>> next, todd andrlik presents the american american revolution from circa 18th century refers. mr. said to use collection contains (101)763-1783 examines reports from the sugar 1764 to that of the concorde and. it's about one hour 15 minutes. >> it's an honor to speak here at the old state house. thank you for coming. thank you of the tv and c-span for joining us here. about three weeks into the design of reporting the revolutionary war, we realized we were on pace to produce an 800 page, two-inch thick volume. so we quickly cut corners and

retrace our steps and decided to kill back and produce what is now a 400 page full-color book for you. similarly, i prepared a five-hour presentation for you this evening and decided to scale back back to a more manageable 45 minutes. so i will start by saying that without newspapers, there would no american revolution. newspapers would fans rebellion. the same royalty to the cause and provide critical correspondence during the war and ultimately aided in the outcome. historians knows very well. for 200 plus years, historians have referenced these newspapers in the footnotes of their analysis and interpretation. what this book does is inverse to traditional history book, taking those whose newspapers to

benefit not come placing them at the forefront. for general readers like you to enjoy full access to full-color newspapers from it. so you feel you are reading over the shoulder of george washington or paul revere. now, the process for putting this book together was quite a journey for me. i started out as an easiest, then became a collector and then became an educator to her website called raglan in.com and ultimately through this book. the story how i first discovered historic newspapers have been about five years ago. at least when i took her first family vacation to illinois, a cozy mississippi river town, were on the main strip every

discovered they were bookshop and in that rare book shop i found this nondescript container full of old newspapers, picked one up and started reading it and it april 21st 1865 near times. i was reading abraham lincoln assess the nation every word for the capture of his conspirators. that moment triggered in me an intense passion and enthusiasm for history that i previously had never had. so for the next five years, it became this journey of meticulous collecting a newspapers because i'm tucked away in the midwest. i don't have convenient access to a lot of the wonderful archives on the east coast. i don't have access to a lot of the originals found in the libraries and institutions across the country. so i made it a point to collect these because much like in a collectible, they're available for sale or purchase.

if any of you have ever seen american pickers, i would say it's much like that. i would equate myself more along the lines of historic documents, newspapers where i am traversing the earth, trying to find and locate newspapers that are for bookshops and european book dealers and people who discovered them behind walls of old homes. so it's an exciting discovery process and newspapers eventually grew and accumulated to write a became a significant collection. one of the most significant private collections of american revolution newspapers. the story they told a fascinating, one that deserves to be shared with the general readership, which this book hopefully accomplishes. so tonight, what i want to do is

walk you through what i would consider to be the four buckets of discoveries i've made along this journey and i categorize those as being the old media versus new, the journalism discoveries, history discoveries in what i would call paper preservation discoveries. so i start with old media new. quantity. today where that cannot practically limitless sources of news. television, radio, internet, twitter, you name it, you have access to a seemingly unlimited quantity of new services. typepad, newspapers were the only mass media today. the first newspaper printed on american soil successfully with

the boston newsletter in 1704. it wasn't until 15 years later we have the second printed also in boston, the boston gazette. coincidently the next day the third newspapers started in philadelphia. circulation. the top 100 newspapers in america average circulation of approximately 200,000. at the time of the american revolution circulation was approximately 600. it sounds awfully low, but keep in mind these newspapers were also read aloud in private homes and so while subscribership recirculation might be low, actual readership is quite significant. distribution. we have internet. we have telephones -- and sorry, tv and radio today.

back then distribution was done primarily through horse back in shape, commonly called talk about. today, news is instantaneous. its on demand. flip open your phone and have almost real-time music or fingertips. 200 plus years ago the news came up -- the news came weekly. i'm sorry, the news came weekly, so the timeline or you open up a newspaper was mr. matteo to several months old. a large part of that was just the amount of transit time but had to go in to how far news traveled to reach that printer. for instance, you might have news coming across the atlantic in which case the trans-atlantic voyages for eight weeks. the links of these newspapers.

today would newspapers roughly 20 to 30 pages, multiple sections. that man was four pages long. picture one large sheet of paper. on one side of that are pages one and four. so the front and back page of the newspaper folded in half and on the side he would have pages two and three. so what we've seen today -- one second, backtrack. the front page and the fourth page were typically typeset earlier in the week, whereas interior pages two and three were typeset later in the week were closer to the publication date. so what do you associate has been front page cover story news is typically found in page to retrieve, not on one up for you have more evergreen content, so foreign news, advertising and

such. the preconceived talked about how today we have the instant news. back then you had weekly. today we have left and right-leaning media. back then you had patriots as well as newspapers. it was important to me this book include both perspectives that features a loyalist as well as american and british newspapers. this takes us to the journalism discoveries. today, newspapers have paid professional staffs of reporters and editors. back then they didn't have professional paid staff. the number one news source was private correspondence. so here we have an early 17th network pennsylvania newspaper that has an article that starts

out with utter some boston complaining much of their fish being altered in the which was just a humorous take on the boston tea party. which will find most commonly has the extract of a letter to lead into the articles of the day. you also note there were headlines. headlines are very common in the 18th century, so most of the articles back then with latest extract of a letter for a dateline. another primary new services he other newspapers. so once the colonial printer with their weekly edition, david finishes up and down to the other communal printers who in turn reprint extracts from that addition in their home, often under dateline. see here is new york six are also a boston gazette issue from 1766. so here the deadline tells me

this news came from new york and quit akeley new york newspaper. after action reports are also at primary source of news funds the work begins. so after action reports or when the commanding a third right a summary of the events of the military engagement and send them up the chain. often in america the president of congress. he would share that report with the local newspaper printer. then dad newspaper the sun that and you receive the report appeared in newspapers up and down the colonies. so we are we have 1777 issue of the continental journal. this includes george washington's own account of the battle of trenton and crossing of the delaware. you can see at the top the dateline baltimore.

as for congress is meeting at the time. i said earlier that she really don't see a lot of headlines in the 18th century newspapers. mostly defines an excerpt of a letter from. here is the april 21st 1775 issue of the new hampshire gazette. extraordinary for its content and that it reports the breaking news of the battle of lexington and concord, but also historically significant for journalism. the fact that the left column is dedicated to lexington and home-court. more importantly, it's a centered headline, bloody knee is, which surely caught the attention of columnists reading this newspaper. more so with the points he made earlier about how working domestic news is typically found in pages two and three. this serious domestic ricky news on page one.

so another significant journalism piece detach the readers attention. illustrations are also something you don't see frequently in the newspapers, where you reduce these in the nameplate or here we have paul revere stainless joiner nameplate with the dragon. you also see them in advertisements. for tents, advertisement on the left is for tricorn hats. on the left is for a carry trade there was however one illustration in a current event. only one. that is the battle of upper hill at the virginia gazette of august 26, 1775 printed in the middle column, eyewitness account of the battle ocracoke. the eyewitness accounts contained to the details of the actual battlefield with the

entrenchment that publishers of this gazette put together using just the common type was they had in the print shop. this is what it looks like. now, periodicals coming from grape written like the london magazine, gentlemen think of any, these are monthly periodicals. you tend to see maps and illustrations in their, but not in newspapers. after this edition of the cloning of newspapers would see this and perhaps take similar processes for developing similar types of illustrations. we don't. my guess is logistically, time is on their side and they couldn't do this repeatedly. the only known legislation to depict an event during the entire revolutionary war. this is also the age of

enlightenment. soviet journalism is entertainment and is education. on the left is the new jersey consent from 1778 were the right to concert dedicated to reestablishment of continental army that details the specs of the infantry, artillery, calvary. on the left is mathematical theory. on the right is the journal printed in philadelphia, where the entire front page is dedicated to news of the surrender cornwallis. in poetry. advertising is also something that struck me in the sense that there's a lot of advertisement for runaway slaves, indentures events. david mccullough is an advocate for primary sources and the general public and students reading primary sources. what he says is these deserted

soldier advertisements every week at a loaded information about what the uniforms look like because they are describing these soldiers they had deserted. another advertisement that struck me was then 1776 issue of the legislature. here we have 10 days that her the first publication of thomas kean's common sense, one of diverse advertisements for for common sense. there it is. it was interesting to me about this edition is in the same newspaper is another advertisement for a new edition of common sense, which suggests just how quickly the pamphlet was moving. which brings me to the history discoveries. no taxation without representation. the arc in the to life the

newspapers. the 1764 issue of the pennsylvania gazette. patient was one paragraph that details the forthcoming shirker act. and the article says the scheme of taxation that had been previously debated in the parliament, whether they have the power termed in the affirmative. that's interesting about this article is this is where you get the first-hand come in the teaser the forthcoming stamp act that we know so well. besides this, and internal tax was cut off and you can see that. besides this, and internal taxes for coming. violence in months and riot because they share not two of the violence that is ordered in the newspapers of the day.

in particular this is a supplement to the boston newsletter from 1765. extraordinary for multiple reasons. on the front page of this two page issue is details of destruction of lieutenant governor thomas hutchison's home, lieutenant governor boston. but on page two, from newport, rhode island, we read of similar home destruction of loyalists and monsters. your piece for a three-day riot practical to do list. assemble and direct gallows, david lewis through town to the gallows in ways they are teen feet high. make a fire and burned us to ashes. she's the deputies of the town, choose the need to instruct a stamp act. the two in the evening gathering crowd and march the house of the

hated loyalist number one. shudders indiscriminate breaking stories to pieces, damaged partitions and one furniture. march 2 loyalist number two. tear his house to pieces that demolish furniture and rather silly. as for provision in march of the home of the stamp master. threaten his home if he doesn't resign. receive the promise of resignation, returned to the first homes to continue the destruction and the following morning, day 3% to selling real estate. so we have such violence reported in the newspapers and this is then a boston newspaper. so shortly bostonians were probably pleased to see what they had done previously was catching on in the other colonies here to set the desired effect they very much wanted.

they prevented the enforcement of the hated stamp act. so what you see in the newspapers after this is all up and down the colonies the other towns taking similar courses to prevent the enforcement of the stamp act. along similar lines with the fact that benjamin franklin was one of those targeted, hated columnists whose home came this close to being destroyed by a mob of pastries because then franklyn showed sentiments of moderation and compliance with the stamp act. he appointed a friend of his to be stamp actor in the sentiments of compliance and moderation come through in the newspapers. so for instance, benjamin franklin predicted his death in 1729 to 1748. 1748 the next 16 years until

1768, he remained a business partner, where in the back of the pennsylvania gazette solicitous name. so while he was an active in the printing is, still carries his name and the pennsylvania gazette was one of the first to print the full text. the pennsylvania gazette just a few weeks later was also advertising for franklin's almanac. in the 1966 edition were promoting it, we shall call you should become familiar with because it will affect the well. baroness newspaper accounts, you start to see moderation and compliance. also the boston tea party. this is december 21st 1773

printed in salem, massachusetts. here we have the most out of the eyewitness account of the boston tea party. it was written by an impartial observer. very common for students to be used. he read about a padlock being destroyed one of the ships and how the rebels who are writing quickly replaced by padlock to remain blameless for anything but the destruction. you also learn the same account of one of the rebel columnists pocketing and quickly been seized by other participants. we also learned the boston tea party was not celebrated. in a february 1774 cassette, we read the minutes from marshfield, massachusetts at a meeting where they label the boston tea party illegal, unjust and dangerous.

the shot heard round the world, that came very close to happening on multiple occasions weeks and months prior to april 19, 1775. one case in particular cover in the book is how close he came to happening for months prior. also along paul revere once i learned he went on multiple revolutionary race. one case in particular was his right to philadelphia back to shaer, which is here the account word that a mr. paul revere. another interesting take it in the british newspaper is the printing of the declaration of independence, arrival was on august 10, 1776 in london. three days later the london chronicle prints but is an

18th century equivalent to be tweaked in that we have the faces received that the congress result of independence fourth of july and have declared war. two issues later the one of the principal text of the declaration. here's a january 23rd, 1777 issue. since printed in boston. this is the front page account of george washington crusting the delaware. bruce chadwick contributed the essay in trenton and princeton, the phrase washington years that they surrendered because they were about to be cut to pieces. it was somewhat harsh language to come from the future president. we also read in the newspapers about john paul jones, the first naval hero. during the account, you read of

what is in essence a fashion reporter. paula jones, who is dressed in a short jacket and long trousers with a definite edge was fun and about around his middle. decisions about areas. john paul jones is the mortal words have not yet begun to fight. turns out he likely didn't say that and what he probably said this was printed, in this case thea read the quotes him as saying i may think, now began to face her. saratoga, turning point of the war. i was struck by the ledger from early 1778 that printed the objections that congress raise to the terms of surrender.

so early 17 decomposes pennsylvanian ledgers printed in philadelphia. this happens to be under a headline you don't eat your, extracts from rebel papers. here we have congress asking where some of the surrendered items are. how come the number of baskets is less than the prisoners and baskets are unfit for service. how comes the number and it be so greatly inferior to that of the muskets? what also struck me as benedict arnold industries and helped revitalize a lingering war. dennison comrade who wrote the contextual essay for that section of the book points to

the nifty new green papers and all the correspondents use research, on the one of them were nifty new green pointed to god intervening in the revolutionary war and a rooster in the uncovered an addict arnold. nathaniel greene has suggested even in this report, feels that god had intervened in the revolutionary war and helped the americans on cover the treaty is slow. you also see arnold's ubiquity. after he becomes the hated an addict arnold, during the raid of new london, columnists or two-point angers and say we saw this makeshift and so you start to see arnold everywhere. in this case, arnold was having dinner with a close friend and plundered the house after dinner and set it afire.

yorktown, day and you would say national pub public service passion for the art town campaign and then there we learned there is a celebrity intervention at the commander, hillary clinton was delayed in sending reinforcement, partially due to the fact that clinton was entertaining a celebrity new york. i celebrity king george found prince william henry. diane also comments on a bit of irony. october 19, day of the surrender, the day clinton said from new york to provide this those reinforcements. have been one of the ships in the fleet to canada is commanded by cornwallis' younger brother. which then brings me to the kind of ice bucket, what i would call

paper preservation discoveries. prior to 1870 come before the transition, newspapers were printed on rockland stock. paper made primarily off the backs of the columnists of what people were. also ship sailed. rats are oiled and ultimately sifted into the sheath to pay for and durability of the paper plays a significant role in the preservation and that today we can find 200-year-old newspapers that are in better lake position of last week's boston globe. so thanks to the rachlin and paper in which they are printed and thanks to the institution, we have these wonderful printed accounts of what transpired

during the american revolution. they might consider trash, but they are extremely beat up. they lived a long life and through fire and flood and war, so they're torn and tattered a little bit. i have partnered with one of the top out of d.c. is that of conservation in nature museum to restore these newspapers as close to original condition as possible. you can do amazing things with old paper. for instance, the hole at the bottom there is completely filled. stands are reduced on this scotch tape and papers can be preserved once again. so at the beginning of the book, i found out there are no photographs of the american

revolution, that we photographs of the civil war and every major war there were, but not the american revolution. that plays a large part in making revolution about to send people. we have beautiful oil paintings, caricatures and cartoonish engraving depicting the events of the american revolution, but often created years after the war ended, so they tend to be in real estate. newspapers are very timely. the printed david descriptions of battlefield accounts and what was transpiring throughout the whole course of the work. very much so, newspapers are photographs of the war. they hope to make the american revolution real to me and my goal with this book was that the newspapers help make the american revolution real for others. thank you very much. [applause]

>> excuse me. [inaudible] >> i want to share cute and it goes before introduced the panel. on the site again on the balcony of ostend, just a few weeks after his past on july 4. so it took a little while to get to boston from philadelphia, but it got here and is red. abigail adams was in the crowd, just off the balcony in the intersection of up to her husband, john insider is crazy after the declaration was read, everything british was ripped down and burned in the middle of the intersection immediately after the meeting, including the unicorn that now was put up in 1881.

it immediately one of the first two games were ripped off by some of the british authority and burned in the middle of the intersection. it was a little rambunctious and boston. it continued to be. before that in 1770 on march 5th, just outside the intersection itself, simply where all familiar with, something that of allison contributed in the book as well as his own book on not. another rambunctious event in the city of boston. so just right outside this building itself. now we are going to turn to the panel discussion, which is in the fashion of a question-and-answer session. this mike in the middle of the i/o is for you to step up to, ask your questions to the panel. right now i will introduce you to the panelists. beginning with bob allison from esa chair of the history

department at the university just on this tree. yes it teaches at harvard extension school in a suffered several books on the american revolution, most recently a 2011 book entitled the american revolution, a concise history. he is the vice president of the cornell society massachusetts, trustee of the uss comes to touche museum also in the freedom trail and the commonwealth to see them in boston. he also serves the bostonian society as a member of our board's advisory committee. so with that, bob alice in. [applause] >> next we'll move to jon kyl. john does a curator of the book lost in 1775 from a site dedicated to history, analysis and unabashed gossett asserted the american revolution inkling. recently completed a study in general washington during the

siege of the national park service. he saw soviet about doing good count watchman at the boston massacre, the way the encrypt these in 1765 in the towns celebration. ask them about the crazy event annually. he has lectured on many historical societies, including this one. thought -- i'm sorry, john bowa. [applause] and todd interlake, 18th century newspapers is you could no doubt tell. he is one of the most significant collections of american revolution newspapers containing the earliest printed reports of every battle from 1763 to 1783. todd is curator publisher before history.com, an online in an

educational archive of historically significant newspapers dating back to the 16th century. [applause] >> so we will open up a question-and-answer with our panel. >> let me just say todd has done something extraordinary with this book. i got a call a couple years ago from a guy who collects newspapers and he wanted to do a book. i said that's great. and what he is done in this book is taken these newspapers, these primary sources and publish them. that in itself isn't unique, those of us fortunate enough to live in boston with their faces with great research libraries. we can go on the website get a lot of newspapers for the american antiquarian society. todd has taken them in a book in a dissenting and more printouts

taped, which is to assemble just about every scholar on the american revolution. people have a great detailed knowledge of a particular event or place. the folks with the park service to readers for interpreters at different sites, or people who know boston's 1775. no one is boston before the revolution rather than john doe. all around the country this is passion, and the csm and midwestern msn that scott is to say contributing you can take this book if you are a teacher or college professor teaching the american revolution and here you have probably the best account of the battle of utah's spring superfine or any other event in the revolution. so this is the resource for teaching the american revolution. i congratulate todd for putting it together. >> i'm not a degreed historian.

i play one on tv, but it was important to me that the newspaper is historically supported by the experts, the authorities on the subject manner. so i drafted 37 copies orients to bridge the centuries and kind of hold the hands of the general reader so when they are trying to consume 18th century media, which isn't always the easiest thing for us today, they have the experts who can kind of going to the games they should be never seen and keep in mind these are also the number one propaganda tools of the area. so they do come with occasional areas and inaccuracies that contributors to the book, what they did is surface referees. so they were calling fouls and pointing that out for the modern reader. so these documents alone can be

dangerous. but when they are contextualized by experts, very beautiful thing. >> the newspapers were in some ways an attempt to to the events by showing the view of the newspapers supported. so todd mentioned before the war, for instance, newspapers educationally with ordonez, but also downplayed the destruction or was it the rights have been done by a soldier, sailors and boys, people who are not respect the citizens of the town. but this newspapers are so very important because they say what the other people learned about this offense. >> any questions, yes. >> so you're describing the

media of his future athenian or whistling in the same way we have left-leaning media. i'm wondering if you found in any of your research anything that started to resemble opinion pieces are constantly being out today for fast introduced much later and do you know when? >> usually page one of the newspapers contain serialized essays that would go on sometimes for multiple issues, where they would provide one perspective of a certain argument and sometimes it also was he the counter immediately following, often under pseudonyms. >> i was in fact everything was taken. there is not really the sense of an impartial journalist and yet. so when you read about an event, it is usually being prevented from the point of view of a

one-sided afforded by the newspaper. todd mentioned the boston tea party account written by an impartial observer. it wasn't really impartial. it is very much present team these people who just destroyed hundreds of thousands of modern dollars worth of property has been very respectful of private property and putting back a lock and making sure it is still for selfish reasons. so the value of impartiality was fair, but it is used by both sides for their own side because they viewed themselves as being the ones who had to share complete view of events in the other site is an aim on the facts. >> msnbc and fox news are models of impartiality compared to the revolutionary. >> is still had an occasional

newspaper title that attempted to remain neutral. the boston evening post. >> the boston, called mccain to boston, an immigrant try to be impartial at the beginning. he tried to publish both articles on both sides. didn't work. he eventually became a stronger supporter of the royal government and was driven out of town because the. >> on the other side of that, nobody is on many different sources of media that we can kind of fat check. how often was the president of the newspaper or drastic exaggeration and outright lies to gain support or to turn people directly to one side or the other? >> you're definitely finding exaggerations, whether it's drastic or not. but is interested in finding was

that a lot of newspaper accounts came as disclaimers. so publishers of the newspapers, printers cite reliable sources and a thesaurus is questionable, they would frequently printouts of the article and some sort of disclaimer. >> i remember there is a letter published the battle of lexington and concord to talk to the british soldiers coming and rampaging through and killing the barnyard animals. that never happened. there is a letter about the battle of upper hill says it's in the soldiers reached charlestown, some of them try to desert and runaway and how two of them sprang up immediately. i didn't have any there. definitely propaganda pieces. fatah disarray, the printers try to provide their readers to put the focus was accurate

information. in his chest and is as accurate as the interstate. on the fair site at one point, those from john adams and benjamin harrison to cotton and the congress delegate were sent to the boston from philadelphia. they were brought by a young lawyer who was captured. the british got ahold of these documents and to publish them. the john adams letters are just so rude about the continental congress that they didn't have to change anything in them. prepare some others change it to make it look as if george washington was having an affair with a maid at a tavern. so yes, both sides were using propaganda within the newspapers. >> interestedly in the middle minolta were sold upon a few london, pools to report george washington had died in battle. normally these are also kind of the room are hearsay and their

way of adding disclaimer was to print the the more gossipy news from less credible sources at the back of the newspaper. when the chronicle was any page newspaper ad that uses most commonly commonly found on page eight. >> these publishers are also in competition with each other, so they will challenge but each other say. ..

>> how prevalent was

organized efforts of propaganda in the newspapers grex inhibits have the newspapers are pretty obvious that then we had a broadside and i am curious who is funding. a super pak from the patriots' side? who pays the piper? >> i will start with meeting at newspaper offices. i quoted john adams 1769 in his diary where he spent his evenings in the print shop james otis was there and they were cooking up things for the newspaper, essays

what john adams would call and occurrence. there may be a reference to a concerted effort that tutto other newspapers and other towns what it was like to live in boston under occupation from 1668 to 1770 they would send up the "journal" of transactions every week. this horrible thing happened. this soldier was bad. this soldier was on trial. that was not published in the boston paper but sent to new york and set stage sent up and down the coast then reprinted in boston.

that is a definite effort of one side of the political divide to use the power of the press to use the seaboard for profit. who financed that grex it looks like william cooper, the town clerk was involved. simulacrums station samuel adams was the clerk so he earned a salary as a politician. that was a rare. they put the time into those reports. all averred dickerson wrote about the control and he found in the british government archives with the

boston postboy that said you were sending all your money to the boston and chronicle so why don't you support us and give us the stationary contract grex why don't you buy our papers? and we will take your side. it was another arm of the government supporting the newspaper. a magazine called the postern taste the boston sent sensor from a loyalists' point* of view was put together through

subsidies for everybody agreed that would allow somebody to show our side of the dispute. i hope that answers your question. >> we think of the newspaper publication today of the network of some tickets and reporters and i have the impression just of printers relying on sources, letters or people who do show up who say i was there. is that correct? >> of first had access to

postmasters they had access to the private correspondence. >> that was the case franklin was the most successful printer and became the deputy postmaster and then carries over because it was an interest in the part of the united states government to have information flowing freely. they were ratifying the constitution. massachusetts was very resistant. the supporters would control the mail. the pennsylvania minority for the ratification circulated throughout the country except in massachusetts. they held it up because they did not want it to enter

discourse before they voted they would control the flow of news that this helps us to see the connection between the free flow of information which is different from today. >> you are right, besides printers they're not people employed. maybe the cousins coming once or twice a week to make sure the essay looked good but there were no reporters or editors. 1774 we know isiah thomas was outside the print shop in cambridge. we know that not because he said he filed the eyewitness

report, only because the customs official that was chased by the crowd said it was mr. thomas who got them upset at me. >> the whole notion of journalism, early in the republic the first time people who own newspapers who have not been trained as printers. perhaps jussive creeley's who was a magistrate justice of the peace comes into boston shortly before the revolution and is of partner with the magazine with isiah thomas. it was the enterprise of a printer one you have gotten

the thinkers 30 to work the press. not until the next generation do we get the get the of their profession of the reporter or a newspaper publisher. who gets all the money. >> differences and similarities between papers then and now, we have the idea of impartiality but the fundamental purpose of the newspaper 1775 and today it was money-making enterprise. nobody pays for the church bulletin. you do that by hiring a staff, is a one-man operation that is how you do a.

stage how you do it to. so there is nothing wrong with the purpose of making money. last laugh when i say it is the printer they probably have the advantage of the printers children maybe some journeyman. it was not a household operation. >> several women were printing during the american revolution because the husband or brother passes away and a resume the operation of the print shop. >> the boston newsletter that keeps going inside the siege, the only one the patriot army outside of

boston was kept of what they should, afloat by margaret who was from the previous printers. >> many trained their widows women were dominant in to the typesetting as one of the fields that was open to women throughout the 19th century. >> one of the things i observe when we read history we do so with knowledge of what has occurred but if you talk to someone during world war ii, before pearl harbor we did not know the united states would enter. you to get some perspective but with the newspapers they

would not have that perspective but reading articles of the battles but those ancillary articles with the current town meeting, etc. how those would eliminate your understanding of those events we read about in history today? >> one of my favorite assignments is to have students find a newspaper from any period to see what was news. it is not the front page article but this small story. the advertisements that are eliminating. i find it reassuring to find those newspapers from 200 years ago or 50 years ago there is just as much mayhem. horrible crimes. you are right to. you get the sense of the world of these people. also to study history to

read it and do not know the outcome. the person does not know there's a war for independence for the united states will win the war or george washington becomes president. you drop the knowledge of what happens and are immersed in the world and makes terrific tools because you get a different perspective of not knowing everything that has happened since. >> you don't know what happens the next week. >> some people don't care. it is a wonderful way reading a full newspaper to immerse yourself in the life of a particular moment. >> consumption and production goes over the four advertisements to give context. one struck me 1766 pennsylvania gazette the

middle column annapolis datelined the first sons of liberty taking place in the capital. directly adjacent is the sale for the indentured servant. you have the juxtaposition with the sons of liberty to fight the tyranny and enslavement alongside the advertisement for the sale of the indentured servant. you get that in the book a lot. the newspapers are presented in the fashion you can wander and discover to find other interesting tidbits along separate lines of the featured news of the day. >> you would have everything compressed on the same page because everything is so short.

runaway slave advertisement next to the latest imported china, next to an essay about political issues. they could get personal. they go nasty back and forth. it was important back then. >> also poetry, nasty gossip [n][laughter] n]. >> some of these exchanges are reminiscent with on-line exchanges anonymous swiping at each other than the opposing newspaper. it always strikes me these days we think it is the anonymity people spew out

the fact the answers because they're not thinking but then they had three days to think they knew who was in a still decided so i will talk about his illegitimate child [laughter][n. >> speenine what would be the most prized possession regardless of any fee paid? what you hope to acquire? what don't you have it in your collection? >> newspapers range in value with condition, a timeliness of the milestone whether american or british a

variety of factors that range from tens of dollars to tens of thousands. the most coveted to many of those objectives, was the first printing of the american it declaration of independence from the pennsylvania evening post. 1776. it is very desirable. >> do you have it? >> no. that is a prized artifacts. >> do you wanted? >> to talk about the

different sources where do they get them? were they sent, did they go through people's mail? how did they get the documents? >> i get the sense talking about an extract of a letter they were private but the gentleman probably went to the newspaper or tavern to share the news with the other business people in the town. except for john adams and benjamin harris there are other examples during wartime but a gentleman was sharing the news that he had with the printer.

that leads to interesting results. with the battle of lexington in the pennsylvania press more than the massachusetts press because they were sending off details and there was no pressure to keep the details secret. because there was a war. to talk about paul revere but the massachusetts press does not. >> i had the opportunity to video contributors to the book. i asked the same question to dennis conrad. he pointed to a manuscript letter that said print this. print this. print this. to suggest what the author wanted to be printed in the

newspaper. >> i was just wondering what the topic of your collection , how your collection of these silas do good letters? bamako's are very desirable but earlier and outside my specialty. >> i thought they said earlier. >> but not in the quantity of the american revolution era. >> does anybody know about those? >> benjamin franklin when it an apprentice in the print shop in boston up the street apparently their

relationship was not strong and the older brother did not want benjamin to have a role beyond the apprenticeships that benjamin was the up-and-coming writer and contributed some pieces that he wrote and slid under the door under the pseudonym and published under the pen name of silence dogoode. >> this is the smallpox epidemic in boston. inoculation, but franklin had started it as a way to attack inoculation. they are the same that wanted us to execute quakers, and execute witches and inject themselves with smallpox including the

negro's. so they call him a baboon and things he would not find in a newspaper today. under this torrent of abuse abuse, mathers died there was concern about his daughter with the silent tarriance under attack this is the most recent publication. essays to do good was the most famous. everyone knew silence dogoode meant cotton mather and the last and the first silence dogoode describes herself middle-aged a widow a lover of her country and adept at pointing out the faults of others and other characteristics that matter

was the todd day's should target. at the age of 16 he will show a the tendency that not gave them a good eye with the brother he may have been shelling and not. but i look forward to the next edition of those letters in the 17 twenties after reporting of the revolutionary war. >> i would ask for commentary next on the old local newspapers on the battle of lexington or concorde you mentioned how the boston newsletter was the only newspaper to continue coverage. what was the atmosphere like for the printers on the verge of four and after a

the war starts? >> massachusetts had printers in boston and some towns to the north. when the war started there were leaks from the british government telling general gates, the royal governor, and to start cracking down. the most radical printers even isiah thomas got the press out of boston was just a few days during 1775. isiah thomas knockout on the day of the battle of lexington. they were outside of boston as the siege began.

so they quickly set up the press in watertown to serve the patriot cause. then printers' came down from salem to renamed the newspaper the independent chronicle to support the patriot cause. they printed reports for the massachusetts government about how awful the british attack on concorde had been and how they had fired without provocation for the farmers lined up in lexington and attack house is that afternoon. and a copy of the newspaper they commissioned a ship from salem to carry this to

london and then ships sailed without cargo the entire voyage was being paid for by the new patriot massachusetts government to get their version of what was happening to london first. it worked because the general said of his report but on a slow boat that went to new york first. you can see this in the london chronicle, and they're waiting and waiting for the official report meanwhile the capitol talks about what the massachusetts government has said. it is tough because it is wartime. is a thomas to talk about

how they would make the paper demitasse subscribers to bring in their old rags to send it to the papermakers to be recycled denim one point* thomas and his apprentice was sleeping on these piles because they did not has beds. then inside boston on the other side, most printers shut down only margaret draper and heard journeymen kept the boston newsletter redding and the patriots are getting smaller. it became a regular. they did their best. both sides tried their best as part of the overall effort. >> one observation i made is

that the quality of the american newspapers to carry its. the quality of the paper will deteriorate or seems significantly less quality in the middle of the war. if you flip through the book look just at the american newspapers 1777 through 1780, the quality of the paper is less than before the war starts and at the end. to your point*, an interesting tidbit 1776 london chronicles it is the repeal of the stamp act it is with the boycott of british goods that made the