Archive » Nord examines 18th century examples of journalism practices

Gena Asher | Feb. 11, 2011

Photo by Ryan Dorgan

Professor Dave Nord talked about 18th century figures who used reporting skills in their non-journalistic work during Wednesday's colloquium.

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Several New Englanders were practicing data-driven and anecdotal news gathering in the 1730s and 1740s, a time when most media were unorganized and reporting was happenstance.

Professor David Nord described the work of three Boston-area historical figures in his talk, “’Plain and Certain Facts’: Four episodes of public affairs reporting in 18th century Boston,” at the latest Research Colloquium Wednesday in the Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium.

While none of the men Nord discussed considered himself a journalist, each used reporting skills, he said, and believed he had a civic duty to responsibly report the news.

Using slides of primary documents, Nord first talked about popular almanacs that arranged data such as sunrise times, tides, public information and other facts. In the early 1730s, Boston minister Thomas Prince published his own Vade Mecum for America, a Companion for Traders and Travelers, a booklet with data on rivers, roads and other factual information printed by Daniel Henchman, a Boston publisher and bookseller.

“These were very popular,” said Nord, whose research focuses on the history of American publishing, especially journalism history and the history of the religious press. “People shared news in streets, taverns and coffee houses. Newspapers at this time carried international news and some local news, but what there was of it was haphazard with little reporting.”

Nord said Prince was part of the religious revivalist movement, and he loved facts and empirical data. For example, his reporting of a 1727 major earthquake in New England described in minute detail events in different parts of the region in a chronological timeline.

“He loves the aggregation of material gathered from other colonies,” said Nord. “He plots how earthquake moved and traces the story the way a journalist or historian would.”

Prince and others involved in publishing at that time saw printed material as a way to promote their messages and to serve the public with information. Nord said ministers often corresponded with other ministers, but Prince was the first to devise a system.

Photo by Ryan Dorgan

“If we list what they did – empirical, factual, impartial, numerical, case histories, verbatim quotes, fact gathering by sources – we can see that they were conducting their work much like journalists," Nord said of the ministers, doctor and publisher in his talk.

“Prince did this in a more formal way, printing questionnaires to send and gather information,” he said. Like today's method of transparent journalism, Prince also described in his writing how he collected information.

In 1743, Prince started a religious magazine, The Christian History, to report on revivalism sweeping England, Scotland, and America. He sought out accounts of revival through formal questionnaires and demanded accuracy from his correspondents.

“In his first edition, Prince tells his ministers to avoid personal reflections, to offer ‘plain and certain facts,’ to sign their names to their work,” said Nord. “He wanted it to be as factual as possible.”

Others who practiced systematic news gathering were interested in shaping public policy. William Douglass’ The Practical History of a New England Epidemical Eruptive Miliary Fever, for example, sought to document the diphtheria epidemic of 1735–37, then called “distemper in the throat.” He wanted to publish information quickly, and he set out to do some serious medical reporting, Nord said.

“He issued formal questionnaires to gather information, quantitative and case histories, to all parts of New England,” Nord said of Douglass’ fact gathering.

Another minister, Jabez Fitch, published information about the epidemic in New Hampshire, gathering anecdotal “reflections” and some statistics.

Inspired by Fitch, Henchman decided to gather information for all of New England. He printed fliers to send to ministers, asking them to log in numbers of deaths by community, by time period and by age of victims, and to recount memories of dying children’s last words.

“He wanted correspondents to send in direct quotes,” said Nord, who showed a slide of one of the 17 completed questionnaires that survived the centuries.

Henchman was a savvy businessman, promising free books to those who returned completed questionnaires, but he also wanted his book to promote public health. However, the final pamphlet, published in 1738 and written by John Brown, ended up focusing only on Haverhill, Mass., not the entirety of New England.

Photo by Ryan Dorgan

Nord used slides of 18th century publications to illustrate his talk, part of the school's series of Research Colloquia.

“Prince, Henchman and Douglass were interested in a true reporting of the facts,” said Nord. “They collected statistics, case histories and direct quotes. They were interested in the news and public affairs. They weren’t journalists, but they were using news-gathering skills.”

Roy W. Howard Professor Dave Weaver commented that Nord’s examples were practicing an early form of precision journalism, or gathering data in a scientific way so that journalists aren’t relying solely on anecdotal information.

“These guys were taking ‘experimental natural philosophy’ to public affairs publishing,” Nord said. “If we list what they did – empirical, factual, impartial, numerical, case histories, verbatim quotes, fact gathering by sources – we can see that they were conducting their work much like journalists.”

The Research Colloquium provides researchers and scholars a venue to present current work and garner feedback from colleagues. Check out the semester schedule online.