This week on The Historians Podcast, Dan Weaver says a 1768 letter to colonial leader Sir William Johnson casts doubt on the claim by some historians that Ben Franklin invented bifocal eyeglasses. Weaver is history columnist for the Amsterdam NY Recorder, president of Historic Amsterdam League and a trustee of Old Fort Johnson, one of Sir William’s homes.
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Have you heard the saying “behind every great man stands a great woman?”
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Vivian Bruce Conger, the Robert Ryan Professor in the Humanities at Ithaca College, joins us to explore the two great women that Benjamin Franklin had standing behind and beside him: his wife, Deborah Read Franklin, and his daughter, Sally Franklin Bache. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/022