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Academic Seminars

 

Inventing Teenage Print Culture:
The Postbellum Amateur Press

by

Lara Langer Cohen

(AAS-NEH Long-term Fellow and Assistant Professor of English, Wayne State University)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011, at 4:30 p.m.
Goddard-Daniels House
American Antiquarian Society
190 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA

PRÉCIS: In the late 1860s, hobby printing presses for home use appeared on the market, leading to an explosion of amateur newspapers.nearly all written, edited, and printed by teenagers. Although amateur journalists were spread throughout the country, they were enmeshed in a tight-knit virtual community forged through exchanges; local, state, and national associations; and a determinedly insular focus; indeed, many amateur papers consisted of little more than columns of news about other amateur papers. This presentation will explore how the first teenage print culture helped shaped emerging ideas about adolescence, particularly the combination of rebelliousness and conformity we continue to associate with it today.

Additional Information

Refreshments will be provided after the paper, which will be followed by a dutch-treat dinner in Worcester. If you plan to attend, please notify Ann-Cathrine Rapp at AAS no later than Friday, December 16. You can either email her at arapp@mwa.org, or register online.