Travel Journals For Kids


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Travel Journals For Kids

Travel Journals For Kids

March, the designated Women's History Month in the United States, is the perfect time to recall these women's stories. "Women With a Deadline," a cyberexhibit maintained by the National Women's History Museum , offers an excellent introduction to the contributions numerous women made to the new printing and publishing industry in the British colonies.

The exhibit makes the point that like most small businesses, putting out an early newspaper was a job of many overlapping tasks and entire families participated. According to the exhibit: "Women worked as publishers, printers, typesetters, journalists, and carved wooden engravings for illustration. Women engravers created letterheads, drew political cartoons, and made fashion plates for many papers."

Like Ben Franklin, arguably America's most famous colonial journalist, the earliest ladies of the press probably considered themselves to be printers first. Elizabeth Timothy and Mary Katherine Goddard are among the best known of these, and, in fact, Mrs. Timothy was briefly a business partner with Mr. Franklin.

The First Woman to Own and Publish a Newspaper

Lewis Timothy, husband to Elizabeth, had been an employee of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, and had been persuaded by Franklin to become his partner in publishing the South Carolina Gazette. Franklin owned the printing press in Charles Town, shouldered one third of the expenses, and expected one third of the profits. The men signed a six-year contract which included the clause that the Timothys' oldest son Peter would become publisher should Lewis be unable to fulfill the contract.

As it happened, Peter was but 13 years old when Lewis Timothy died suddenly late in 1738. One year remained on the contract, and although Peter was listed from January 4, 1739 as the Gazette's publisher, it is well documented that Elizabeth Timothy was the actual publisher for nearly a decade. In fact, she

  • Took full responsibility for all duties of publishing the paper
  • Eearned high praise for her business acumen from Franklin
  • Was able to purchase the business from him at the end of the contract
  • And turned over a successful enterprise to her son when he turned 21

Elizabeth Timothy's story is documented at a number of online sites and in books concerned with

colonial history. The South Carolna Business Hall of Fame, which added her to their roles in 2000, acknowledged her as one of the world's first female journalists.