Begin at the Beginning: Boston’s Founding Documents "What News?": Communication in Early New England

"What News?": Communication in Early New England  

New England was built on letters. Its colonists left behind thousands of these “paper pilgrims,” brittle and browning. But how were they delivered? In a time before postal service and newspapers, how did news travel?

Even when it was meant solely for English eyes, news did not pass solely through English hands. Native messengers carried letters along footpaths, and Dutch ships took them across waterways. Rumors flew. Who could travel where, who controlled the routes winding through the woods, who dictated what news might be sent—these questions reveal a new dimension of contest in the northeast.

In her new book American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England, Katherine Grandjean reveals a new view of colonial New England.  It is a darker and more precarious place entirely.

Reading

American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England  (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015), especially the introduction and chapters 1, 2, and 3.