Benjamin Franklin’s resume could put most people to shame.

He invented the lightning rod, wrote the famous Poor Richard’s Almanac and not to mention was also one of the Founding Father’s of the country- no small task.

However, one of Franklin’s most significant contributions was to the foundation of American journalism.

As a part of Booth Library’s “Benjamin Franklin: In search of a better world,” members of the journalism department spoke on behalf of Franklin’s contributions to the press which still resonate today.

Journalism instructor Elizabeth Viall approached Sally Renaud, an associate journalism professor, and Lola Burnham, an assistant professor of journalism, to organize the presentation.

Renaud spoke on Franklin’s origins in the printing business, including his sneaky debut in print.

At the age of 16, most teenagers are occupied by gossip, television and iPods. However, it was at this age that Franklin first wrote 14 letters under the penname Silence Dogood, which would become “a hallmark of American humor,” Renaud said.

Dogood, as written by Franklin, was a middle-aged widow with “homespun, folksy tales” about colonial life. In the letters, which ran in his brother James’ newspaper The New England Courant from April 2 to Oct. 8, 1722, Franklin poked fun at various aspects of life in colonial America including drunkenness of locals and women’s fashion.

However, James was not aware his younger sibling was the mastermind behind the popular widow at the time. Renaud said the only concrete proof that Dogood was Franklin’s creation was when he wrote, “My writing. Mrs. Dogood’s letters.”

Renaud added most scholars do agree Dogood was Franklin’s doing.

“Other newspapers in this time were read, but not like the Courant,” Renaud said. “People read the Courant. They talked about it. They fought about it. It offered a kind of journalism that mattered. It had a prickly temperament and a sense of social purpose and those two traits remain hallmarks of American journalism.”

Franklin began his post career with a feud with rival printer Andrew Bradford, Burnham said. When Franklin and Bradford (who then published The American Weekly Mercury) collaborated to put a third printer and former employer Samuel Keimer out of business, the plan backfired.

In response, Keimer launched The Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette.

“I suspect it’s the longest name in newspaper names,” Burnham said.

At the time, Bradford was Philadelphia’s postmaster. This meant he had full authority to refuse distribution to rival papers- including Franklin. However, Alexander Spotswood replaced Bradford as deputy postmaster general for the American colonies in 1730 and later appointed Franklin as postmaster general of the United States.

In 1758, they issued an order that all newspapers must be issued through the mail if they paid postage.

Burnham said the one important exception to this rule was newspaper single copies could be exchanged between printers at no postage. Although this had been practiced for some time, Franklin made this official.

“Before the telegraph, before the Associated Press, printers’ exchange allowed for the free information throughout the colonies,” Burnham said. She later continued, “They begin to think of this as an America, not the colony of Pennsylvania or the colony of different places.”

From Franklin’s role as postmaster came partnerships and networks that would shape his career, Viall said.

“You normally don’t think of networks in colonial times, but if anyone could network it was Ben Franklin- and he did,” Viall said.

In 1755, Franklin’s network of printers ranged from New England to the West Indies. It involved 24 printers and had many key effects on American journalism, Viall added.

His partners were journeymen and apprentices that worked for his newspapers were very “like minded.”

“He picked people who had a good work ethic. He picked people who had good skills in printing,” Viall said. “He picked people who he knew would not go out and get drunk.”

Journalists today could learn from Franklin to think with prudence and good character, Viall said.

“(Journalists should also try) to be altruistic and to help other people because that was really what (Franklin) was all about if you really look at it,” Viall said. “If you apply that to journalism, you could do good things.”

Shelley Holmgren can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].