Profile of Mary Katherine Goddard
In colonial times, printing and newspaper publishing were usually
family businesses, with everyone sharing in the hard work. About thirty
colonial women were known to be publishers, printers, and typesetters. Some
women acted as official printers for colonial and city governments; others
published newspapers, pamphlets, and tracts. Many took over businesses when
their husband died or controlled them until the children were old enough to do
so.
One of those women was Mary Katherine Goddard, born in Connecticut on June
16, 1738. She would go on to a life worth mentioning After her father died in
1762, Goddard and her brother, William Goddard, continued working with their
mother, Sarah Updike Goddard, in the family printing and publishing business
in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1765, the family began publishing the
Providence Gazette, a weekly newspaper. Then from 1768 to 1773, Goddard
and her brother ran a printing plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Three
years later, Goddard moved to Baltimore, Maryland, at her brother's request,
where she published the Maryland Journal while he was away in other
colonies, setting up the forerunner of the present postal system.
Goddard turned the Maryland Journal into a highly influential voice
during the colonial rebellion. In addition, Goddard ran a successful printing, bookbinding, and
book-selling business. Furthermore, Goddard was Baltimore's postmistress from
1775 to 1789, the first woman ever appointed to a federal office.
In 1777, when advancing British forces made the Continental Congress move
from Philadelphia to Baltimore, the congress commissioned Goddard to print the
first Declaration of Independence'with all the signers' names. Visit the Library of Congress
for a chronology of events leading to the Goddard's printing the
declaration.
Throughout the hard times of the American Revolution she managed not only
to keep the Maryland Journal afloat but to turn it into one of the
colonies' most successful newspapers, publishing extras on the Battle of
Bunker Hill and the Continental Congress's call to arms.
Goddard's actions were still inspiring women more than a century later, as
another page at the
Library of Congress explains.
After Goddard made the Maryland Journal profitable, her brother
resumed control'creating an argument that led to a permanent split between
them. Although Goddard had been postmistress for fourteen years and had made
the postal system profitable, the new postmaster general, Samuel Osgood,
decided to remove her in favor of a man. The only reason given was that duties
might be harder "than a woman could undertake." The two hundred signatures by
leading citizens on Goddard's petitions and her personal appeals to President
George Washington and the U.S. Senate went unheeded.
For the next twenty years, Goddard ran her bookshop and a store. She died
at age 78 in Baltimore, on August l2, 1816.
The National Women's History Project has a quiz with a question about
Goddard. Can you find the
question?
Five short profiles
Frederick Douglass (1817--1895) was born a slave in Tuckahoe,
Maryland. At 21, he escaped and became an anti-slavery leader and journalist.
For a while he lived in England, where friends bought his independence. He
started the North Star , an abolitionist newspaper, in 1847, and the name was
changed to Frederick Douglass' Paper in 1851. He was a supporter of women's
rights and was U.S. minister to Haiti. A digital library at the University of
California Berkley includes a copy
of Douglass' autobiography. For more information, see page 53 of The
Media In Your Life.
Matthew Brady (1823--1896) was born in New York state, learned
photography, and eventually set up a portrait studio, using daguerreotype
photography. He is known for the photographs of the Civil War taken by himself
and other photographers he employed. Photography made him famous, but he was
not successful financially, and he died in a New York almshouse. WNET, a New
York Television station, offers an extended portrait
of the famous photographer. For more information, see pages 56-57 of
The Media In Your Life.
Johannes (Gensfleisch) Gutenberg (1400--1468) was born in Mainz,
Germany. It is thought that Gutenberg began printing in Strasbourg, where he
worked as a goldsmith from 1430 to 1444. Back in Mainz, his long-term printing
partnership with Johann Fust ended when Fust sued Gutenberg for the printing
machinery, leaving Gutenberg bankrupt (1448 to 1455). Gutenberg continued his
work with the help of Konrad Humery. Gutenberg is best known for developing
movable metal type and his beautiful 42-line Bible called the Gutenberg Bible
(1455). The Huntington Library near Los Angeles offers a peek at some pages from
a Gutenberg Bible. For more information, see page 47 of The Media In
Your Life.
Joseph Pulitzer (1847--1911) was born in Hungary and emigrated to
the United States, where he served in the army for one year. He moved to St.
Louis, Missouri, and went from being a pauper to a reporter to a member of the
state legislature. He bought and revived old newspapers, including the New
York World, which made him financially successful. He endowed the Columbia
School of Journalism in New York and established the Pulitzer Prizes in
literature, drama, history, music, and journalism. An evaluation of Pulitzer
the journalist, along with photographs, can be found here. For
more information, see pages 51, 57 of The Media In Your Life.
William Randolph Hearst (1863--1951) was born in San Francisco,
Calif. After he dropped out of Harvard, he managed his father's San
Francisco Examiner (1877), bought the New York Morning Journal
(1894), and started the Evening Journal (1896). His media company
expanded and eventually included the Chicago Examiner, Boston
American, Cosmopolitan, and Harper's Bazaar. He is known for
sensationalizing journalism with banner headlines and lavish illustrations.
His flamboyant actions during the Spanish-American War in 1898 bolstered sales
of his newspaper. Orson Welles tailored the movie "Citizen Kane" after
Hearst's life. The company he founded maintains a web site devoted to Hearst and his
famous California castle, San Simeon. For more information, see pages, 51,
57 of The Media In Your Life.
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