Benjamin Franklin Letters Found In London

University of California - San Diego professor Alan Houston has discovered 47 copies of letters written by Benjamin Franklin in the Spring and Summer of 1755 that are said to have been previously unknown to Franklin scholars, the New York Times reports. The letters were housed in a London library where Houston had been doing research back in 2007 and are said to have been transcribed by Thomas Birch -- a Franklin contemporary and a recognizable name to historians for his later role in the Royal Society. According to the Times:

They were written to and from Franklin's son William and his wife, Deborah, as well as the British general Edward Braddock, and cover a period during the French and Indian War when Franklin helped organize a Pennsylvania militia against the forces that threatened the colonies.

Houston, describing the find to the Washington Post, said, "I felt kind of a lump in my chest. I started to bounce. I wanted like a rocket to shoot out of my chair....It's an example of Franklin's skill of working with people of different agendas and different concerns, appealing to their interests, appealing to their passions, appealing to their political beliefs."

The find excites scholars, historians and researchers elsewhere because it shows that big finds may be found in unexpected places -- the Franklin letters in question, for example, were not labeled or cached with other Franklin materials, according to William & Mary Quarterly editor Scott Casper speaking to the Post.