Hello, Joe!
Welcome to Sally Franklin’s Bookshelf, a new feature from the team at Clio Digital Media. Every other week, we’ll interview the author of a new book and learn about their work. As you can imagine, every year there are far more books published about early American history than we could ever feature on Ben Franklin’s World. We know that you would like to hear about more books by fascinating scholars, and we know the scholars want to tell you about them.
Starting next Sunday, you’ll receive a newsletter every other week in which Morgan McCullough, our co-editor, interviews the author of a new book about their work. And we decided to name this new feature after Sally Franklin, Benjamin Franklin’s only daughter.
Sarah Franklin was born in Philadelphia in 1743, the youngest child of Benjamin and Deborah Franklin. Married to merchant Richard Bache in 1767, she raised eight children, including the printer Benjamin Franklin Bache, drove charitable relief during the Revolutionary War, and cared for her father in his final years in Philadelphia.
Like her father, Sally was an avid reader and writer, and we want to honor the contributions that she and many other women made to the history of reading, writing, and printing in early America.
Women played a central role in the printing and book trades. Sally’s mother, Deborah Franklin, worked alongside Benjamin in his printing shop through the 1730s and 1740s. He described her work in his autobiography, noting that she “assisted me chearfully in my Business, folding and stitching Pamphlets, tending Shop, purchasing old Linen Rags for the Paper-makers, &c. &c.”
You can learn more about Sally Franklin Bache and her mother, Deborah Franklin, in Episode 22 of Ben Franklin’s World.
We’re so excited to be working with Morgan McCullough on this project. As the main editor for the series, she’ll be preparing each newsletter. Here’s Morgan to introduce herself:
Hello, I’m delighted to be working with Liz, Joe, and all the talented historians of early America as the co-editor for Sally Franklin’s Bookshelf! I, like many of you, am a lifelong, curious reader and history-lover. I spent eight years delving into the experiences of eighteenth-century women and their material culture while at William & Mary for my PhD.
Lately, my professional focus has turned to editing. I ensure that history content is clear, accessible, and accurate; you can reach me at mmcculloughedits@gmail.com for editing inquiries. For the past two years, this has included editing the transcripts for Ben Franklin’s World. Sally Franklin’s Bookshelf is sure to be a great companion to the podcast, so I hope you’ll read along as we learn about what’s new in early American scholarship and grow our TBRs (to be read) lists together!
Next week we’ll get started with new work on the seventeenth-century poet Anne Bradstreet. If you have any questions or suggestions about this new feature, feel free to email either Morgan or me at joe@benfranklinsworld.com.
Here’s to lots of great reading in 2026!
Joe Adelman
Co-Editor, Sally Franklin’s Bookshelf |
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