Junto Anyone?

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”

Benjamin Franklin

In 1727 Benjamin Franklin was an ambitious young man and had recently been made manager of Keimer’s, one of two printing companies located in the city of Philadelphia. At just 21 years of age, he oversaw five men, including Hugh Meredith, Stephen Potts, and George Webb, who were soon to form the nucleus of a club, the Junto (Latin for meeting). Franklin was an outgoing, social individual and had become acquainted with some of the businessmen at a club called the Every-Night-Club. This gathering included prominent merchants who met informally to drink and discuss the business of the day. Franklin’s congenial ways attracted many unique and learned individuals, and from these, he selected the members for the Junto, a club that was to be dedicated to mutual improvement and knowledge. All members lived in Philadelphia and came from diverse areas of interest and business. Along with Meredith, Potts and Webb, they included Joseph Breintnall, merchant and scrivener, who also loved poetry and natural history. Thomas Godfrey was a glazier, mathematician and inventor, and Nicholas Scull and William Parsons were both surveyors. Scull was also a bibliophile and Parsons a cobbler and astrologer. William Maugridge was a cabinetmaker, William Coleman a merchant’s clerk, and Robert Grace a gentleman. Grace’s wealth meant he did not have to work, but apparently he brought an intellectual element to the group, plus a fine library. The club met Friday nights, first in a tavern and later in a house, to discuss moral, political and scientific topics of the day.

Clearly the Junto was his creation, and Franklin led the group by example. Surrounded by men of similar intellectual interests, he recognized that the unifying force of this diverse group was an inquiring spirit and devotion to self-improvement. To guide and focus discussions, Franklin formulated a series of questions that included asking for reasons why local businesses were succeeding or failing, whether a citizen had done something praiseworthy and, if so, how might this be emulated. Common readings in literature were regularly assigned and used to debate topics related to morals, philosophy, and civic life. Members were required to write essays that would be critiqued by the group in the form of suggestions, hypotheses, and polite questions. Franklin required that any member who became harsh and assertive in his comments would receive a small but embarrassing fine. While being more of a skeptic than a rebel and refraining from disagreement just for the sake of argument, this fine was meant to keep him in line as well. He was one of the youngest members of the club, had no wealth or position to speak of, and yet, his leadership skills shone through in his intelligence and moral force.

The Junto was to continue for over 40 years, and as the members, including Franklin, assumed positions of leadership in business and society, their influence on the city of Philadelphia became broad and far-reaching. Acquisition of books and sharing of established personal libraries led to the establishment of the first lending library in the United States in 1731 and was key to the evolution of the American Philosophical Society in 1743. As a lasting testament to Franklin’s interest in life-long education, an academy of learning was formed in 1751 that went on to become the University of Pennsylvania