Talk:Franklin Institute

extraneous

I'm about to remove the extraneous "vikipedia" and also add mention of the Budd BB-1 in front of the museum. I'll see about uploading a picture as soon as I figure out how to do that, exactly. --Thisisbossi 04:02, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Question on the Institute's origin

Is this the same organization as the Franklin Institute for the Betterment of Labour that was founded in 1824 by Matthias W. Baldwin (ref. [1])? slambo 15:21, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC)

Two months later and still no answer. Is there anyone in Philadelphia who can go and find out for us? slambo 15:51, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

I doubt it, but I'll ask questions the next time I'm there. - Calmypal (T) 21:12, Apr 21, 2005 (UTC)

Did we ever find a definitive answer? Another two months have passed. slambo 17:02, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

ANSWER

The Franklin Institute was founded in 1824 at The Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts by Samuel Vaughan Merrick and William H. Keating.PR Intern 14:31, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

The Institute's website gives no mention of Matthias Baldwin's organization; I emailed the Institute and was directed to this web page:

The History and Mission of The Franklin Institute Science Museum

- CobaltBlueTony 18:55, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. Baldwin's organization must have been different, then. Now to see if I can find any more information on it... slambo 20:52, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia pages linking here

In the trivia section it mentions how many pages on wikipedia link to this article. Who cares? Why is this in the article? It seems all the more redundant now as the current count of pages directing here is 134, not over 250 as stated. --Tim ^{(talk), (contribs)} 17:56, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I removed it. It's irrelevant to the article, and I've never seen that sort of info mentioned in any article. Likely b/c something like that changes so much. Cheers! --Ebyabe 18:38, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer

Derek Pitts....thank you, where ever you are! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.67.104.4 (talk • contribs) 07:19, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you or someone else would care to elaborate on this comment? Otherwise I am going to remove this due to its apparent lack of context. --Bossi (talk ;; contribs) 23:18, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Just for context, Dr. Derrick Pitts is the Vice-President/Chief Astronomer of the Franklin Institute Science Museum/Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia. He is the host of the WHYY-FM public radio programs "SkyTour" and "SkyTalk". hamburmk

Photos

I have noticed several new photos recently added to the article. I highly recommend we limit what photos we have here so-as to prevent clutter. We should have one photo showing the museum in its entirety, or as best as possible -- perhaps 1 from the ground and 1 aerial. The "Steps_from_Moore" image best-satisfies ground-level at the moment. Additionally: the Franklin Statue (also satisfied), the Heart (got it), the Budd BB-1 (got it), and then perhaps 1 image in rotation to represent the current theme. I've removed 1 excess image of the museum. Can we get a better image actually of the King Tut exhibit to replace the image of the outside of the museum with the King Tut banners? Any other thoughts in general on what photos are to be used? --Bossi (talk ;; contribs) 23:18, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I disagree. I like the photos. I think the changes you made didn't really help the article. I'm going change it back and we can discuss the changes here. first. --evrik ^(talk) 23:45, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Okay ... I changed my mind and went back and resized the photos and moved things around a bit. I think it looks a lot better. --evrik ^(talk) 23:57, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I still feel that the Table of Contents breaks the flow of the article and the photos are getting on the excessive side... I do not see how many photos of the front of the museum do much to improve the article. I do, however, like the pendulum. Can we get a higher-res photo of pretty much that exact same angle and time? I'll await comments from additional editors before I make any more significant changes to the photos or TOC. --Bossi (talk ;; contribs) 02:11, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

The photos were arranged (staggered) so as to liven up the article. Otherwise, the text is too overwhelming. Not every photo needs a caption, and simply stating what the photo is of may not necessarily be enough. I may be new, but I would appreciate it if everyone left the photos as they were originally laid out. I am also removing the Budd B.B. photo from the article, as it has nothing to do with the Institute itself.--PR Intern 18:56, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. I agree that staggering the photos can help liven up an article, but also note that it can cause some awkward alignment issues depending on the screen resolution of a viewer. As for the Budd BB-1, I believe that this item is as much a piece of Franklin Institute History as the Giant Heart or Pendulum[2], seeing as it has been in place since 1935, but I will await further input from other users. Lastly, I agree that not every photo needs a caption -- particularly those clearly of the museum itself; but I do believe that a medal placed within the article deserves a caption and I have subsequently restored its description. Sláinte! --Bossi (talk ;; contribs) 22:05, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

It appears that this edit removed a large portion of information, including info on the Budd BB-1 that had been in place for approximately a year prior. I saw mention somewhere that the BB-1 may have been taken down from its location due to the impacts of the environment. If this is true, it may explain why more recent editors here and visitors to the museum may not be familiar with it. If true, is anyone familiar with its current location? --Bossi (talk ;; contribs) 22:45, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Peer review

Should we put this up for peer review? --evrik ^(talk) 23:58, 9 April 2007 (UTC)