Poor Richard ’ s Almanac

1. 1732-1757 Poor Richard’s Almanac By: Jeanine Becarri, Lauren Massara, Angela Robb & Elanna Tolz

2. Birth/Death: Boston 1706-Philadelphia 1790 • Age 12: apprenticed to his brother who was a printer • 1729: official printer of currency for Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin

3. 18th Century: common for writers and journalists to use pseudonyms, or false names, when they created newspaper articles and letters to the editor. • Pseudonym of Ben Franklin:~Franklin used this convention extensively throughout his life • ~Sometimes to express an idea that might have been considered slanderous or even illegal by the authorities; other times to present two sides of an issue • ~ Poor Richard was created in 1732 and most well known of Benjamin Franklins fake names Benjamin Franklin as Poor Richard

4. Time Frame: 1732-1757 Start Date (December 28, 1732) • Selling Rate: ~As many as 10,000 copies a year • ~Contained various "news stories" in serial format, so that readers would purchase it year after year to find out what happened to the protagonists. Poor Richard’s Almanac Beginning

5. Calendar: • Jan-Dec for the current year. • Weather/ Astrological Information : • Predictions of forecasts for the year (Broken down into weeks and months) • Poems and Sayings: • Used for entertainment and to give people wise information. Poor Richard’s Almanac Content

6. Proverbs and Aphorisms: • ~Definition-- A short pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept. • ~Examples– • One today is worth two tomorrows. • He that goes far to marry, will either deceive or be deceived. Poor Richard’s Almanac ContentCont’d

7. “I endeavor’d to make it both entertaining and useful” • “I consider’d it as a proper Vehicle for conveying Instruction among the common People, who bought scarcely any other Books.” • “I therefore filled all the little Spaces that occur’d between the Remarkable Days in the Calendar, with Proverbial Sentences, chiefly such as inculcated Industry and Frugality, as the Means of procuring Wealth and thereby securing Virtue, it being more difficult for a Man in Want to act always honestly, as (to use here one of those Proverbs) it is hard for an empty Sack to stand upright.” Poor Richard’s Almanac Significance– According to Ben Franklin

8. Most important use of an almanac: • To predict the weather and to help people know when to plant their crops. • Reliance on almanacs: • To know the best time to plant their crops and whether it was going to be a wet spring or a dry summer. • How weather was predicted: • Using astrology by studying the movements of the planets and stars in the belief that they influenced events on earth • Illiterate People • Read the astrological symbols because it was so important to the agriculture of the colonial period. Poor Richard’s Almanac-- Significance

9. The End Bibliography "Ben Franklin." Poor Richards for tips on economics, political science & liberty. http://www.poorrichards.net/benjamin-franklin (accessed March 12, 2013). "Benjamin Franklin . Wit and Wisdom . Name that Ben | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_name.html (accessed March 12, 2013). Green, James N.. "Benjamin Franklin Writer and Printer: Inventing Poor Richard." The Library Company of Philadelphia Homepage. http://www.librarycompany.org/bfwriter/poor.htm (accessed March 12, 2013). "Poor Richard's Almanack." Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PoorRichard's Almanack#Cultural_impact (accessed March 12, 2013). "Poor Richard's Almanack is published — History.com This Day in History — 12/19/1732." History.com — History Made Every Day — American & World History. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/poor-richards-almanack- is-published (accessed March 12, 2013). "Proverb." The Free Dictionary. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/proverb (accessed March 13, 2013). University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Poor Richard's Almanack." Learn NC. www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/4211 (accessed March 12, 2013).