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).