J. A. Leo Lemay (January 17, 1935 – October 15, 2008) was du Pont Winterthur Professor of English at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. He was most renowned for his lifelong fascination with

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, although he wrote on many topics, including

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

, Ebenezer Cooke, and

Joel Barlow Joel Barlow (March 24, 1754 – December 26, 1812) was an American poet, diplomat, and politician. In politics, he supported the French Revolution and was an ardent Jeffersonian republican. He worked as an agent for American speculator William ...

Biography

Lemay was a 1953 graduate of Baltimore City College in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. Lemay was also a graduate of the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, where he earned his master's degree, and obtained his doctorate from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He died on October 15, 2008, at home, shortly after returning home from a hospital stay. Lemay was selected by

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

to edit two of its selections on Franklin. His edition of ''

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin'' is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin appears to have called the work his ''Memoirs''. Although it had a tort ...

,'' co-edited with Paul Zall, is generally recognized as the most authoritative. In the 1990s, he put up the first substantial web resource to share with Franklin scholars and biographers in "Benjamin Franklin: A Documentary History." The Documentary History was preparation for arguably his greatest investigation, a projected seven-volume biography of Franklin. Two of the volumes were published in 2006, by the University of Pennsylvania Press, in time for Franklin's Tercentennial. The ''American Historical Review'' (Feb. 2007) called his first two volumes, "a labor of love balanced by thoughtful criticism. There is nothing like it."

Selected writings

The Life of Benjamin Franklin Vol 3, Soldier, Scientist, and Politician, 1748-1757 Copyright 2009 University of Pennsylvania Press Library" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="of Congress The Life of Benjamin Franklin">of Congress The Life of Benjamin Franklin
NB: Ref is only to the main title and not to Vol 3

References

External links

* Benjamin Franklin Baltimore City College alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Delaware faculty 1935 births 2008 deaths {{US-philosopher-stub