1 10 6 https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/83b28b1f8299fe4ee4fd46feb5bfe5fd.JPG c4b3489def3ad65212b423a5a712a491 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Almanac Title A name given to the resource Poor Richard, 1739. An Almanack for the Year of Christ 1739. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1738 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 18 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Philadelphia, Pa. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Benjamin Franklin Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=326873">AAS Catalog Record</a> Description An account of the resource Throughout the colonial period, almanacs were the best-selling product of the American press. The almanac was one of the first imprints of the Cambridge Press—the first press in British North America—in the 1640s; by the 1760s tens of thousands of copies of almanacs were printed every year by a dozen different printers. Boston’s Nathaniel Ames Almanack alone had a circulation of fifty to sixty thousand. American almanacs shared many characteristics with their British counterparts. All featured monthly calendars, with information on tides, sun and moon rises, movements of the planets, and vague weather forecasts. They also typically carried a variety of lists: court meeting dates, information on roads and mileage, and chronologies of public events and “memorable occurrences.” Almanacs helped readers organize the flow of their daily lives, especially since most colonial-era <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/news-in-colonial-america/item/23">diaries were written into almanacs</a>. A very popular and highly profitable almanac was <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/browse?tag=Benjamin+Franklin">Benjamin Franklin’s</a> Poor Richard’s, first printed in 1732. Poor Richard’s is remembered as the depository of Franklin’s famous proverbs and aphorisms. Most of these, however, were copied from other sources; in filling the empty spaces in his almanacs with nuggets of wisdom, Franklin was following the conventions of the genre. But as with all his work of borrowing and editing, Franklin had a knack for rewriting with charm and wit. This 1739 issue has a humorous introduction spoofing the weather forecasts in almanacs and extolling the virtues of mixing serious wisdom with amusing trifles. In a satirical essay at the end on almanacs predicting disease outbreaks, Franklin writes: “THIS Year the Stone-blind shall see but very little; the Deaf shall hear but poorly; and the Dumb shan’t speak very plain.” And tucked into the margins of each month’s calendar page are the famous and not-so-famous aphorisms, including “He that falls in love with himself, will have no Rivals.”  Click the image below to browse the almanac.  <iframe src="https://fliphtml5.com/embed/dist/html/embed-cover.html#!/?w=0&bc=#000&p=1&l=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/zupn/&t=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/zupn/files/shot.jpg" frameborder="0" width="236" height="350"></iframe> Almanac Benjamin Franklin https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/d70aa948a36e3960ed1527dd48935614.JPG b4d1af29bd40c6f73c630bf71eb31a24 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Title A name given to the resource The Pennsylvania Gazette Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 6, 1745 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 27-37 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Philadelphia, Pa. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Benjamin Franklin and H. Meredith Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=22">AAS Catalog Record</a> Description An account of the resource Biographers and historians agree that <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/browse?tag=Benjamin+Franklin">Benjamin Franklin</a> (1706-90) was the best journalist in colonial America and his Pennsylvania Gazette the best newspaper. Founded in 1728, the Gazette was the second newspaper to be produced in Philadelphia. In 1729, the twenty-three-year-old Franklin and a partner, Hugh Meredith (ca. 1697- ca. 1749), bought the struggling paper and quickly turned it into a well-written, well-edited, and well-printed newspaper. In format, Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette was like other colonial American newspapers. The emphasis was on news, not literary or political essays, and most of that news was copied from European papers. But Franklin had a knack for selecting, editing, and rewriting. And, if his autobiography is to be believed, the Gazette “prov’d in a few Years extreamly profitable.” This 1745 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette is typical in some ways, atypical in others. As usual, the paper is filled with European news of war and diplomacy. But in 1745 some important war news came to Philadelphia via Boston. Under a “Boston” heading, the Pennsylvania Gazette reported the big news of the day: the siege of the French fortress at Louisbourg on <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/browse?tag=Cape+Breton+Island">Cape Breton Island</a> at the Gulf of St. Lawrence, mounted mainly by New Englanders. This issue of the Gazette is quite unusual in that it has two extra pages and a woodcut map, a “PLAN of the Town and Harbour of LOUISBOURGH.” This map, probably cut by Franklin himself, marks the first illustrated news story in American journalism. Yet in the midst of much serious war news, a bit of Franklinesque fluff also appears: “They write from Paris, that the Diamonds of the Lords and Ladies of the Court at Versailles, at the grand Ball on the 25th of last Month, were valued at 250 Millions, which is near 12 Millions Sterling.” Click the image below to browse the full issue.  <iframe src="https://fliphtml5.com/embed/dist/html/embed-cover.html#!/?w=0&bc=#000&p=1&l=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/nush/&t=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/nush/files/shot.jpg" frameborder="0" width="226" height="350"></iframe> Benjamin Franklin Cape Breton Island Newspaper https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/cf826f6470cc3caecda2e8f99198e201.JPG 309ac9b43fa7bfd422a8a80c4eee2eb7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Title A name given to the resource The New-York Weekly Journal Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 10, 1745 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 30 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant New York, N.Y. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available John Peter Zenger Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=31">AAS Catalog Record</a> Description An account of the resource The first newspaper in New York was the New-York Gazette, founded in 1725 by William Bradford (1663-1752). The New-York Weekly Journal appeared eight years later, and from its beginning it was more than a business competitor to the Gazette; it was a political adversary. In the 1730s, New York was the most politically fractious of the British American colonies, and the Weekly Journal represented the faction of Chief Justice Lewis Morris (1671-1746) against Governor William Cosby (1690-1736). The printer of the Journal, John Peter Zenger (1697-1746), is remembered and celebrated because it was he, not the actual writers of the paper’s political essays, who ended up being prosecuted for seditious libel at the behest of the governor in 1734. Zenger’s acquittal became a cause célèbre in the history of press freedom in colonial America and beyond. After his acquittal, Zenger made his paper less an organ of political faction and more a standard newspaper. The 1745 issue seen here is an example of the Journal in the last year of Zenger’s editorship; he died the next year. It illustrates how war—in this case, King George’s War—could thoroughly dominate the news. In 1745 a New England force was mounting a siege of the French fortress at Louisbourg on <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/browse?tag=Cape+Breton+Island">Cape Breton Island</a> at the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Journal reported the news of this important expedition mainly by gathering news from Boston, much as Benjamin Franklin was doing in Philadelphia. This war with France and the later Seven Years’ War of the 1750s and 1760s did not produce an American patriotism in the British colonies. But they did produce among the colonies a sense of shared American interest and identity. From New England down the Atlantic seaboard, newspapers shared and reprinted North American news for people who were beginning to think of themselves as Americans. Click the image below to browse the full issue.  <iframe src="https://fliphtml5.com/embed/dist/html/embed-cover.html#!/?w=0&bc=#000&p=1&l=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/fucf/&t=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/fucf/files/shot.jpg" frameborder="0" width="225" height="350"></iframe> Benjamin Franklin Cape Breton Island Newspaper William Bradford https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/2b5df665a4ddce886f1bf07f4530f3f9.jpg 7ca9e931f3352c21b01f4c608a4dcc9d https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/21f50078eef6bde7e83744cfabeabff8.jpg bd9ad2deae5923f8024c4334eb73999e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Title A name given to the resource The New England Weekly Journal Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 8, 1737 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 33 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Boston, Mass. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available S. Kneeland Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=19">AAS Catalog Record</a> <a href="https://gigi.mwa.org/imagearchive/filename/19_">View more issues</a> Description An account of the resource The New England Weekly Journal was founded in 1727 as a literary paper, along the lines of the Spectator in London and New England Courant in Boston, the newspaper that launched the career of Benjamin Franklin. But the Weekly Journal was more aligned with the local religious establishment than the Courant had been. One of its founders and an occasional contributor was <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/items/browse?tag=Thomas+Prince">Thomas Prince</a>, who cared more about providential news and religious revival than the clever satire that characterized much of the Courant’s content. For example, the Weekly Journal devoted much attention to the earthquake of 1727 and to the revivals that began in the 1730s at Northampton, led by Rev. Jonathan Edwards (1703-58). The Weekly Journal’s printers were Samuel Kneeland (1697-1769) and Timothy Green (1703-63), who also published many sermons and pamphlets on religious revivals. Kneeland was a member of Prince’s church. By 1737 the New England Weekly Journal had become less literary and more newsy, with the usual assortment of European news culled from London newspapers, items from other American colonies, and local Boston news. The news often recounted events that seemed to carry providential meaning. For example, the Weekly Journal devoted more attention than other Boston papers to the execution of <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/news-in-colonial-america/item/108">Hugh Henderson</a>. Henderson’s jailhouse repentance was the central theme of the newspaper’s coverage and of a sermon and poem written for the event, all published by Kneeland and Green. During the brutally cold winter of 1737, the newspaper carried many short news items from Boston and from around the country about fires and deaths. This March 8, 1737, issue has an item about the <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/news-in-colonial-america/item/106">fire in John Brocas’s woodworking shop</a>, as well as a preview story about an upcoming town meeting, always an important venue for the making and sharing of news. At the March town meeting, the citizens of Boston were expected to discuss two vital issues of public policy made more serious by the severe winter cold: “some more Effectual method for preventing the Danger of Fire by Chimneys” and “Providing the Town with Wood.” Benjamin Franklin Hugh Henderson John Brocas Woodworking Shop Fire Newspaper Thomas Prince https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/088f5c5f20a15e7d122e41347b00db99.JPG 6a827fb26c1416f673f15b96f18bcaff Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Title A name given to the resource First printing of the Declaration of Independence in a newspaper Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 6, 1776 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 26 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Philadelphia, Pa. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Printed by Benjamin Towne Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=156">AAS Catalog Record</a> Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. The Pennsylvania Evening Post Description An account of the resource The Continental Congress charged five men with the responsibility to commit to paper the American colonies’ Declaration of Independence from Britain: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), John Adams (1735-1826), Robert Livingston (1746-1813), and Roger Sherman (1721-93). Most scholars today now view the authorship of this document to be highly collaborative both among these five individuals (who made forty-seven alterations to Jefferson’s original draft) and among the members of Congress, who made another thirty-nine alterations after voting for independence on July 2, 1776. After the Declaration was approved on July 4, it was immediately set in type as a broadside and printed overnight by John Dunlap, the official printer to Congress. Copies of the printed version were immediately distributed to all of the colonies, where in some instances they were <a href="https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/exhibits/show/age-of-revolution/item/30">reprinted by local printers</a> so that by July 18, twenty-four newspapers had republished the text of the Declaration. The Pennsylvania Evening Post, printed by Benjamin Towne (d. 1793), was the first newspaper to include the text in its pages.  Click the image below to browse the full issue.  <iframe src="https://fliphtml5.com/embed/dist/html/embed-cover.html#!/?w=0&bc=#000&p=1&l=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/uwuj/&t=http://online.fliphtml5.com/xohe/uwuj/files/shot.jpg" frameborder="0" width="276" height="350"></iframe> Benjamin Franklin Declaration of Independence John Adams Newspaper https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/earlyamericannewsmedia/files/original/734883400f143c300820d5e55b768b3b.JPG 59e0b8f7416988d0b651e03277d54a98 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Type The nature or genre of the resource Newspaper Title A name given to the resource The American Weekly Mercury Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource January 29, 1741 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource 30 cm. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Philadelphia, Pa. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Andrew Bradford Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=10">AAS Catalog Record</a> Description An account of the resource The first newspaper to appear in America outside Boston was the American Weekly Mercury, launched by Andrew Bradford (1686-1742) in Philadelphia in 1719. His father, William Bradford (1663-1752), had opened the first print shop in the new city of Philadelphia in the 1680s, before moving on to New York, where Andrew grew up. Andrew Bradford’s decision to use the word “American” in the name of his newspaper was telling. He intended that the paper would seek readers and advertisers beyond the city of Philadelphia—in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even New York. And it did just that. The American Weekly Mercury was the only newspaper outside Boston until 1725, when Andrew’s father started the New York Gazette. This issue of the American Weekly Mercury is from the last year of Andrew Bradford’s proprietorship. Like most newspapers of the time, it includes mainly European news, but with some attention as well to news from Boston and New York. England was at war with Spain in 1741, so the paper also has a substantial amount of war news from the Caribbean. This issue is also typical in that it includes an essay, a style Bradford began to use in the 1720s when he published young Benjamin Franklin’s satirical “Busy-Body papers.” This particular essay is on manners. American Weekly Mercury was aimed mainly at the commercial class, with shipping notices and ads for the mercantile trade. The elaborate woodcut banner on the front page nicely illustrates the newspaper’s commitment to news and commerce. The first image in the banner is the Roman deity Mercury, the messenger of the gods and the god of trade and commerce; the second is the Philadelphia waterfront, bustling with ships; the third is a galloping post rider, delivering the Mercury to subscribers far distant from the city. Post riders announced their arrival by blasting on a horn and carried in their pouches not just the “public prints”—newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides—but personal mail as well. They generally delivered the newspapers to a central location in the community, such as a general store, tavern, or post office where rural subscribers would retrieve them with the rest of their mail when next they came to this location. Printers were often also postmasters and their printing offices were thus communication hubs from which post riders were coming and going. Benjamin Franklin Newspaper Postal Service William Bradford