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Benjamin Franklin (book)
''Benjamin Franklin'' is a non-fiction biography written by literary critic and biographer Carl Van Doren. The book was originally published in 1938 by Viking Press; it is an authoritative telling of Franklin's life that makes heavy use of his own autobiography and his later papers and essays. The book was the 1939 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. The book received critical acclaim upon release and has been re-released in numerous editions. Background Van Doren signed a deal with Viking and received an advance of $3,000 to complete his biography on Benjamin Franklin. Van Doren travelled up and down New England visiting various institutions that housed Franklin's papers to research the book, including the archives at the American Philosophical Society, University of Philadelphia, along with Harvard and Yale University among others. He spent nearly every day exploring these archives for two years searching for information that had not yet been revealed in any Franklin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Van Doren
Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren. He won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ''Benjamin Franklin''. Life and career Van Doren was born on September 10, 1885 in Hope, Vermilion County, Illinois, the son of Eudora Ann (Butz) and Charles Lucius Van Doren, a country doctor. He and his younger brother Mark Van Doren (born 1894), were raised on the family farm. Van Doren earned a bachelor of arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1907 and a doctorate from Columbia University in 1911. He continued to teach there until 1930. He was a world federalist and once said, "It is obvious that no difficulty in the way of world government can match the danger of a world without it". In 1939, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ''Benjamin Franklin''. Van Dore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States Postmaster General. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his studies of electricity, and for charting and naming the current still known as the Gulf Stream. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among others. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania. Isaacson, 2004, p. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viking Press
Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquired by the Penguin Group in 1975. History Guinzburg, a Harvard graduate and former employee of Simon and Schuster and Oppenheimer, a graduate of Williams College and Alfred A. Knopf, founded Viking in 1925 with the goal of publishing nonfiction and "distinguished fiction with some claim to permanent importance rather than ephemeral popular interest." B. W. Huebsch joined the firm shortly afterward. Harold Guinzburg's son Thomas became president in 1961. The firm's name and logo—a Viking ship drawn by Rockwell Kent—were meant to evoke the ideas of adventure, exploration, and enterprise implied by the word "Viking." In August 1961, they acquired H.B. Huesbsch, which maintained a list of backlist titles from authors such as James Joyce an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin
''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin'' is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his ''Memoirs''. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written. Franklin's account of his life is divided into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them. There are actual breaks in the narrative between the first three parts, but Part Three's narrative continues into Part Four without an authorial break. In the "Introduction" of the 1916 publication of the ''Autobiography'', editor F. W. Pine wrote that Franklin's biography provided the "most remarkable of all the remarkable histories of our self-made men" with Franklin as the greatest exemplar. Summary Part One Part One of the ''Autobiography'' is addressed to Fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulitzer Prize For Biography
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir by an American author or co-authors, published during the preceding calendar year. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year. Winners In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, none in 1962. 1910s * 1917: ''Julia Ward Howe'' by Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, assisted by Florence Howe Hall * 1918: '' Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed'' by William Cabell Bruce * 1919: ''The Education of Henry Adams'' by Henry Adams 1920s * 1920: ''The Life of John Marshall'', 4 vols. by Albert J. Beveridge * 1921: ''The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After'' by Edward Bok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach. Considered the first learned society in the United States, it has about 1,000 elected members, and by April 2020 had had only 5,710 members since its creation. Through research grants, published journals, the American Philosophical Society Museum, an extensive library, and regular meetings, the society supports a variety of disciplines in the humanities and the sciences. Philosophical Hall, now a museum, is just east of Independence Hall in Independence National Historical Park; it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965. History The Philosophical Society, as it was originally called, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin, James Alexander (lawyer), James Alexander, Francis Hopkinson, John Bartram, Philip Syn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Philadelphia
Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the university sometimes carries the nomenclature ''Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University)'' in its branding. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university is named for U.S. Founding Father and president Thomas Jefferson. History Thomas Jefferson University was founded in 1824 and merged with another university located in same city, Philadelphia University, in 2017. Philadelphia University was originally known as Philadelphia Textile School when it was founded in 1884, and then Philadelphia Textile Institute for 20 years (1942 to 1961), Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science for 58 years (1962 to 1999), and Philadelphia University for 18 years (1999 to 2017), its final ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and one of the most prestigious and highly ranked universities in the world. The university is composed of ten academic faculties plus Harvard Radcliffe Institute. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences offers study in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate academic disciplines, and other faculties offer only graduate degrees, including professional degrees. Harvard has three main campuses: the Cambridge campus centered on Harvard Yard; an adjoining campus immediately across Charles River in the Allston neighborhood of Boston; and the medical campus in Boston's Longwood Medical Area. Harvard's endowment is valued at $50.9 billion, making it the wealthiest academic institution in the world. Endowment inco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the world. It is a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by the Connecticut Colony, the Collegiate School was established in 1701 by clergy to educate Congregational ministers before moving to New Haven in 1716. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century, the college expanded into graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first PhD in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale's faculty and student populations grew after 1890 with rapid expansion of the physical campus and scientific research. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools: the original undergraduate col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Howard
Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. Early life Sidney Howard was born in Oakland, California, the son of Helen Louise (née Coe) and John Lawrence Howard. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1915 and went on to Harvard University to study playwriting under George Pierce Baker in his legendary "47 workshop." (Other alumni of Baker's class included Eugene O'Neill, Thomas Wolfe, Philip Barry and S.N. Behrman. Howard became good friends with Behrman.) Along with other students of Harvard professor A. Piatt Andrew, Howard volunteered with Andrew's American Field Service, serving in France and the Balkans during World War I. After the war, Howard made use of his proficiency at foreign languages and translated a number of literary works from French, Spani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum (KAO) theater chain and Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) studio were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October 1928. RCA chief David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the company's sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophone, and in early 1929 production began under the RKO name (an abbreviation of Radio-Keith-Orpheum). Two years later, another Kennedy holding, the Pathé studio, was folded into the operation. By the mid-1940s, RKO was controlled by investor Floyd Odlum. RKO has long been renowned for its cycle of musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-to-late 1930s. Actors Katharine Hepburn and, later, Robert Mitchum had the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lewiston Daily Sun
''The Lewiston Daily Sun'' was a newspaper published in Lewiston, Maine. Established in 1893, it became the dominant morning daily in the Lewiston-Auburn city and town area. In 1926, its publisher acquired the ''Lewiston Evening Journal'' and published the two papers until they merged into the '' Sun Journal'' in 1989. History Henry Wing founded ''The Lewiston Daily Sun'' on February 20, 1893. Hoping to compete with the Republican-leaning ''Lewiston Evening Journal'', it proclaimed itself in its first issue as “the only Democratic daily paper published in central Maine.” Five years later, it was purchased by George W. Wood, who merged the paper with his weekly ''Maine Statesman'' and changed its editorial stance. In its first two decades, circulation quadrupled from 2,000 copies per day to 8,000, thanks largely to the arrival of Rural Free Delivery in the region. In 1926, Wood acquired the ''Lewiston Evening Journal'' and began printing the two papers from 104 Park Street i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
