Reopening Franklin Museum enlists Ben to introduce his world

Gone are the banks of inoperative black Princess phones.

Gone, the animatronic figures of a mightily coiffed King Louis XVI, the angry British officials, the muddled constitutional representatives - all, in later years, more paralytic and creaky than informative and illustrative.

Gone, the dingy runway ramp into the bowels of what seemed a site awaiting a Parking Authority takeover.

Gone the leaking roof.

Gone. Gone. And gone.

The new Benjamin Franklin Museum, opening to the public on Saturday, has been gutted, rethought, rebuilt, and presented anew. Virtually everything that occasionally charmed but increasingly annoyed visitors to the old underground space at Franklin Court on Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, is gone.

Above ground, the iconic Ghost House, designed by Venturi & Rauch (now Venturi Scott Brown & Associates) in 1976, marks the spot where Benjamin Franklin built his Philadelphia residence.

Below ground, in the space once dominated by the antiquated Princess phones (which, when they worked, put visitors in touch with the likes of George Washington, Mozart, and D.H. Lawrence expounding on Ben's best qualities) and the World Stage of historical figures, a completely new experience awaits. It presents real artifacts, many owned by Franklin, cheek-by-jowl with computer animations, interactive games, puzzles, portraits, documents, and all manner of information about Franklin and his dizzying array of interests and accomplishments.

In about 8,000 square feet of floor space, exhibition planners Rosalind Remer and Page Talbott have created a wonderland of Frankliniana.

"This is an exhibition with a lot of subtleties and a lot of shadows," Remer said. "Franklin was so sociable, so intensely social, we wanted this exhibit to convey that, as well."

Talbott said there was much effort made throughout to tone down "the curatorial voice" and instead use Franklin's own words to make the exhibition's many points.

"He had a lot to say himself," Talbott said with a laugh.

The $23 million refurbishment, which has led to a museum closure of more than two years, was funded by the federal government and private charitable entities.

"One of the goals of the museum is to show Franklin's relevancy today," Cynthia MacLeod, superintendent of Independence National Historical Park, steward of the site, said Tuesday during a media tour.

"We intentionally created this museum to generate discussion, to make visitors think about how Franklin embodied the best of the 18th century, and how his character and ideas are still relevant today."

But because Franklin is such a voracious autodidact and restless inquirer, visitors have sometimes shied away from him.

"People are easily overwhelmed by Benjamin Franklin," Remer said. "They find his accomplishments almost too much. That's something we wanted to change."

Talbott and Remer hit on the idea of dividing the museum into permeable "rooms" devoted to character traits Franklin exemplified.

One room, "Ardent & Dutiful," illustrates Franklin's notion that "man is a sociable being" and explores his relationships with family and friends. Another, "Ambitious & Rebellious," is organized around his principle, "Be frugal and industrious, and you will be free."

Each room contains a mixture of the interactive and the informative, both real and faux. There are six areas, and while each explores a different side of the man, almost all demonstrate his irrepressible, if often subtle, sense of humor.

In "Ardent & Dutiful," an odd computer animation is used to illustrate Franklin's story of how overpaying for a penny whistle as a boy humiliated him but ultimately taught him not to "give too much for the whistle." It was a lesson useful in many situations.

"When I see a beautiful sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband," Franklin later wrote, " 'What a pity,' say I, 'that she should pay so much for a whistle!' "

Steps away is an extravagant china bowl acquired by Franklin's wife without his knowledge; there is also an enormous, beautifully printed Bible he gave to his daughter, Sarah. Visitors can "scroll" through digitized family portraits and play a computerized interactive armonica - a musical instrument Franklin invented. His own, real armonica stands nearby.

Despite the nonlinear approach, virtually no important aspect of Franklin's long, active, and complicated life is untouched. He is here as the inventive genius of the lightning rod, as well as the suave and seductive diplomat, and the slave owner-turned-abolitionist.

"We wanted people to know about him, for sure," Remer said. "We wanted people to feel more about him, too."

The museum will be open for free Saturday and Sunday; thereafter, the park will charge $5 admission for adults, $2 for children under 16.

Information: http://www.nps.gov/inde/planyourvisit/benjamin-franklin-museum.htm