Benjamin Harris

Capot Alexandra Anul III, grupa 2, Jurnalism

Benjamin Harris (1673-1716) was an English publisher, a figure of the Popish Plot in England who then moved to New England as an early journalist. He published the New England Primer, the first textbook in British America, and edited the first multi-page newspaper there, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, from 25 September 1690. He was also the most widely read author of children's books in seventeenth- and eighteenthcentury America.

His career in publishing began in England during the 1670s. When strict press censorship under the Licensing of the Press Act of 1662 temporarily lapsed from 1679 to 1685, Benjamin Harris was quick to begin printing news. Many of his publications were anti-Catholic. He published the pamphlet Appeal from the Country to the City in 1679 by Charles Blount, opposing the succession of James, Duke of York, and was consequently convicted of sedition and ordered to pay a fine he could not afford. Released from prison, Harris resumed his anti-Catholic campaigning.

From 1679 to 1681, Harris published a paper that displayed an early use of local news, Domestick Intelligence: Or News both from City and Country. Not long after the revival of the act, in 1686, Harris moved to Boston to avoid severe punishment for his politically- and religiously-charged reporting. In Boston he started the London Coffee House, which provided both men and women (unusually at the time) access to foreign newspapers and books. After publishing The New-England Primer (1690) and Tulleys Almanach, he set out to publish a newspaper, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick.

Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick had three pages of text, with the fourth page left blank for others to write in pieces of news to hand around. It focused on local news and included gossip; one item concerned King William's War and atrocities attributed to Native American forces allied to the British, current in September 1690. Without a license, it was closed down after a single issue, Harris was jailed and the next newspaper did not appear until 1704, when John Campbell's Boston News-Letter was the first American newspaper to last beyond the first issue.

From 1690 to 1695, Harris continued to run his coffeehouse and publish books. In 1692, he received the official assignment to print The Acts and Laws of Massachusetts in 1692 (Mindich). Harris was also active in community service, supporting homeless shelters and orphanages. In 1695 he packed his bags and moved back to London. Duncan Campbells son, John Allen , succeeded him as postmaster in 1702 and soon transitioned the handwritten newsletters into the printed and appropriately titled Boston NewsLetter, the first successful newspaper in the colonies.

He started a series of short-lived newspapers before publishing the London Post from 1699 to 1706. He sold his paper, books, and almanachs from his printing shop and store. The location and date of Benjamin Harris's death are unknown. He was married with two sons.