Autumn Linford
From College of Fine Arts and Communications
(diff) ←Older revision | Current revision | Newer revision→ (diff)
Linford’s fascination with the revolutionary press took her on an academic journey through 18th century newspapers, diaries of printers and colonial-era city maps as she completed the research for her masters thesis.
“The newspapers of the revolution were incredibly influential in swaying public opinion among the Americans,” Linford said. “Some historians have even suggested that without the newspapers of that time period, we never would have declared independence from Great Britain.”
Linford’s research focused on the engravings used by printers to decorate newspapers’ mastheads. While past research had classified printers as either “Patriots” or “Tories,” Linford found that the symbols used to decorate newspaper mastheads often contradicted the groups’ described beliefs. British symbols were frequently used on what researchers labeled patriot papers.
“I couldn’t help but wonder why on earth someone who helped America break away from Britain would use English symbols as a way to decorate each and every edition of the newspaper,” Linford said.
After utilizing all the available resources at the Harold B. Lee Library on campus, Linford used an Ashton Grant awarded to her by the department to continue her research in Boston. There she found original documents such as letters, diaries and account books at the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society.
She also found vital information in city maps from the time period, which revealed where each print shop was located as well as where British and American troops set up camp.
Linford placed second in the graduate division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual convention as a first year master student, beating out several Ph.D. candidate entries. She presented the paper at the organization’s August 2008 conference in Chicago.
