Arthur Tourtellot

Historian quoted in Benjamin Franklin — An American Life on a counterfactual: what would have happened had Franklin received a formal academic education and gone to Harvard. Tourtellot is cited among historians arguing that such an education would have stripped Franklin of his “spontaneity,” “intuitive” literary style, “zest,” “freshness,” and the “unclutteredness” of his mind — the book using him to make the case that Franklin’s self-taught, unschooled formation was a feature rather than a deficit.

Context: Arthur Bernon Tourtellot (1913–1977) was an American historian and writer, author of works including Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius, The Boston Years.

Where this appears

• Benjamin Franklin — An American Life — quoted on what a Harvard education might have stripped from Franklin’s mind.