https://pastispresent.org The blog of the American Antiquarian Society Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:41:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://pastispresent.org/wp-content/uploads/cropped-Single-P-32x32.png https://pastispresent.org 32 32 224405720 https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/starting-the-presses-new-online-gallery-showcases-first-state-newspapers/ https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/starting-the-presses-new-online-gallery-showcases-first-state-newspapers/#respond Thu, 09 Apr 2026 16:00:32 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19888 Newspapers in early America were an essential part of connecting communities with the latest news from Europe and other colonies. They “enabled readers to imagine themselves as part of a shared culture of ideas, investments and events that spread beyond their local world,”[1] helping to unite the distinct geographic regions that would later become the … Continue reading Starting the Presses: New Online Gallery Showcases First State Newspapers]]> https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/starting-the-presses-new-online-gallery-showcases-first-state-newspapers/feed/ 0 19888 https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/conservator-as-mediator-paper-mends-on-18th-cenury-connecticut-newspapers/ https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/conservator-as-mediator-paper-mends-on-18th-cenury-connecticut-newspapers/#respond Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:30:17 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19857 In summer of 2025, I was fortunate and delighted to assist as a graduate intern in the conservation lab at the American Antiquarian Society. My experiences at AAS piqued my interest in serving a research collection, and I am eager to apply the techniques I learned and refined with the insight and support of Chief … Continue reading Conservator as Mediator: Paper Mends on Eighteenth-Century Connecticut Newspapers]]> https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/conservator-as-mediator-paper-mends-on-18th-cenury-connecticut-newspapers/feed/ 0 19857 https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/hold-history-with-aas-new-initiative/ https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/hold-history-with-aas-new-initiative/#respond Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:15:41 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19843 Did you ever wish to visit the American Antiquarian Society but have no clue where to start? Have you ever felt intimidated by the marble columns and brick building, thinking that the library is just for professors or scholars? Did you ever go on a public tour on a Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. and want … Continue reading “Hold History” With AAS’ New Reading Room Initiative]]> https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/hold-history-with-aas-new-initiative/feed/ 0 19843 https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/show-me-the-money-online-gallery-features-american-revolution-currency/ https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/show-me-the-money-online-gallery-features-american-revolution-currency/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:30:04 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19824 These days it is rare to see someone pay with cash. Usually debit or credit cards are swiped or phones are tapped at checkouts and funds move invisibly between accounts. Apps like Venmo mean a group can easily move digital money around in real time to split a restaurant bill. Parking meters use apps, laundromats … Continue reading Show Me the Money! Online Gallery Features American Revolution Currency]]> https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/show-me-the-money-online-gallery-features-american-revolution-currency/feed/ 2 19824 https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/adventures-in-amateur-newspaper-cataloging-wicked-magic-at-aas/ https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/adventures-in-amateur-newspaper-cataloging-wicked-magic-at-aas/#respond Wed, 14 Jan 2026 14:30:43 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19816 The recent purchase of the Western Investor, an 1890 newspaper from Aberdeen, South Dakota, brought an unusual level of excitement to the newspaper office at the American Antiquarian Society. Despite sporting a slightly whimsical masthead, the paper appeared to be a standard, somewhat dull financial newspaper interesting only for researchers of bank and stock market … Continue reading Adventures in Amateur Newspaper Cataloging: “Wicked” Magic at AAS]]> https://pastispresent.org/2026/good-sources/adventures-in-amateur-newspaper-cataloging-wicked-magic-at-aas/feed/ 0 19816 https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/a-beginners-guide-to-acquisitions/ https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/a-beginners-guide-to-acquisitions/#respond Mon, 08 Dec 2025 14:35:38 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19809 The American Antiquarian Society already preserves over four million books, newspapers, graphics and manuscripts, but new acquisitions are still being added to the collection every month.  How are newly acquired collection materials made accessible to researchers in the AAS reading room? This post examines the detailed process by which AAS staff acquire, receive, process, pay … Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Acquisitions]]> https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/a-beginners-guide-to-acquisitions/feed/ 0 19809 https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/new-online-gallery-showcases-cloth-printings-at-aas/ https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/new-online-gallery-showcases-cloth-printings-at-aas/#respond Mon, 03 Nov 2025 17:25:37 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19795 While most library collections are printed or written on paper, hundreds of historic objects at the American Antiquarian Society — including broadsides, children’s books, and ribbon badges — were printed onto cloth. Often produced as keepsakes, souvenirs, commemorative objects, or teaching tools, cloth printings in the AAS collection include texts and images printed onto silk, … Continue reading New Online Gallery Showcases Cloth Printings at AAS]]> https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/new-online-gallery-showcases-cloth-printings-at-aas/feed/ 0 19795 https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/in-her-own-words-the-life-and-death-of-rachel-wall-massachusetts-female-pirate/ https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/in-her-own-words-the-life-and-death-of-rachel-wall-massachusetts-female-pirate/#respond Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:05:43 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19770 Rachel Wall (née Schmidt) was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on October 1, 1760. She was 29 years old on October 8, 1789, when she was executed by hanging on the Boston Common. According to some accounts, Wall may have been America’s first female pirate; it is certain that she was the last woman to be … Continue reading In Her Own Words: The Life and Death of Rachel Wall, Massachusetts’ Female Pirate]]> https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/in-her-own-words-the-life-and-death-of-rachel-wall-massachusetts-female-pirate/feed/ 0 19770 https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/letters-from-freedom-new-digital-resource/ https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/letters-from-freedom-new-digital-resource/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2025 13:05:01 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19748 Last year, the American Antiquarian Society received a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to support the reorganization, rehousing, and digitization of 655 pages of letters, notebooks, and photographs created by formerly enslaved people. The new digital resource Letters from Freedom provides additional context to the materials and to the stories of the people … Continue reading Letters from Freedom: New Digital Resource]]> https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/letters-from-freedom-new-digital-resource/feed/ 1 19748 https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/the-infinities-of-womens-experiences-cataloging-biographies-at-aas-1844-2024/ https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/the-infinities-of-womens-experiences-cataloging-biographies-at-aas-1844-2024/#respond Thu, 25 Sep 2025 13:05:55 +0000 https://pastispresent.org/?p=19734 As a cataloger at the American Antiquarian Society, one of my current projects involves updating bibliographic catalog records for American women of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. AAS prioritizes cataloging for marginalized groups through the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) initiative, and I find it rewarding to contribute to a more inclusive and diverse … Continue reading The Infinities of Women’s Experiences: Cataloging Biographies at AAS, 1844-2024]]> https://pastispresent.org/2025/good-sources/the-infinities-of-womens-experiences-cataloging-biographies-at-aas-1844-2024/feed/ 0 19734