Meet Ben Franklin

Let's play a little word association game here:

Kite-flying ... Ben Franklin. Almanac ... Ben Franklin. Founding father ... Ben Franklin.

Yawn.

Wait. There's more. Much more.

"Ben Franklin: In Search of a Better World," the exhibit opening Friday at the Minnesota History Center, seeks to introduce visitors to the Franklin that too few know about. Too few, perhaps, because it seems unimaginable that a single man could have:

• Invented swim fins.

• Founded the first public lending library.

• Coined the word battery and first used "+" and "-" signs regarding electricity.

• Invented bifocal eyeglasses.

• Wrote North America's first bestseller, "Poor Richard's Almanack."

• Charted the first map of the Gulf Stream current.

• Invented a glass armonica, a musical instrument played by touching the edge of spinning glass with dampened fingers.

There's more, but we'll take a moment to report the particulars of this traveling exhibition, open through July 4, 2010. It's based on a larger exhibition developed in Philadelphia in 2006 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth. Dan Spock, director of the History Center Museum, is especially taken by the number of interactive experiences, from making a static electrical charge to learning how to set type when all the letters appear backwards.

"He lived a long time for a guy his age, and he was into everything," Spock said. "Yet his formal education ended at age 10."

The exhibit has some "you are there" moments, with an original of the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution, upon which the U.S. Constitution was based, with notations in Franklin's hand, a copy of a "Poor Richard's Almanack," and artifacts from Franklin's home, such as a china bowl and a chess set.

Now, back to some other things he did:

• Invented a library chair whose seat telescopes into a three-step "ladder" to better reach books on high shelves.

• Built a chair with a foot pedal that connected to an overhead wooden paddle that worked as a cooling fan.

• Organized the first American voyage to explore the Arctic.

Minnesota was able to place its own spin on the exhibit, thanks to a collaboration with the Bakken Museum, which developed the hands-on "Electricity Party" area. Visitors can create static electricity to make bells ring, confetti dance and sparks fly. The Bakken also has contributed a "thunder house" model that illustrates Franklin's invention of the lightning rod.

Despite boundless curiosity and intellect, Franklin had his faults. He was a lifelong slaveholder, despite his later efforts to work for abolition. He was a bit of a glutton and a lush and suffered from gout for his high living. Yet, Spock said, the ethic that drove Franklin through much of his life was "doing well by doing good."

Such as:

• Leading a protest against polluting slaughterhouses and tanneries.

• Co-founding the first public hospital in the colonies.

• Appointing the first woman to hold public office, the postmistress of Boston.

• Composing -- at age 12 -- a ballad commemorating the capture of Blackbeard the Pirate.

There's more, of course. Ben Franklin makes people look at their "to do" lists in a new light. We'll leave you with this, from his writings:

"Dost thou love Life? Then do not squander Time; for that's the Stuff Life is made of."

Kim Ode • 612-673-7185