Collection of Benjamin Franklin's Letters Found

A collection of letters written by, to, and about Benjamin Franklin has been discovered by an American professor doing research in London, and has just been shared with a large audience for the first time. Alan Houston is a professor at the University of California at San Diego, and he stumbled upon the series of letters on his very last day of his very last research trip, at the very last hours before the library closed. Lucky? I’d say he hit the jackpot with this one.

These letters offer solid information into the early days of U.S. history, over 250 years ago, that were previously unnoted by historians. The 47 letters that were found deal with Benjamin Franklin’s success in dealing with a British army general named Edward Braddock, during the time that he lived in London. The newly-discovered letters were hand-written copies that were filed under the copyist’s name instead of Franklin’s, which is why they have been overlooked by historians for hundreds of years. When interviewed about his astonishing discovery, Houston stated, “I swear, I just about shot through the ceiling I was so excited. It's like finding a treasure chest.” A great big job-well-done goes out to Professor Houston.

The letters deal with Franklin’s interactions with General Braddock, who was sent to Pennsylvania in 1755 to fight and defeat the French at Fort Duquesne, which is now modern-day Pittsburgh. This specific fight was part of the French and British battle for power over the western lands during the colonial period in America. When Franklin was sent to London in 1757, he brought this collection of letters with him as a type of resume-booster and proof of his political value to Great Britain. Benjamin Franklin has referred to this collection of letters in his autobiography as his “quire book” and despite heavy searching, it was never found, until now.

The fact that the letters were filed under a copyist’s name for all these years raises the question in many historians’ minds as to whether or not there are more undiscovered letters of early historical figures laying around on a shelf somewhere just waiting to be found. This miraculous discovery has set the movement for larger research to take place in examining old documents written by copyists, to see if they too offer insight into previously unknown historical events. Who knows, maybe there are some secrets to the early days of America’s success just sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust.