The Rosenbach

.July is National Read an Almanac Month. Almanacs are yearly guidebooks that contain weather forecasts, planting dates, tide tables, and moon phases. They have been used for centuries to plan outdoor tasks and activities.

Almanacs are easy to use. Think of them like a giant cheat sheet for nature. Here is how they work:

1. Weather Tracking: Almanacs predict the weather many months ahead. They use long-term patterns to provide information on what the weather will be based on past years.

2. Planting Calendars: An almanac tells you the exact best day to plant seeds. It uses the moon's phases.

3. Star Charts: An almanac shows you where the stars and planets are. It acts like a map in the sky.

Visit the Rosenbach and discover a remarkable collection of almanacs that offers a fascinating glimpse into everyday life, history, science, and culture across the centuries. Learn more at www.rosenbach.org.

Images:
Pocket Almanacs in the Rosenbach Collection.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Poor Richard 1739 [1738]. Rosenbach Museum & Library. A 738p.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). Poor Richard 1754. Rosenbach Museum & Library. A 738po.

Sign up today and prepare to learn more about the extraordinary deeds, as well as the incomparable words of Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin. Explore Franklin's autobiography, a text of many parts and many secrets, and still one of the most read and widely studied works written in the 18th century.

Join George Boudreau, Ph.D., a cultural historian specializing in early Anglo-America, the history of Philadelphia, the work of Benjamin Franklin, and public history, as he focuses on an era and set of writings found in J.A. Leo Lemay's Library of America volumes of Franklin's writings.

Learn more at www.rosenbach.org.