Occasionally, the envelopes carried more news-related images, such as the ones seen here. The first, “Camp Scene From Photograph,” provides a sense of having firsthand knowledge of the front lines. Not only does it depict a camp, but it allegedly does so from a photograph, perceived to be the most immediate form of image capturing. The vibrant hand-coloring also adds a dimension of lifelike authenticity. The second envelope melds both news and patriotic symbolism, featuring Fort Sumter weathering a storm and a strong Lady Liberty holding a Union flag while standing on the Confederate flag. The quote, “Sumter First—Peace Afterwards,” implies that regaining and revenging the attack on Sumter takes precedence over attaining peace. In this case the lithographically printed coloring enhances the patriotic effect, utilizing only red, white, and blue.

The latest news, particularly victories or the death of war heroes, often spurred new envelope designs, fueling both the printers’ trade and morale. What initially began as simple patriotic stationery soon turned into collector’s items. Printers began issuing the elaborate envelopes in boxed sets (notice the number “19” on the bottom right of the “Camp Scene” envelope), and albums designed to hold the envelopes also appeared on the market. As the war dragged on and resources—including paper—became short, such illustrated stationery came to be seen as indulgent and expensive and its production was abandoned before the end of the war.

The majority of the illustrated Civil War envelopes at the American Antiquarian Society has been fully cataloged online

The news from Williamsburg also notes that, a week earlier, Virginia’s provincial council had ordered that the two printers in Williamsburg publish the text of the Declaration in their respective newspapers, which this Virginia Gazette, published by John Dixon (d. 1791) and William Hunter, did in its issue of July 20. The other Virginia Gazette, printed by Alexander Purdie (1743-79), included both the council’s directive and the text of the Declaration in its issue of July 26. To further ensure the spread of the Declaration, the council also ordered that the “sheriff of each county in this Commonwealth proclaim the same at the door of his courthouse, the first court day after he shall have received the same.” 

Clementia Rind (d. 1774) was publisher and printer of the Virginia Gazette at this time, having taken over the printing business after the death of her husband, William Rind (1733-73). Rind’s Gazette was one of three by the same name, all located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Through this article, Rind informs her readers about the political activities of their representatives, while also illustrating Virginia’s solidarity with Massachusetts. Through articles such as these, printers spread the news about the activities of their patriot representatives, as well as demonstrated the bond that was growing among the colonies.

The daguerreotype, the first public photographic process, introduced in the United States around 1839, was the most common method until the 1850s. A daguerreotype is a unique object with no negative, created by polishing a sheet of silver-plated copper and treating it with fumes to make it light-sensitive. The result has a mirror-like quality and the image appears to float above the surface. Most daguerreotypes were sold in small leather cases and were meant to be held in the hand. The viewer would have to angle the case to catch the light and reveal the image.

Examining one woman’s reaction to seeing a daguerreotype for the first time gives a good sense of the immediacy and authenticity people felt photography to have, and thus its ever-increasing significance as the war dragged on and more loved ones left for battle. In 1841, Emory Washburn (1800-77), a future Massachusetts governor, sat for his portrait in Worcester or Boston. He sent the image by mail to his wife, Marianne (1810-98), who, with their three children, was visiting her parents in Walpole, New Hampshire. Upon receipt of the portrait, Mrs. Washburn wrote to her husband of the awe and amazement it inspired in the entire family:

I thank you most sincerely for sending the daguerreotype—to me it is invaluable. The truth of sunlight cannot be questioned or criticized. The dimness and indistinctness at first sight are pleasant to me in a miniature; you look at it, it seems like a shadow or a spirit; you turn it into a stronger light & the spirit becomes embodied. The longer you look & the brighter the light; the more & more you find comes out & he seems to be yours only. He seems to be yours, bright, clear & distinct, but dim, unreal & shadowy to others – & this feeling of monopoly, love, in its selfishness, likes. Father and Mother were affected almost to tears. Minnie declared it looked like Mr. Van Buren. Charlie said at first it was a little looking glass and then smiling said he “could see his Father, Mr. Washburn in it.” Emory said, “That is my Father.”

This is a handwritten copy of the British account of events that also appeared as a broadside, A Circumstantial Account. This fair copy, made out by a clerk of Gage’s, was sent to Governor Jonathan Trumbull (1710-85) of Connecticut. Note the “x” under each capital letter. These notations specify how the document should be set in type, an indication that Gage hoped it would be published and transmitted to a larger audience than just Trumbull and his staff.

Chinese newspapers were also periodically published, but the character-based rather than letter-based language proved particularly challenging to printers. Whereas all of the other languages listed above could use common letterpress type, the same would not work for Chinese, with its thousands of characters. The solution for early Chinese papers was lithography, which used grease pencils on special stones to print instead of individual pieces of type.

Seen here is the second Chinese-language newspaper established in the United States, The Oriental; or, Tung-Ngai San-Luk, first published in January 4, 1855, and edited by the Reverend William Speer (1822-1904), a Presbyterian minister. Though its publication schedule was often inconsistent, it was initially intended to be published triweekly in Chinese and weekly in English. This was later changed to weekly in Chinese, monthly in English. It lasted just two years, folding in 1857. (The first Chinese-language newspaper, the Chin Shan Jih Hsin Ju; or, Golden Hill’s News, published in San Francisco in 1854, lasted for only a few months.) No Chinese newspapers were attempted again until the 1870s when a number of titles began in San Francisco.

The paper lasted only three issues before Mead was arrested for libel. During the trial it came out that while the paper claimed to be published in Greenwich, Connecticut, the paper was actually printed in New York and quietly shipped to Greenwich for distribution.

Here we see an example of a very popular daily newspaper, the New York Sun, the first so-called “penny paper” in America. The Sun was established in 1833 and targeted the middle and lower classes, who could afford only a penny a day for a newspaper rather than the six cents charged by most dailies. Because of the low price of these papers, a large circulation was required, and the quest for circulation encouraged news scoops, “extra” editions, and newsboys hawking the papers on the streets. Though the penny papers were usually partisan in politics, they were not subservient to parties. Their economic base was advertising, and so they focused on news that would attract a wide variety of readers. The Sun was very successful and inspired other penny papers, including the New York Herald and New York Tribune. By 1842 New York City had nine one-penny and two-penny dailies and seven traditional six-penny dailies.

The success of the Sun and other daily newspapers led to another media institution: the press association. As penny papers competed with established papers and with one another, they sought the most current news, and their news gathering methods became increasingly aggressive. To “beat” their rivals, New York newspapers used fast harbor sloops, special pony expresses, and even carrier pigeons to shave a few hours off the time needed to get news from Europe and Washington, D.C. In 1846, with the start of the Mexican-American War and the early development of the telegraph, timely information became significantly more costly, and the highly competitive newspapers were drawn into something new: cooperation. The proprietor of the Sun, Moses Yale Beach (1800-1868),organized the leading newspaper publishers of New York to pool their resources to get the war news. The original members included, in addition to the Sun, the Herald, the Tribune, the Courier and Enquirer, the Journal of Commerce, and the Express. This informal group gradually evolved into the New York Associated Press (NYAP), which became a formidable news monopoly in the late nineteenth century. The power of the NYAP was eventually broken by a rival group of Chicago newspaper publishers known as the Western Associated Press. Under their leadership, a new national press cooperative was formed in 1892, known simply as the Associated Press.