The American Revolution

Boston Massacre is a lithograph from J. H. Bufford’s (1810- 1874) lithography company in Boston, based on an illustration by W. L. Champney. This version of the Boston Massacre has one major difference from previous renditions of the event: it includes Crispus Attucks and portrays him...

Paul Revere (1734- 1818) was born and raised in Boston, learning the trade of silversmith from his father. He also took up dentistry and the profitable business of engraving for which he became well known. He, himself, was not an artist, though he became adept at engraving the designs of...

Artist: John C. McRae was an engraver and printer in New York City (1) who based this engraving off of a painting by Johannes Adam Simon Oertel (1823-1909). Oertel was a painter and engraver who emigrated from Germany in 1848. He is known for his religious paintings and for his ceiling...

The paper used in colonial times was generally made from the fibers of cotton or linen rags.  It was printed while wet so that the fibers would be pliable.  One of the jobs of an apprentice was to hang the wet paper to dry on racks suspended from the ceiling of the print shop.

Paper was...

The Patriot Printer film is a dramatic recreation of Isaiah Thomas publishing the May 3, 1775, issue of The Massachusetts Spy. (See below for a transcription of part of this issue.) Although the film seeks to be as historically accurate as possible, including incorporating some of Thomas’s...

On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson brought before Congress the Committee of Five's draft of the Declaration of Independence. Congress made 47 alterations to the proposed copy before voting for independence on July 2, after which an additional thirty-nine alterations were made over the...