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A View of Part of the Town of Boston in New-England and Brittish Ships of War: Landing Their Troops! 1768
While newspapers decried in print the occupation of Boston by British troops beginning in 1768, Paul Revere (1734-1818), a silversmith and engraver in Boston, also did so visually. This engraving shows Boston Harbor facing the north part of town,…
A sermon...Occasioned by the capture of the British Army, under the command of Earl Cornwallis
Just as before the war, sermons were still an important means of reflecting on and spreading news. This sermon, preached by Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) at Northampton, Massachusetts, on November 28, 1781, puts news of the British surrender at Yorktown…
A Record of the War of Secession, Vol. I
Nathaniel Paine (1832-1917) was a prominent Worcester banker and civic leader who counted among his friends and mentors Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) and Senator George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904). An avid lifelong collector, he was a member of the…
A Poem, Spoken Extempore, by a Young Lady, on hearing the Guns firing and Bells chiming on account of...the Surrender of York Town
As they had been in the pre-war years, broadsides continued to be a way to spread and provide commentary on the news. This broadside features two poems about the surrender of Yorktown. The first is “A Poem Spoken Extempore, by a Young Lady, on…
A Poem Occasioned by the untimely Death of Hugh Henderson, alias John Hamilton, who was Hangd at Worcester for House-Breaking. Nov. 24. 1737.
Public executions had long been popular news events in Europe, and they fit well into the news environment of Puritan New England. They were sensational, which appealed to the voyeurism of audiences, but they were also morally instructive, which…
A Plan of the Town and Harbour of Boston. and the Country adjacent with the Road from Boston to Concord Shewing the Place of the late Engagement
Maps were an important form of news gathering and reporting during the American Revolution. Most were created by engineers in the British army and often they depicted military campaigns or battles, providing not only important intelligence about the…
A Narrative, of the Excursion and Ravages of the King's Troops
This book, commissioned by the new Provincial Congress, was one of the first items printed in Worcester, Massachusetts, after printer Isaiah Thomas’s arrival in April 1775. As the title explains, it is A Narrative, of the Excursion and Ravages of the…
A Circumstantial Account Of an Attack that happened on the 19th of April 1775, on his Majesty's Troops
The British version of the events leading to and including the Battles of Lexington and Concord is presented in this broadside. The calm tone of the language and the lack of any graphic images is an intentional attempt to downplay the significance of…
"Worcester, May 3. Americans! forever bear in mind the Battle of Lexington!"
While most colonial newspapers had circulations of between 300 and 600, theMassachusetts Spyhad a circulation of 3,500 from subscribers throughout the thirteen colonies, making it the most popular American newspaper at the time. Designed specifically…
"Worcester, July 24…On Monday last a number of patriotic gentlemen of this town…assembled on the green near the liberty pole…"
Public readings of the newly minted Declaration of Independence took place in taverns, churches, town greens, or anywhere else people could gather. In New England, the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence is believed to have taken…