Oxnard Public Library Hosts Ben Franklin Exhibit

The traveling exhibit “Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World” will be on display at the Main Branch of the Oxnard Public Library from December 17, 2009 to February 17, 2010. Here is a great opportunity to look into the life of this uniquely American genius, Benjamin Franklin. The exhibit has 1,000 square feet of photographs, artifacts and documents. It will also feature films about Benjamin Franklin and talks from Franklin impersonators that will be informative and entertaining for children and adults. The link above will take you to the Oxnard Public Library site which lists a schedule of events surrounding the exhibit.

One of the reasons I chose to make Benjamin Franklin a featured part of my blog, apart from the obvious one that I am in the printing business, is that I felt he was the embodiment of so many American ideals. He was proud of his "leather apron" status as a tradesman and wary of inherited titles or inherited wealth. He believed each man was responsible for himself, but also organized his community to take care of common problems. He cautioned against creating a dependent poor class, but was very generous and charitable with his time and money. He was not quick to join the movement toward revolution, but when he did, he put his entire heart into it, risking all that he had.

Franklin was not perfect. His family life certainly left a lot to be desired. But the public Benjamin Franklin was the near model American. Industrious, intelligent, civic minded, generous, ambitious, courageous, practical and inquisitive, Benjamin Franklin was precisely the kind of person it took to forge a new country based on democratic ideals.  "Greatness" is a term often associated with conquerors and political leaders. It is not often associated with Benjamin Franklin. He is too much the common man, too much like us. But therein is precisely where his greatness lies. Go see the exhibit at the Oxnard Public Library.