Franklin changes name back to Franklin Institute

Big changes are happening at the Franklin Institute. And you just heard the change. The 185 year-old organization is once again calling itself The Franklin Institute. For a year or so, the museum styled itself as simply The Franklin.

Big changes are happening at the Franklin Institute. And you just heard the change. The 185 year-old organization is once again calling itself The Franklin Institute. For a year or so, the museum styled itself as simply The Franklin.

Listen:
[audio: 090612pcfranklin.mp3]

Dave Moody is visiting Philadelphia from California, and within an hour of his arrival he was already standing in front of the Franklin Institute.

Moody: It sounds better. If you just say the Franklin, it could just be some hotel.

Locals may call it The Franklin conversationally, but making the colloquialism official didn’t sit well. Brian Smith of Graduate Hospital remembers when the “The Franklin” rolled out.

Smith:I didn’t like the campaign. It seems like they made it too modern.

It also caused unnecessary confusion. Kat Stein of the Franklin Institute says people complained because they thought the museum separated itself from its parent science institution. She says the museum was just trying to stay current.

Stein: I have to tell you I’ve gotten into cabs and I say Franklin and they take me to the right place. They thought it was going to what Philadelphians were already doing.

Stein says the new name will be fully in place when the current stationary runs out.