1935, one of the group’s main locations from 1880 to 1935. The Library Company of Philadelphia Founding father Benjamin Franklin knew better than most the benefits of self-education.

Hugh Talman / NMAH In the beer-soaked world of the printing apprentice in 18th-century London, Franklin is the abstemious “Water-American”: “My companion at the press drank every day a pint ...

The members of the Supreme Court including Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes (center, front row) ruled against President Franklin Delano ... hundreds of letters a day, all on the Court ...