New to AAS: 2 Issues of Roll Call (Washington, DC), 1864

At least these two issues of the Roll Call newspaper from the Civil War were edited by “Three Ladies. Two of the War, and One of the Treasury Departments.” There is only one other known issue of this title, which may have begun in February 1864. It was apparently published during one of the many ...

Adventures in Amateur Newspaper Cataloging: The Acorn

As I work through cataloging the American Antiquarian Society’s collection of amateur newspapers,  I’m often amused by both the content of the material and the stories of the people who published them. The Acorn (Catalog Record), published in North Attleboro, MA, by Fannie Hamilton, delights on both accounts. Hamilton published the first issue of the Acorn ...

New to AAS: Boston, Massachusetts, Papers addition, 1710

Almanacs, pregnancy, and dodging fines are all contained in this one-page testimony to the Court of General Sessions of Massachusetts from 1710. Unmarried Ruth Copeland became pregnant with a child by a man named Samuel Hayden, who promised to marry her after finding out she was to have his child. Samuel subsequently rescinded his offer after ...

New to AAS: Ann Taylor. My Mother. New York: Solomon King, ca. 1832

Although Ann Taylor's poem begins with the line, "Who fed me from her gentle breast …," very few American illustrated editions show a mother actually breastfeeding her child, due to modesty concerns, making this image published in an edition issued by New York publisher Solomon King (1791-1832) a great find. Several scholars have recently used the ...

History of Conserving History: The Evolution of Paper Conservation in Libraries

In the summer of 2024, I spent eight weeks at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) for my first paper conservation internship as part of my master’s program in conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Under the guidance of Chief Conservator Babette Gehnrich — who has dedicated over 35 years to stewarding ...

New to AAS: Sharecropper Account Book, 1866-1868

This account book, kept on an unidentified Georgia plantation in the mid-1860s, features accounts for over fifty Black sharecroppers. Sharecropping families were frequently trapped in a cycle of debt due to laws restricting sale of sharecropped goods on former plantations and unethical practices by southern planters. On this specific Georgia plantation, Black laborers are recorded ...

A Scoundrel at Work in the Archives: George Weeks’ Scams

In my work as the Serials Cataloger at AAS, I recently came across the Ladies' Enterprise, a periodical printed in several New England cities (including Worcester!) in the 1850’s. I was immediately drawn in by its subtitle “Edited and published by females” and its decorative masthead depicting women working at a print shop. Further digging ...

New to AAS: Constitution of the Portsmouth Encyclopedia Society, ca. 1803

Pasted into volume 11 of Encyclopaedia; or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature (Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1798), this broadside appears to be the only surviving evidence of one of the most unusual private circulating libraries. It demonstrates the cultural importance of one encyclopedia and the lengths people might go to be able to ...

New to AAS: Miss H.M. Rice Trade Card. Boston, ca. 1830s

The early 19th century saw a resurgence in the use of leeches for medical use, especially during the cholera epidemic of the 1830s in Europe and America. Though leeches did prove to have anti-inflammatory effects, they did not cure or mitigate cholera and by mid-century were rarely used in medicine. This trade card touts a Miss ...

Finding Family After Slavery: The Last Seen Project and AAS

In January 2025, staff at the American Antiquarian Society attended a workshop on African American print culture taught by Dr. Derrick Spires, associate professor of English at the University of Delaware (and an AAS member and councilor), generously sponsored by the Nadia Sophie Seiler Family Fund. Dr. Spires shared how Black people used African American ...

New to AAS: Alice in Wonderland: A Play; Emily Prime Delafield, 1898

Inspired by a performance of scenes from Alice in Wonderland performed in Japan by a cast of English-speaking children in 1890, New York socialite Emily Prime Delafield (1840-1909) wrote her own dramatized version of Alice. It was originally performed at the Waldorf Hotel in March 1897 as a benefit for the Society of Decorative Arts, ...

New to AAS: The Genius of Universal Emancipation, 1830-31

Benjamin Lundy was a prominent abolitionist in the 1820’s and 1830’s. Brought up as a Quaker in what is now West Virginia, he saw the iniquity of slavery. In 1821 he started the Genius of Universal Emancipation in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. From there the periodical moved several times, being published in Greenville, TN; Baltimore, MD; Washington, ...

Ephemera Explored: Over 40,000 New Images Give Glimpses into 19th-Century American Life

A light beige card with green-ish print and an illustration of a mer-man with wings.

Have you ever wanted to catch a ride on the Flying Dutchman? Or wondered what people ate at Faneuil Hall to celebrate the 4th of July? Would you like to attend a nineteenth-century séance? Earn ten cents from your teacher? Or shop for a tombstone? You can learn about all those activities (and more) from the ...

Not Everything That is Printed is on Paper: Survey of Textile Broadsides

One lesser-known collection at the American Antiquarian Society is a group of broadsides printed on textiles. Broadsides are ephemeral, single-sheet items that are usually printed only on one side. Some topics typical of broadsides include advertisements, official proclamations, theater announcements, and opinions. AAS has approximately 148 textile broadsides that showcase the breadth and type of these ...