Colonial Newspapers

Colonial newspapers are ideal for researching how daily issues, events, and individuals affected the lives of American colonists during a crucial period in American history. They’re rich with firsthand stories and news reports on life in Colonial and Early Republic America. They allow the user to trace economic and technological advances, the slave trade, relations with American Indians, changes in fashion and design, societal changes, and business history.

Newspapers in Colonial America were more than just sources of news. They were crucial instruments of public discourse and played a significant role in shaping public opinion. Many were read aloud in public spaces, shared among communities, and discussed in taverns and homes.

Coverage

General

• The Virginia Gazette (1732-1775)

• The Pennsylvania Gazette (1728-1815)

South Carolina Newspapers

• The Charlestown Gazette (1779–1780)

• The Gazette of the State of South-Carolina (1777–1780)

• The South-Carolina and American General Gazette (1764–1775)

• The South Carolina Gazette (1732-1775)

• The South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (1765–1775)

Most digital newspapers use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to make text searchable. This works well for modern texts, but it often yields poor results for older materials. In contrast, Accessible Archives collections are manually rekeyed to 99% accuracy.

Rekeying makes these items much more accessible. They’re easy to read and meet accessibility standards for the visually impaired. Structuring the articles makes citations easy and enables richer text and data mining. The accuracy of the text makes research accurate, too.

• Politics and political commentary

• Economics and trade

• Agriculture and farm products

• Religious activities

• Events in Europe

• Relations with Native Americans

• Military activities—French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, Whiskey Rebellion

• Anti-slavery activities and slavery

• Activities in towns and rural areas

• Society and culture changes

• Poems and literary endeavors

• Medicine and health

• Religious activities

• Territorial disputes and expansion

The Pennsylvania Gazette

One of America’s most prominent newspapers from 1728 to 1815, The Pennsylvania Gazette is considered The New York Times of the 18th century.  It provides the user with a firsthand views of Colonial America and its relationship to Britain, the American Revolution, the new republic, and Jeffersonian democracy.

It offers important social, political, and cultural perspectives. The newspaper, among other firsts, would print the first political cartoon in America—”Join, or Die” authored by Benjamin Franklin.

Thousands of articles, editorials, letters, news items advertisements, legislative proposals, notices, and acts cover a wide geographic area including Western territories, the Canadian Maritime provinces, the West Indies, and South America. Coverage includes descriptive news articles, eyewitness accounts and government reports of battles and events during the Revolutionary War, editorials, advertisements, and biographies. There are also articles describing  travel, arts and leisure, geographical descriptions, sports and sporting, and social events.

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The South-Carolina Gazette

South Carolina’s first successful newspaper was begun by Thomas Whitemarsh in Charles Town in 1732 and released its final issue in December 1775. Considered a “middle of the road” paper, the Gazette printed news of Europe, what the royalty had worn at the last formal event, news of the colony, notices of births, deaths, marriages, estate auctions, and advertisements, including those for runaway slaves. It contains a wealth of information on Colonial and early American history and provides an accurate glimpse of life in South Carolina and America prior to the advent of the American Revolution.

The South-Carolina and American General Gazette

Founded as The South-Carolina Weekly Gazette in 1758 by Robert Wells and G. Bruce, the paper was renamed The South-Carolina and American General Gazette in 1764.

Its competitors were The South-Carolina Gazette (founded 1732) and The South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (founded 1765), also located in Charleston. Wells's paper was the only one of the three to support the Stamp Act, but it was also the only paper in the state to publish the entirety of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

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The South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal

The South Carolina Gazette and Country Journal was a weekly established in December 1765 by Charles Crouch to compete with the existing South Carolina Gazette.

The paper included news, essays, and letters that voiced opposition to British policies. Readers would find the latest news on acts of Parliament, discussions about Colonial rights, and debates over issues like the Stamp Act. It was an important platform for the exchange of revolutionary ideas and opinions.

This publication was heavily pro-American and nearly always included scandalous stories of European royalty. While it was considered stuffy, it was the only paper to discuss citizens not considered among society’s elite.

Like many publications of its time, the newspaper's run was relatively short-lived, ceasing publication just as the Revolutionary War was beginning in 1775. But its influence persisted, and the ideas it helped propagate took root among the colonists.

The Gazette of the State of South-Carolina

One of several newspapers published in Charles Town, The Gazette of the State of South-Carolina was established in 1777 by Peter Timothy. It ran to 1780, except from January to June 1778, when a fire destroyed the printing office.

While it’s lesser known than some other newspapers of the time, it was an important publication during a pivotal period in American history.

By 1777, the American colonies were deeply entrenched in the Revolutionary War. South Carolina, one of the southernmost colonies, had its own set of challenges and dynamics during the conflict. Newspapers served as a primary means of communicating, disseminating news, and shaping public opinion.

The newspaper contained a mix of local news, reports on the war’s progress, official proclamations, and advertisements. It played a role in promoting patriot sentiment, relaying news of British movements, and reporting on legislative actions related to the war effort.

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The Charlestown Gazette

An extremely rare Colonial newspaper, the Charlestown Gazette also holds the distinction of being the first newspaper created and published by an American woman, Mary Crouch. Printed weekly from 1778 to 1780, it excelled at local news coverage while providing extensive listings of marriages and deaths. When the British occupied Charlestown in 1780, the newspaper ceased operation.  

The Virginia Gazette 

The Virginia Gazette, published in Williamsburg, was the first Colonial newspaper located in the area south of the Potomac River.

It contained news covering all of Virginia, other colonies, Scotland, England, and additional countries.

Initially, The Virginia Gazette was a kind of “court” newspaper, modeled on the The London Gazette and dedicated mostly to European news and government notices.

The paper appeared in three competing versions from a succession of publishers over the years, sometimes published concurrently and under the same title.

Williamsburg was the center of the growing tensions in the Virginia Colony that led to the American Revolution. The Virginia Gazette provided essential political and military commentary before and after the war and articles on the politicians and generals.

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America in Newsprint: Colonial Newspapers is currently on the Accessible Archives platform and will move to the History Commons platform early in 2024. We offer annual subscriptions and one-time-purchase options. We also offer affordable individual titles and packages, as indicated below:

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