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The Footnote June 27, 2026 · Philadelphia

The Probably-Apocryphal 1752 Kite Experiment That Made Benjamin Franklin Internationally Famous

Benjamin Franklin's June 1752 kite-and-lightning experiment is one of the most-told stories in the history of science. The contemporary documentation is thin. Modern historians of science consider it possible that Franklin never actually performed it.

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The Cabinet June 26, 2026 · Philadelphia

The Liberty Loan Parade That Filled Philadelphia With Two Hundred Thousand People at the Worst Possible Moment of October 1918

On 28 September 1918 the city of Philadelphia held a substantial Liberty Loan parade — about 200,000 people lining the streets for two hours of patriotic marching — over the substantial public-health objection of the city's medical officer. Within ten days the city was the deadliest American epicentre of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. About 12,000 Philadelphians died.

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