The Alliance

In the lecture hall of the American Philosophical Society, next door to Philadelphia's Independence Hall, a small group of notables gathered last week for a special ceremony. Behind them hung the portrait of the society's founder, Benjamin Franklin, and it was with the memory and works of Franklin that the notables were concerned. Presidents A. Whitney Griswold of Yale and Owen J. Roberts of the American Philosophical Society had come to announce that their two institutions were about to collaborate on one of the major literary ventures of the century -- the publication of all the known Franklin papers.

In a way, it was only natural that the university and the society should form an alliance. Over the years, both have gradually built up vast collections; together they now account for all but a very small percent of Franklin memorabilia.

Yale owns the world's biggest collection of printed Franklin material and the American Philosophical Society has the greatest collection of Franklin manuscripts. The only trouble was that for any definitive project, neither institution could move without the other.

One day in the summer of 1953, a Yale alumnus happened to make a remark to President Griswold: "Look, Princeton has its Jefferson. Why don't we have Franklin at Yale?" Griswold promptly began consulting with the Yale University Press, then started raising the money. Most of the $600,000 which the project will cost came in one lump from TIME Inc. on behalf of LIFE, the Philosophical Society contributing the balance. After that, Griswold and Roberts decided to go ahead.

The idea behind the project is to photograph not only the society's collection, but also the smaller ones scattered about the country, and to assemble the material at Yale. There, Historian Leonard Labaree will set up a "Franklin factory'' to do the editing job. Over the next 15 years, with funds raised from friends and alumni, the Yale University Press will publish the Franklin volumes one by one.

Last week in Philadelphia, Presidents Griswold and Roberts made it clear that it would not be their own institutions alone that would benefit from their alliance. "There could be no more appropriate time than this," said Roberts, "to bring this material to the attention of the American people." Added Griswold: "Few Americans have as much to teach us about ourselves today as Benjamin Franklin."

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