Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at The Franklin Institute

The Benjamin Franklin National Memorial, housed within The Franklin Institute, features a 20-foot seated statue of Franklin and exhibits about his scientific work and civic contributions. Congress designated it a national memorial in 1972, and it anchors many local commemorations of Franklin. The Franklin Institute uses Franklin-related stories-such as the famous kite-and-key anecdote-in its public interpretation, though some details of that anecdote are debated among historians.