The Papers of Benjamin Franklin

The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is a collaborative effort by a team of scholars at Yale University, American Philosophical Society and others who have searched, collected, edited, and published the numerous letters from and to Benjamin Franklin, and other works, especially those involved with the American Revolutionary period and thereafter. The publication of Franklin's papers has been an ongoing production since its first issue in 1959, and is expected to reach nearly fifty volumes, with more than forty volumes completed as of 2022. The costly project was made possible from donations by the American Philosophical Association and Life magazine.^[1][2]

Of the sources used to cover Franklin's life, Franklin biographer Henry Brands has maintained that the major source for Franklin's life among historians are his own correspondence and writings, and in particular, Franklin's autobiography. He considers The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, "by far the best" and "a model of scholarly editing".^[3] Biographer Walter Isaacson has referred to The Papers of Benjamin Franklin as "definitive and extraordinary" noting that while several publications of Franklin's papers exist, this ongoing publication is the most complete and scholarly.^[4] The first editor to amass and organize the papers was Leonard W. Labaree, beginning in 1959. Since then a good number of editors have and continue to oversee this task.^[3][4] Works and collections other than the continuing Yale/APS publication have also been published and are nominally featured here.