In this virtual program based on her new book, Schooling the Nation: The Success of the Canterbury Academy for Black Women (2025), Jennifer Rycenga, in conversation with Scott Casper, tells the story of a high school that became the most advanced form of higher education open to women of any race before it was forced to close because of white opposition.  Located in Canterbury, Connecticut, the Canterbury Academy was established in 1833 by white teacher Prudence Crandall for "young Ladies and little Misses of color."  Local white anger tried to prevent, and later

Symposium Presenters 

In this video conversation, Vincent Golden, curator of newspapers and periodicals at the American Antiquarian Society, talks about how colonial American printers gathered, printed, and distributed the news. Prepared for The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1800, the 2021 Teacher Institute held at AAS.

In this video, Elizabeth Watts Pope, the Society’s curator of books and digital collections, introduces when and where printing began in colonial America and how it developed over the course of the eighteenth century. Prepared for The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1800, the 2021 Teacher Institute held at AAS.

In this video, Lauren Hewes, the Society’s vice president for collections, describes the primary printing processes used in the 18th century to create and disseminate visual material, including prints, maps, ephemera, and book and newspaper illustrations. Prepared for The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1800, the 2021 Teacher Institute held at AAS.