Poor Richard’s Almanac

By:

Jeanine Becarri, Lauren Massara,

Angela Robb & Elanna Tolz

1732-1757

• 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

• 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

•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

Poor Richard’s Almanac Content  

•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  Cont’d

•Proverbs and Aphorisms:

~Definition-- A short pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that

expresses a basic truth or practical precept.

~Examples– 1.One today is worth two

tomorrows.2.He that goes far to

marry, will either deceive or be deceived.

Poor Richard’s Almanac Significance– According to

Ben Franklin

• “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

•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 PeopleRead the astrological

symbols because it was so important to the agriculture of

the colonial period.

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).