William Henry 'Bill' Franklin, the son of Francis and Jane Franklin, was born at Blyth in 1911and passed away in 1987.
His will left his residual estate to the Libraries Board of South Australia and in 1988 Board received a cheque for $141,288.96 as the proceeds.
The will expressed Mr Franklin's desire that the State Library use the bequest for purchasing such books, magazines and equipment of a scientific and technical nature that the Library considered appropriate for use and exhibition.
Mr Franklin's interests were of a scientific nature and this was reflected in his wish that the Library use his bequest to fund the purchase items of a scientific or technical nature.
Over the last decade the Franklin fund has been used to fund subscriptions to science related databases such as the EBSCO database Biological and Agricultural Index.
It has also been used to purchase substantial science reference works such as the 26 volume Kirk-Othmer encyclopedia of chemical technology.