During his numerous cultural trips to France and England, Benjamin Franklin found inspiration in literary circles that eventually led him to found the Leather Apron Club in 1727 to exchange rare books brought back from various travels. The club was intended to promote discussion and the cross-cultural exchange of ideas about architecture and other topics, a main tenet of French Freemasonry. What started as a philosophical association became one of the original circulating libraries in the country. Brother Daniel will discuss the original reading room and some of the early architectural texts still in the collection.