CAPE MAY — Despite wind, rain and tidal flooding, well more than 200 people attended this year’s annual Lessons of History Distinguished Lecture Series on Oct. 12.
“Benjamin Franklin’s Revolutions” featured Penn State University English professor Carla J. Mulford and American Philosophical Society Director of the Library & Museum Michelle Craig McDonald.
Mulford spoke about Benjamin Franklin and his relationship with his son during the crucial years of the American Revolution. She also spoke on the importance of Cape May’s port as a safe harbor for American ships as the Revolution began.
McDonald focused on an aspect of Franklin’s success in diplomacy — his ability to engage and amuse those around him. Stories of Franklin’s ability to meld politics with humor are legion, spanning his work in England and France, as well as in the colonies.
Evidence appears not only in his professional papers, but also in his personal correspondence and deliberate efforts to craft his image.
Cape May Star & Wave and Ocean City Sentinel newspaper publisher David Nahan moderated a Q&A session after the lectures, fielding lively questions from the audience for both speakers. A sign language interpreter provided interpretation for the program.
Franklin’s accomplishments and talents were broad, deep, varied and crucially important to the fight for independence from Britain and the founding of a fledgling nation.
He possessed extraordinary diplomatic finesse and had an insatiable curiosity, working well into his 80s.
Franklin was the public face for independence, individual rights and freedom from political tyranny. His private agony was his beloved son, the governor of New Jersey, who remained steadfastly devoted to Britain. Through it all, Franklin’s wit and wisdom helped put a stamp on the new nation.
Mulford, a scholar of British and American studies and founding president of the Society of Early Americanists, has taught at Penn State for nearly 40 years. She has won two major university teaching awards, in addition to receiving research fellowships for her scholarship from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt/Yale Macmillan Center History Network, and the New Jersey Historical Commission.
In addition to publishing nearly two dozen essays and book chapters on Franklin, Mulford published “The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Franklin” in 2009 and a well-received monograph, “Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire” in 2015.
A new book under the title “Benjamin Franklin’s Electrical Diplomacy” is currently being reviewed for publication. Continuing her work on Franklin’s diplomacy, she has undertaken a new book tentatively titled “Benjamin Franklin, Mediterranean Piracy, and American Slavery.”
McDonald is the librarian/Director of the Library & Museum at the American Philosophical Society, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, and steward of more than 80 percent of Franklin’s correspondence.
She has worked for nearly three decades as an educator and administrator. McDonald is the author of “Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States,” published in 2025, and co-author of “Public Drinking in the Early Modern World: Voices from the Tavern,” which appeared in 2011.
Her research focuses on early American trade and consumer behavior, and has received support from the Fulbright Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard Business School, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Library Company of Philadelphia, the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, and the New Jersey Historical Commission.
She has served on the governing boards of the Association of Caribbean Historians, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic and the Independent Research Library Association.
The 14th annual Lessons of History Distinguished Lecture Series lecture is scheduled for Oct. 11, 2026, and will feature Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. She is an American consultant, author and expert on international security, space policy, energy and relations between the Russian Federation and the United States.
Call (609) 884-5404 or visit capemaymac.org for tickets and information.
By SUSAN KRYSIAK/Cape May MAC
