Ellen S. Dunlap with the Isaiah Thomas printing press, 1993 - Ellen S. Dunlap, appointed president of the American Antiquarian Society in 1992, with Old No. 1, the printing press that its founder Isaiah Thomas preserved as a reminder of his arrival in Worcester. In March 1775, when British troops occupied Boston to enforce the Intolerable Acts, Thomas resolved to relocate his press to Worcester to avoid further harassment. He moved the press from Boston with the help of Joseph Warren and Timothy Bigelow, on the night of April 16, 1775, and joined the militia resisting the British army in Lexington on April 18, before making his way to Worcester. He resumed publication of the Spy with an eyewitness account of the Battle of Lexington. (After the British evacuation, Thomas returned to Boston and others continued to publish the Spy.) The Society proudly continued to display and describe this artifact as a reminder of the importance of the power of the press for understanding American culture.
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The Amerian Antiquarian Society, 1812-2012 - A View at the Bicentennial