This machine is similar to one that was constructed by Ben Franklin and donated by his grandson to the Library Company of Philadelphia. It has been in storage under less than ideal conditions for some time, and the provenance is not currently associated with the object. Our ongoing collections project, Lost & Found, is designed to assemble and collate collections documentation and make sure that “we know what we know” about each object as we also work to update storage conditions. Watch this site for more information… we would love to know who made this machine and when. It is tempting to speculate, however, since we do know that Franklin’s brother James lived and worked in Newport, and that electrical experiments were performed by several colonial Newporters who were in contact with Franklin in Philadelphia.
