Female Printer

October 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Maryland Journal (October 11, 1775).

“CONSTITUTIONAL POST-OFFICE.  BALTIMORE.”

The contents of the October 11, 1775, edition of the Maryland Journal were organized such that the first advertisement that readers encountered promoted the Baltimore branch of the “CONSTITUTIONAL POST-OFFICE” established by the Second Continental Congress as an alternative to the imperial postal system operated by the British government.  It completed the middle column on the third page, a column otherwise filled with news from Cambridge, Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia.  Two lines separated it from other content, indicating a transition from news to advertising, yet the notice seemed a continuation of updates about current events, including an inaccurate report that General Richard Montgomery had captured Montreal as part of the American invasion of Quebec.  Advertisements inserted for other purposes, such as fencing lessons and descriptions of runaway indentured servants, appeared in the next column and on the next page.

“NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN,” the advertisement proclaimed, “That the POST arrives in this Town, from Philadelphia, with the Eastern Mailes, every Monday and Thursday, and sets off the same Day for the Southward.”  It returned from that direction on Wednesdays and Fridays.  The notice was signed, “M.K. GODDARD.”  The colophon at the bottom of the final page also listed “M.K. GODDARD, at the PRINTING-OFFICE in MARKET-STREET” as the printer of the Maryland Journal.  Mary Katharine Goddard operated the printing office in Baltimore.  Like many other printers, she simultaneously served as postmaster.  Many of them, as Joseph M. Adelman explains, had been “associated with the old imperial system” and “shifted [their] service from the British post office to the American one.”  They included Solomon Southwick, the printer of the Newport Mercury, John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, and Alexander Purdie, the printer of the Virginia Gazette.  Appointed to the position in 1775, Goddard served as postmaster in Baltimore for fourteen years “until she lost her position in 1789 to a new postmaster more closely connected to the new Federal Postmaster General.”[1]

Women participated in the American Revolution in many ways.  They signed nonimportation agreements and made decisions in the marketplace that reflected their political principles, they spun wool and made homespun garments as alternatives to British imports, and they raised funds to support the Continental Army.  Some served in more formal roles, including Mary Katharine Goddard as both the printer of the Maryland Journal and the postmaster at the “CONSTITUTIONAL POST-OFFICE” in Baltimore.

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[1] Joseph M. Adelman, “‘A Constitutional Conveyance of Intelligence, Public and Private’: The Post Office, the Business of Printing, and the American Revolution,” Enterprise and Society 11, no. 4 (December 2010): 742.

March 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Maryland Gazette (March 30, 1775).

“He shall continue a publication of this GAZETTE.”

On March 30, 1775, the colophon for the Maryland Gazette stated, “ANNAPOLIS: Printed by FREDERICK GREEN,” for the first time.  In the previous issue, it read, “ANNAPOLIS: Printed by ANNE CATHARINE GREEN and SON.”  Anne Catharine Green had been publishing the newspaper since April 16, 1767, upon the death of her husband, Jonas.  She commenced a partnership with her son, William, in January 1768, but it ended with his death in August 1770.  In January 1772, she commenced another partnership, that one with another son, Frederick.  When she died on March 23, 1775, he became the sole publisher.

On that occasion, he inserted his own notice in the Maryland Gazette, placing it first among the advertisements in the March 30 edition.  Frederick “inform[ed] his customers and the public, that he shall continue a publication of this GAZETTE.”  He offered assurances of his editorial strategy, pledging that “impartiality, candour, and secrecy, shall govern his conduct.”  Through “diligence and application,” he intended to make the newspaper “instructive and entertaining to his readers.”  To that end, “All pieces of a public nature, which may merit attention, and be thought conducive to the welfare and happiness of the community, will be thankfully received, and inserted gratis.”  As had been the case when he worked alongside his mother, the printer needed to cultivate relationships with readers who would supply content to fill the pages of his newspaper.

Maryland Gazette (March 30, 1775).

Elsewhere on the same page, Frederick ran a death notice in memory of his mother.  Thick black borders appeared above and below it, a common practice readily recognized as a sign of mourning.  “Last Thursday Morning,” the notice reported, “departed this Life, Mrs. ANNE CATHARINE GREEN, relict of the late Mr. JONAS GREEN, Printer to the Province.”  Her son remembered her “mild and benevolent Disposition,” declaring that “for conjugal Affection, and parental Tenderness” she was “an Example to her Sex.”  He did not elaborate on the service she provided to Annapolis and the rest of the colony.  Throughout most of her tenure as printer, the Maryland Gazette had been the only newspaper published in Maryland.  Anne Catharine Green was one of several women who ran printing offices in colonial America during the imperial crisis that culminated in a war for independence.  Along with Margaret Draper, Sarah Goddard, and Clementina Rind, she contributed to the dissemination of news and shaping of public opinion as momentous events occurred.

August 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (August 11, 1774).

“Mrs. Draper … proposes to continue publishing the Paper herself.”

With a notice in the August 11, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter, Margaret Draper became the sole printer responsible for publishing that newspaper.  Who served in that role had changed several times over the past several months.  On May 5, Richard Draper, Margaret’s husband who had printed the newspaper for many years, placed an advertisement seeking a “Printer that understands collecting News, and carrying on a News Paper” to assist him because his “very low State of Health, prevents his making such Collection of Intelligence and Speculation, as his Customers must have expected.”  A week later, he ran a new notice to advise his customers of “a Co-Partnership with Mr. JOHN BOYLE.”  The “Co-Partnership” of Draper and Boyle, he promised, “will Endeavor to support the Reputation the said Paper has had for many Years past.”  At the same time, he made a pitch for advertisers, noting that the “great number of Customers on the Western Roads, make it peculiarly advantageous for those who advertise therein.”  The following week, an updated masthead for the May 19 issue included the names of both printers.

That partnership lasted only a few weeks.  Richard died on June 5.  A death notice and obituary ran as the first time in the first column of the first page in the June 9 edition, followed immediately by a notice that the “Co-Partnership between RICHARD DRAPER and JOHN BOYLE is dissolved by the Death of the former.”  In turn, the newspaper “will now be carried on by MARGARET DRAPER and JOHN BOYLE,” who renewed pledges that “the utmost Endeavors will be taken to maintain the Character it has had for upwards of Seventy Years past.”  Black borders, indicative of mourning, embellished the mastheads for the standard issue and the supplement that accompanied it.  The masthead for the standard issue stated, “Published by MARGARET DRAPER and JOHN BOYLE, at their Printing-Office in Newbury Street.”  In contrast, the masthead for the supplement only named one of them: “Published by JOHN BOYLE, at his Printing-Office in Newbury Street.”  Apparently portions of the newspaper went to print before the widow and her departed husband’s partner worked out all the details of their new arrangement.  Both names appeared in the masthead for the next several issues as well as in an updated version that first appeared on June 30: “Published by DRAPER and BOYLE in Newbury-Street, where Advertisements, &c. for this PAPER are taken in, and all other Printing-Work performed.”

This new partnership endured for two months, concluding with a notice “To the Public” that “MARGARET DRAPER & JOHN BOYLE, agreeable to Contract, … dissolved by mutual Consent” their partnership.  The colophon portion of the masthead simply declared, “Draper’s,” as it had prior to the Richard’s death.  In addition to announcing that she now operated the newspaper on her own, Margaret issued a call for friends, customers, and the public to provide “some reputable Means of Subsistence” for her.  To that end, she “solicit[ed] the Favor of further Subscriptions” that would allow her to “keep up the Credit which the Paper had for a long Time sustained in the Days of her deceased Husband.”  She ran the printing office on her own for several months before entering into an agreement with John Howe to manage the business.  That made her one of several female printers, along with Sarah Goddard, Anne Catharine Green, and Clementina Rind, in the colonies on the eve of the American Revolution.

August 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Virginia Gazette [Rind] (August 26, 1773).

“WILLIAMSBURG: Printed by CLEMENTINA RIND, at the NEW PRINTING OFFICE.”

It was the first time that Clementina Rind’s name appeared in the colophon of the Virginia Gazette, formerly published by her late husband.  William Rind died on August 19, 1773.  A week later, his widow revised the colophon to read: “WILLIAMSBURG: Printed by CLEMENTINA RIND, at the NEW PRINTING OFFICE, on the Main Street.”  Clementina continued her husband’s practice of using the colophon as an advertisement for subscriptions and advertising.  “All Persons may be supplied with this GAZETTE,” the colophon continued to inform readers, “at 12s6 per Year.  ADVERTISEMENTS of a moderate Length are inserted for 3s. the first Week, and 2s. each Time after; and long ones in Proportion.”  A thick border, indicative of mourning, separated the colophon from the rest of the content on the final page.  Similarly, mourning borders appeared in the masthead as well, alerting readers of a significant loss.

Due to a variety of factors, the death notice in digitized copy of Rind’s Virginia Gazette is not fully legible.  His fellow printers, Alexander Purdie and John Dixon, however, ran an even more extensive tribute to their former competitor in their own Virginia Gazette, though lacking mourning borders.  They first described William as “an affectionate Husband, kind Parent, and a benevolent Man” before lauding his work as “publick Printer to the Colony.”  Purdie and Dixon memorialized a colleague whose “Impartiality on the Conduct of his Gazette, by publishing the Productions of the several contending Parties that have lately appeared in this Country, cannot fail of securing to his Memory the Estee, of all who are sensible how much the Freedom of the Press contributes to maintain and extend the most sacred Rights of Humanity.”  Purdie and Dixon underscored the important contributions of all printers in paying their respects to the departed William.  They also gave an extensive account of the funeral rituals undertaken by “the ancient and honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons” in memory of “so worthy a Brother.”

Clementina printed the Virginia Gazette for thirteen months.  Following her death on September 25, 1774, John Pinkney became the printer.  Clementina was not the only female printer producing and distributing a newspaper in the colonies at the time.  In Annapolis, Anne Catherine Green and Son published the Maryland Gazette.  The widow of Jonas Green, Anne Catherine printed the newspaper upon his death, sometimes as sole publisher and sometimes in partnership with a son.  The Adverts 250 Project has also traced some of the work of Sarah Goddard, printer of the Providence Gazette in the late 1760s.  Female printers joined their male counterparts in contributing to the dissemination of information (and advertising) during the era of the American Revolution.

Virginia Gazette [Rind] (August 26, 1773).