One piece: "Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World," Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary traveling exhibition, 2005-2008

Suit of clothes

The pieces descended from individual members of the Bache family, and were given to The Franklin Institute by Miss Edith M. Bache (8720 Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill, PA) before June 11, 1951, and Helen M. Giffen (Mrs. Henry R. Giffen), in memory of her brother, Price Wetherill Janeway, Jr. (1891-1949). The date of this gift is not cited in The Franklin Institute records, but the envelope that holds the fabric is imprinted with Mrs. Giffen's return address, and the address includes a zip code, implying that the gift postdates 1963, when the numbers were first used. Mrs. Giffen lived at 290 Oak Street, Ridgewood, NJ, at the time of the gift. She inherited the fabric from her greatgrandmother, Sarah Bache Hodge, a great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. According to The Franklin Institute's donor file, the donor's brother, a direct descendant of Franklin, was in business in Philadelphia with the United Gas Improvement Co. patent department. He was an active member of The Franklin Institute.