the debates might be admitted. He pointed out that there was “a Rule of the House for admitting members of the English Parliaments,” and he supposed that the House would consider the American Assemblies as English Parliaments, but as this was the first instance he would ask for their directions.


“The whole House gave a loud, unanimous Aye.”

Above quotations taken from J. Bennett Nolan’s Benjamin Franklin in Ireland and Scotland, p. 157

Bust of Benjamin Franklin

now stands in the Reference Department of the Niles Public Library to commemmorate the successful visit of the Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World Exhibition from October 15 through December 5. The exhibit was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life and the American Library Association's Public Programs Office. The exhibit is based on a major exhibition of the same name mounted by the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission.