Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763 - 1789

Wednesday, September 18
5:30pm Reception
6:00pm - 7:30pm Lecture with Joseph M. Adelman, Department of History, Framingham State University

Hosted by the Program in Early American Economy and Society

During the American Revolution, newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, and broadsides played a crucial role as a forum for public debate. In Revolutionary Networks, Joseph M. Adelman argues that printers were artisans who mingled with the elite but labored in a manual trade, and that they used their connections to shape Revolutionary political ideology and mass mobilization. At the same time, printers balanced political beliefs with the commercial interests of their businesses, the customs of the printing trade, and the prevailing mood of their communities. Drawing on a database of 756 printers active during the Revolutionary era, along with a rich collection of archival and printed sources, Adelman surveys printers’ networks and explains how they played a vital role in the progress of the Revolution and creation of a new republic.

For more information, contact Cathy Matson, PEAES Director at cmatson@udel.edu or call (215) 546-3181. For additional information on the Program in Early American Economy and Society and its activities, visit librarycompany.org/academic-programs/peaes.