The Sts. Cyril and Methodius National Library of Bulgaria presents the exhibition “Benjamin Franklin and the Bulgarian National Revival in the 19th Century”, drawn from its own holdings and collections. The exhibition marks the 320th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin—one of the Founding Fathers of the United States—and explores his intellectual influence on Bulgarian society during the National Revival.
At first glance, the connection between Benjamin Franklin and 19th-century Bulgaria may seem unexpected. While Franklin lived and worked across the Atlantic, Bulgaria at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire. Yet Franklin’s ideas—rooted in education, self-improvement, moral values, and practical wisdom—found strong resonance among Bulgarian Revival intellectuals.
Despite his limited formal education, Benjamin Franklin is renowned for his lifelong pursuit of knowledge, his influential aphorisms, and his pioneering experiments with electricity. Among his many inventions are the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, swim fins, and the medical catheter. His contribution to book culture and librarianship is equally significant. In 1728, he established a printing house in Philadelphia, followed soon after by the first public bookstore in America. In 1731, again at his initiative, the first subscription library in the United States was founded.
In her opening address, Assoc. Prof. Kalina Ivanova, Director of the National Library of Bulgaria, emphasised Franklin’s lasting impact on the development of the American book trade and libraries. The curator of the exhibition, Assoc. Prof. Hristiyan Atanasov, highlighted Franklin’s aphorisms—short yet powerful expressions of practical philosophy. Maxims such as “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” closely align with the moral and educational ideals of the Bulgarian National Revival.
Franklin’s influence in Bulgaria dates back to 1837, when Gavril Krastevich translated The Way to Wealth (The Wisdom of Poor Richard). In the decades that followed, leading figures such as Petko Slaveykov, Stefan Bobchev, Hristo Danov, and the future Exarch Joseph I actively promoted Franklin’s works, firmly establishing him within the intellectual and ethical framework of the Bulgarian Revival.
H.E. Martin McDowell, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the United States of America to the Republic of Bulgaria, announced that this exhibition is the first event in the program of celebrations marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of American statehood.