Hamilton Family Charitable Trust Gift

Bringing a Curatorial Collections Gallery with Digital Reach to the Forefront for Guests in a First for The Franklin Institute 

Philadelphia, PA June 4, 2019—The Franklin Institute has received a $6 million gift from the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust for an ambitious transformation of the iconic train exhibit, home of the historic Baldwin 60000 Locomotive. The gift will enable the expansion and re-imagination of the Train Factory exhibit into a two-story gallery of technological advancement, the first in a series of bold initiatives to lead the Institute into its third century. The contribution is the largest gift in the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust’s history to date and marks a significant milestone in the Institute’s long history of generosity and support from four generations of the Hamilton family, beginning with the 1933 donation from Samuel M. Vauclain of the Baldwin 60000 Locomotive—now a Philadelphia landmark.    
 
“Hamilton Family Charitable Trust is honored to support the new Treasures of The Franklin Institute Gallery,” said S. Matthews V. Hamilton, Jr., of Hamilton Family Charitable Trust. “For decades, the Baldwin 60000 has been a piece of our family’s history, a treasure for tens of thousands of visitors to The Franklin Institute, and a symbol of innovation and technological advancement. We look forward to the newly imagined gallery, filled with technology both past and present, to spark curiosity and learning for generations to come.”   
 
Designed to explore the spirit of innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship reflected in the Institute’s curatorial collections, the Treasures of The Franklin Institute gallery will feature an entirely new collections-devoted suite with open casework to hold unique artifacts, many never on public view, now restored and curated for display. Curatorial items may include a bust of Benjamin Franklin juxtaposed with an early film projector and placed next to a letter, drawings, or airfoils from the Wright brothers.  
 
The collections-based experience within the new gallery will surround the historic Baldwin 60000 steam locomotive on a unique cutaway floor overlooking the Institute’s lower-level archival collections. Five distinctive steel and concrete railroad bridge structures that support the 350-ton locomotive and spring from the foundation floor below will be newly visible to visitors, as initially intended, and serve as an extraordinary example of 19th-century railroad engineering.  
 
The gallery will celebrate human curiosity and the courageous commitment of remarkable men and women to advancing science and technology and connect the storied past of the Franklin Institute to its dynamic present and exciting future. It will serve as a platform for impromptu conversations and interactions among visitors and members of the curatorial staff around the collections.  
 
Within this new space, the Institute will broaden its educational impact and implement long-term plans that involve the innovative digitization of significant curatorial items, providing improved preservation, increased outreach, and high-quality public access to these pieces for the very first time. The Treasures of The Franklin Institute Gallery is a long-term initiative, expected to open to the public in time for the 200th anniversary of The Franklin Institute in 2024. 
 
“The generosity of the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust paves the way for The Franklin Institute to take the first step toward an ambitious series of milestones we hope to achieve by our bicentennial celebration in 2024,” said Larry Dubinski, President and CEO of The Franklin Institute. “We are extremely grateful to the Hamilton family for their exceptional longstanding philanthropic support throughout the evolution of The Franklin Institute.”  
 
The Franklin Institute 
Located in the heart of Philadelphia, The Franklin Institute is a renowned and innovative leader in science and technology learning and a dynamic center of activity. As Pennsylvania’s most visited museum, it is dedicated to creating a passion for learning about science by offering access to hands-on science education. For more information, visit www.fi.edu.