Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Printing History

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I was looking at one of those “This Day In History” sites when this tidbit caught my book-loving attention:

September 25, 1639 – First printing press in America set up in Cambridge under the guarantee of Harvard College.

Wow, right?

First off, it goes to show what the Puritans valued. Nineteen years after establishing Plymouth Colony (eighteen years after half the original settlers died from malnutrition and disease!) they had a college and a printer. (In contrast, in was more than a century before Massachusetts began training up professional lawyers.)

 

The story itself is encompasses every hallmark of the Massachusetts colony in the 17th century: death, remarriage, religious non-conformism, law suits, money, freedom of the press and the inherit contradictions of a community that made the individual conscience supreme – and then tried to control it. Also, as usual, it eventually winds up in Vermont, a “lawless backwater” populated by adventurers and Anglicans.

It begins with the Rev. Joseph Glover, who slipped into non-conformity (ie, against the Church of England) and decided to emigrate to the New World, bringing with him his family, men- and maidservants, and most importantly, a printing press, bought with his considerable funds and a kind of “friends of the Puritans” group. He also indentured a locksmith, Stephen Daye, to serve as the printer, and bought transportation for Daye’s family (and servants!)

Glover, alas, didn’t survive the trip, leaving Mrs. Elizabeth Glover the owner of the printing press and the indenture contract. Yes, dear readers, the first printing CEO in North America was a woman. Elizabeth, for reasons, ignored the house her late husband had had built in Boston, and instead purchased two existing homes in Cambridge, one for her household and the press, another for the Dayes.

A reproduction; no original copies survive.

The first product of the press, The Freeman’s Oath, was welcomed by the colony, although there were quite a few complaints about the quality of Daye’s work. Maybe don’t hire a locksmith as a printer? Later in 1639 he produced William Pierces’ Almanack and the next year, 1,700 copies of The Bay Psalm Book. Catechisms, sermons, schoolbooks, more almanacks – the Glover-Daye press was a hit.

 

 

Elizabeth Glover was also a hit with Henry Dunster, the President of Harvard. Hopefully, it was her good sense and affability, rather than her thriving business, multiple houses and eleven feather beds, that prompted him to propose in 1641. Her property, of course, became his, and her printing press was soon joined by a second imported from England.

The fact the college came to control the printing business was a lucky break – its reputation shielded the press, and no less than two legislative attempts to impose English-style licensing (where nothing was printed without the approval of an official censor) failed.

Elizabeth Glover passed away in 1643, followed not long after by several law suits as her sons from her first marriage tried to wrestle her property away from her second husband – and by extension, Harvard. They failed, but perhaps got some satisfaction when Dunster was kicked out of the college (and the colony) in 1654 for professing his belief in adult, rather than infant baptism. That individual conscience. What are you gonna do?

 

The Glover-Daye press itself continued to churn out reading material for the colony. Daye (briefly jailed for fraud and the object of more law suits) was replaced by professional printer Samuel Green, who spawned a whole family of printers across new England. One of his sons brought the physical press to New London, CT. in 1714, and from thence to New Hampshire and, eventually, Vermont, where it produced that colony’s first newspaper, The Vermont Gazette. The press was finally retired after 150 years of use – they built ‘em to last in those days. It can be seen (!) at the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier. Road trip, anyone?


65 comments:

  1. It's good to know that our ancestors held such value for the printed word . . . what an amazing history for that printing press!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. I was so tickled when I fell down that research hole, Elizabeth.

      Delete
    2. Things like that hook me on research, too -- and history. The past is so rich with surprises.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the history lesson!

    When I was hunting for my first pen name, I happened across Tace Sowle, Quaker printer/publisher in the late 1690s in London. She was trained by her father and took over the (illegal) business of printing radical and reforming pamphlets when his eyesight failed. She kept printing until she was 84. Fascinating article here: https://www.quakerquip.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/tacesowlearticle.pdf (I ended up writing as Tace Baker for my first and third books.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tace is such a great name, Edith. I wondered where it came from. Ms. Sowle sounds like our kind of gal!

      Delete
    2. Thank you for the history lesson, Edith! When I was living in England, I was on the train from London to Edinburgh when I met a Quaker family. I remember asking them about the Royal family and they said they do not pay attention to stories about royalty. They explained that they are Quakers. I thought it was interesting. Years later, I learned that one of my American ancestors’ sister married a Quaker. Unfortunately, the lady’s husband was excommunicated from the Quaker church for marrying out of the Quaker church! I was surprised that the same religion that believed in equality would engage in excommunication of members.

      Delete
    3. Hey, Edith. The other day while driving, I was thinking about Tace Baker. I know, I know --but who doesn't have thoughts pop in and out while behind the wheel? Anyway, I remembered you saying it was a Quaker name but that's all that had stuck in the gray matter. Thank you for the link.

      Delete
    4. Diana, because Quakers were so persecuted, they tried to keep their membership strong. Quite a few people were "read out of Meeting" for marrying outside their faith, including John Greenleaf Whittier's own brother. One could petition to be let back in, but success depended on the leniency of the particular Meeting.

      Delete
    5. I'd love to know when the Friends in Rhode Island felt secure enough to import their own printing press, Edith. IIRC, books were flowing from England to the Caribbean colonies and then up to New England.

      Delete
  4. Pat D. Yay Elizabeth!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Julia, that's fascinating. What drew you down that rabbit hole? Research? Curiosity?
    Where did the paper come from? Old World or new?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just saw the "in this day" article, which was only about a paragraph, and the next thing I knew I had six tabs open on my computer and spent the next two hours digging into the history! I confess I love research, perhaps too much. It's one of the reasons I don't write historical fiction - I'm afraid I'd fall down the hole and never emerge.

      Delete
  6. Learning lots of interesting history here this morning. Thanks Julia and Edith.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right? Now I want Edith to do a blog on an aspect of Quaker history - surely one of the most interesting and eventful groups in America.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Edith. I like the bits of Quaker history and practice you slide into all your books. Elisabeth

      Delete
  7. Sometimes it pays to be a Spanish Major. The first printing press in the Americas came to Mexico City in 1539. So technically printing was in Texas and New Mexico before the Pilgrims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw that when researching, Coralee, and I should have specified North America!

      Delete
    2. naw I was just being bratty.

      Delete
  8. Julia and Edith, thank you for sharing fascinating history! Though I am surprised that Puritans allowed Elizabeth, a widow, to own the printing press since the Puritans were known for their harried of women.

    The story about the printing press reminded me of a now out of print mystery series by Julie Kaewert called the Alex Plumtree series. The main character was a young man who owned a printing press at home in addition to a publishing house that had been in his family for centuries!

    Wonder if any of these printing presses printed the first mystery novel in colonial America or the United States?

    A road trip sounds like fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Widows actually had a lot of rights, Diana - they owned their property outright, could pursue legal actions in their own name, keep the profits of their businesses, etc. The suits by Elizabeth's sons against Henry Dyer came about because she had a will leaving her property to them, probably drawn up while she was still a widow, but when she died a married woman, by law, all her property belonged to her husband.

      I could do a WHOLE 'nother blog about the legal status of femme sole versus femme covert. Don't get me started!

      Delete
    2. Please could we get you started? I would love to read more of your historical and legal analysis!

      Delete
  9. 1639. That means only 15 year until the 400th anniversary of printing in North America. Fascinating.

    The marriage/property issue could become important again, if some have their way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, as a fellow Ohioan, the more I learn about a certain senator/VP candidate, the scarier become the prospects of him ever stepping foot in the White House in any capacity.

      Delete
    2. Amen, Flora.

      I grew up in the same county he did, and his book is full of lies and half-truths. What is happening now doesn't surprise me one bit.

      Delete
    3. You know, Karen, in Great Britain, coverture was abolished by an act of Parliament in 1882 (IIRC.) But it was never formally, legislatively done away with in the US. Instead, its strictures were gradually worn away by individual legal decisions. Which means, yes, we exist in a less protected state than our English sisters.

      Delete
  10. Absolutely fascinating, Julia! The bit about Dunster believing in adult baptism, not infant baptism, was the same thing that happened with an ancestor of mine, Obadiah Holmes, who came over just a few years after the Mayflower. He is credited with being one of the founders of the Baptist religion, although he was severely beaten for his beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They took doctrinal differences VERY seriously in those days, Judi! (Also, don't you think Obadiah is due for a name revival?)

      Delete
    2. Mm, me not so much! Bur if you are allowed to name any grandchildren, go for it!

      Delete
  11. A road trip does sound like fun! Thanks for the fascinating history. Very interesting that the connection with Harvard saved the printer from censorship.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right? Because Harvard was so trusted, it couldn't possibly print anything heretical. And by the time printers started working outside the protection of the College, the idea licenses weren't needed in the New World had been established. Of course it helped that if a printer got into trouble, he could always relocated to another colony...

      Delete
  12. Such fun to read this!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a fascinating history! Why am I not surprised at all the bickering and lawsuits, though. Some things never change.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Puritans were some of the most litigious people ever to step foot on this soil, Liz. We know so much about them because they were CONSTANTLY suing one another.

      Delete
  14. I learn so much reading this blog! Thank you, Julia, and all the Jungle-Red writers and commenters!

    ReplyDelete
  15. In these troubled times, it's easy to understand how dangerous a printing press could be. I wrote a screenplay that was set along the Ohio River during the days of the Underground Railroad. Digging into the history of that time, I came across several stories of printers being attacked and their presses destroyed because they printed abolitionist papers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fascinating, Flora! When I was a kid one of my friends lived in a home with a secret compartment meant to hide runaway slaves on their way north. That was in Hamilton, Ohio, which is about 25-30 miles north of the Ohio River.

      Delete
    2. Printers have been dangerous and endangered almost from the time of Gutenberg, Flora. It's no coincidence the very first amendment to the Constitution promises "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."

      Delete
  16. This is a wonderful story, Julia. I only feel sad that Elizabeth Glover died two years after she married Dunster. I wonder if she died in childbirth--so many women did. The printing business thrived thanks to her marriage but perhaps she didn't.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Much of my academic career involved researching 17th century England and its colonies, Kim. It's amazing how many people died in their thirties and forties. A marriage lasting three decades was a marvel - instead, what we'd call 'serial monogamy' was much more the norm. Dunster was Elizabeth's second husband, he would go on to have another wife after her death, and it wasn't unusual for men or women to have a total of three spouses n the course of their lifetimes.

      Delete
  17. I love history, so this is fascinating to me! Thanks, Julia!

    DebRo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love history too, DebRo, so I'm happy to write about it!

      Delete
  18. Definitely up for a road trip to see something so incredible! I hope to visit it in person one day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was so tickled to find it was just over in Vermont, Damyanti!

      Delete
  19. Julia, thank you for these words of early New England adventures in printing. Light into my (internally bleak and confusing) morning! Lifted the saggy spirit. Elisabeth

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a wonderful piece. Thank you, Julia! And I can't help but wonder how high the price of a stamp will be if they put out another one in 2039!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ouch! I stocked up at the price raise before the last, when they were what, 60 cents? I try to remind myself American stamps are still cheaper than in most other countries...

      Delete
  21. Fascinating history! Thank you.
    Those Puritans and first settlers were complex strange characters. They did value literacy (at least for men).
    Love that the first printing press was owns by a (Gasp) woman.(HeatherS)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heather, they actually valued literacy for everyone - men, women, young and old, "even" bondservants. The ability to read the word of God was baked into their theology. Now, who got to interpret the word of God - that had a LOT of gatekeeping.

      Delete
  22. Fascinating bit of history, Julia! Shallowly, however, I'm wondering if Phil Dunster (who played Jamie Tartt on Ted Lasso) is related to the Harvard Dunster!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dunster came from a Lancashire family, Debs, so it's entirely possible...

      Delete
  23. Fascinating. I love this Julia. I remember our daily afternoon newspaper being The New London Day - we lived in Niantic - now I have to go look and see if they're still in print.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, Jenn, fond memories of the New London from mid 1960s at Connecticut College (then) for Women! Elisabeth

      Delete
    2. “The New London Day”… not necessarily the whole city. Wink,Wink. Elisabeth

      Delete
  24. Thanks, Julia! This was so fun and informative! Well done!

    ReplyDelete