Iowa

Istutsi in Naktsokv. Or The Child's Book. By Rev. John Fleming.(Istutsi in Naktsokv. Or The Child's Book.By Rev. John Fleming.)

(Istutsi in Naktsokv. Or The Child's Book.By Rev. John Fleming.)

When the Cherokee Nation migrated from Georgia to the newly formed Indian Territory, John Fisher Wheeler, who had been head printer of the Cherokee Press at New Echota, proceeded to the Union Mission Station on the Grand River, near the present location of Mazie, Okla. There the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions supplied him with a new press on which in August 1835 he did the first Oklahoma printing. Wheeler had served his apprenticeship at Huntsville, Ala.[98]

One of two or three extant copies of the third recorded issue of Oklahoma's first press is present in the Library of Congress collections:Istutsi in naktsokv. Or The Child's Book. By Rev. John Fleming. Missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.Printed before October 31, 1835, in an edition of 500 copies, it is a 24-page primer with text in the Creek language rendered in the Pickering alphabet and with woodcut illustrations of animals and other subjects. A Creek Indian named James Perryman or Pvhos Haco ("Grass Crazy") assisted with the translation.[99]Fleming's work among the Indians has earned for him a notice in theDictionary of American Biography, where his "chief claim to remembrance" is said to be "that he was the first to reduce to writing the Muskoki or Creek language, which was a task of peculiar difficulty on account of the numerous and puzzling combinations of consonants involved."

The Library of Congress obtained the rare copy of its earliest Oklahoma imprint through the Smithsonian Deposit (see p. 52, above) in 1878.

[98]See Lester Hargrett,Oklahoma Imprints 1835-1890(New York, 1951), p. ix-x, 1-2.[99]Ibid., no. 3.

[98]See Lester Hargrett,Oklahoma Imprints 1835-1890(New York, 1951), p. ix-x, 1-2.

[99]Ibid., no. 3.

Du Buque Visitor. "TRUTH OUR GUIDE, THE PUBLIC GOOD OUR AIM." VOL. I. DU BUQUE (LEAD MINES) WISCONSIN TERRITORY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1837. NO. 37Du Buque Visitor. "TRUTH OUR GUIDE, THE PUBLIC GOOD OUR AIM." VOL. I. DU BUQUE (LEAD MINES) WISCONSIN TERRITORY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1837. NO. 37

Du Buque Visitor. "TRUTH OUR GUIDE, THE PUBLIC GOOD OUR AIM." VOL. I. DU BUQUE (LEAD MINES) WISCONSIN TERRITORY, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1837. NO. 37

The initial issue of the weeklyDu Buque Visitor, dated May 11, 1836, is the oldest example of Iowa printing. John King, the first proprietor of this four-page newssheet, acquired the press on which it was printed at Chillicothe, Ohio. He employed William Cary Jones of Chillicothe to "perform the duties of foreman in the printing office ... and likewise such other duties in superintending the publication of the newspaper as may be required,"[100]and he employed the Virginia-born printer Andrew Keesecker, lately of Galena, Ill., to be the principal typesetter.

The earliest Iowa printing represented in the Library of Congress is its partial file of theDu Buque Visitor, extending from January 18 to May 17, 1837.[101]On December 21, 1836, the proprietorship had passed to W. W. Chapman, an attorney, and with the issue of February 1, 1837, William H. Turner became the owner. The paper maintained a high standard throughout these changes, its issues justly displaying the motto: "Truth our guide, the public good our aim." A reduction in the size of certain issues furnishes evidence of the customary difficulty of operating a pioneer press. As the March 15 issue explains, "Within the last two months, so large an addition has been made to the subscription list of the Visitor, that our stock of paper of the usual size is exhausted, and we are constrained to issue, for a week or two, a smaller sheet. By the first boat from St. Louis we shall receive our spring and summer supply."

The Library's file dates from the period when Iowa still belonged to the Wisconsin Territory. An editorial from the Library's earliest issue advocates independent status:

Division of Wisconsin TerritoryIt gives us pleasure to see that Genl. Jones, our delegate in congress, has introduced into the house of representatives a resolution, "to inquire into the expediency of establishing a seperate [sic] territorial government for that section of the present territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river," and the same resolution has been introduced into the senate of the United States by Dr. Linn of Missouri.We sincerely hope that these resolutions will be acted upon, and sanctioned by congress—if sanctioned, they will have a most important bearing upon the future interest and prosperity of the people on this side of the Mississippi. Yes, we would rejoice that the 'Father of Waters' should be the boundary to a new territory. The present territory of Wisconsin, is much too large, and embraces too many conflicting interests—the people on the east side of the Mississippi are jealous of those on the west side, and the west, of those on the east. Why not, under these circumstances, give to the people on each side of the Mississippi separate territorial governments? We believe that such a measure would be highly satisfactory to the people throughout the whole of Wisconsin territory.The reasons for dividing the present territory of Wisconsin are, in our opinion, well founded, for unless the people governed can be united—unless their representatives legislate for the good of the whole territory, there will not be satisfaction—there will not be harmony, & the government instituted to protect the rights of the people, will become an engine in the hands of one part to oppress the other.It is, or should be, the policy of the United States, in the establishment of temporary governments over her territories, to adopt the best and most judicious means of guarding the happiness, liberty, and property of her foster children, so that when they enterthe great family of the Union, that they may be worthy of that exalted station.

Division of Wisconsin Territory

It gives us pleasure to see that Genl. Jones, our delegate in congress, has introduced into the house of representatives a resolution, "to inquire into the expediency of establishing a seperate [sic] territorial government for that section of the present territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi river," and the same resolution has been introduced into the senate of the United States by Dr. Linn of Missouri.

We sincerely hope that these resolutions will be acted upon, and sanctioned by congress—if sanctioned, they will have a most important bearing upon the future interest and prosperity of the people on this side of the Mississippi. Yes, we would rejoice that the 'Father of Waters' should be the boundary to a new territory. The present territory of Wisconsin, is much too large, and embraces too many conflicting interests—the people on the east side of the Mississippi are jealous of those on the west side, and the west, of those on the east. Why not, under these circumstances, give to the people on each side of the Mississippi separate territorial governments? We believe that such a measure would be highly satisfactory to the people throughout the whole of Wisconsin territory.

The reasons for dividing the present territory of Wisconsin are, in our opinion, well founded, for unless the people governed can be united—unless their representatives legislate for the good of the whole territory, there will not be satisfaction—there will not be harmony, & the government instituted to protect the rights of the people, will become an engine in the hands of one part to oppress the other.

It is, or should be, the policy of the United States, in the establishment of temporary governments over her territories, to adopt the best and most judicious means of guarding the happiness, liberty, and property of her foster children, so that when they enterthe great family of the Union, that they may be worthy of that exalted station.

Newspaper ads(Newspaper ads)

(Newspaper ads)

From later in 1837 the Library possessesIowa News, which replaced theDu Buque Visitorafter its expiration in May, in an imperfect file extending from June 17 (the third number) to December 23. The Library also has theWisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser, printed at Burlington, in another incomplete file from July 10 to December 2. The Library's three files of very early Iowa newspapers have a common provenance, as most issues of each file are addressed in manuscript to the Department of State, which was in charge of Territorial affairs until 1873. These newspapers were transferred to the Library of Congress sometime before the end of the 19th century.[102]

[100]The full contract is quoted in Alexander Moffit's article, "Iowa Imprints Before 1861," inThe Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 36, 1938, p. 152-205. For a biography of Jones, see William Coyle, ed.Ohio Authors and Their Books(Cleveland, 1962, p. 346).[101]Vol. 1, nos. 37-52; no. 47 wanting. The May 10 and May 17 issues are both numbered 52.[102]They are recorded inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901).In the Library's Broadside Collection (portfolio 19, no. 34) is a printed notice of the Des Moines Land Company, with text dated from Des Moines, September 4, 1837. This item cannot have been printed at Des Moines, since printing did not reach there until 1849. It is not listed in Alexander Moffit's "A Checklist of Iowa Imprints 1837-1860," inThe Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 36 1938, p. 3-95.

[101]Vol. 1, nos. 37-52; no. 47 wanting. The May 10 and May 17 issues are both numbered 52.

[102]They are recorded inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901).In the Library's Broadside Collection (portfolio 19, no. 34) is a printed notice of the Des Moines Land Company, with text dated from Des Moines, September 4, 1837. This item cannot have been printed at Des Moines, since printing did not reach there until 1849. It is not listed in Alexander Moffit's "A Checklist of Iowa Imprints 1837-1860," inThe Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 36 1938, p. 3-95.

[102]They are recorded inA Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress(1901).

In the Library's Broadside Collection (portfolio 19, no. 34) is a printed notice of the Des Moines Land Company, with text dated from Des Moines, September 4, 1837. This item cannot have been printed at Des Moines, since printing did not reach there until 1849. It is not listed in Alexander Moffit's "A Checklist of Iowa Imprints 1837-1860," inThe Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 36 1938, p. 3-95.

The first printing in Idaho—in fact, in the entire Pacific Northwest—was done in 1839 at the Lapwai mission station, by the Clearwater River, in what is now Nez Perce County. The printer was Edwin Oscar Hall, originally of New York, who on orders of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions brought to this wilderness site the same small press he had taken to the Hawaiian Islands in 1835.[103]

Henry Harmon Spalding (1804-74), the missionary who had requested this press, was the author of its first issue in Idaho, an eight-page primer of the native language with an English title:Nez-Perces First Book: Designed for Children and New Beginners. In May 1839 Hall printed 400 copies, of which no complete examples are known to survive. An alphabet of Roman letters that Spalding utilized to convey the Indian language proved to be impractical, and in August the original edition was replaced by a revised 20-page edition of 500 copies with the same title.

The Library of Congress acquired this edition, then thought to be the first Idaho book, in 1911. A few years later the bibliographer Wilberforce Eames discovered pages of the earlier edition used as reinforcements in the paper covers of the later one,[104]and on February 18, 1922, another interested bibliographer, Howard M. Ballou, wrote to the Librarian of Congress:

I have had your copy at the Library of Congress examined by a friend who reports that she can distinguish that pages 5 and 6 are pasted in the front cover.If you will have the covers of the Nez Perces First Book soaked apart you will find you possess four pages of this original Oregon book.

I have had your copy at the Library of Congress examined by a friend who reports that she can distinguish that pages 5 and 6 are pasted in the front cover.

If you will have the covers of the Nez Perces First Book soaked apart you will find you possess four pages of this original Oregon book.

(By Oregon, of course, he meant the Oregon country at large rather than the present State.) The Library did soak apart the covers and found that it had two copies of the original leaf paged 5 and 6. One of them, released for exchange in October 1948, subsequently joined two other original leaves to form an almost complete copy in the Coe Collection at Yale University.[105]

A page from the original edition of the Nez Perces First Book.A page from the original edition of theNez Perces First Book.

A page from the original edition of theNez Perces First Book.

The Library made its fortunate acquisition with a bid of $7.50 at a Philadelphia auction sale conducted by Stan V. Henkels on May 23-24, 1911. The item[106]was among a group of books from the library of Horatio E. Hale (1817-96), who served as philologist with the famed Wilkes Expedition of 1838-42. He probably obtained his copy about 1841, the year the expedition reached Oregon.

[103]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 23-26.[104]SeeThe Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 23, 1922, p. 45-46.[105]See no. 73 (note) in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952).[106]No. 588 in the sale catalog.

[103]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 23-26.

[104]SeeThe Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 23, 1922, p. 45-46.

[105]See no. 73 (note) in Thomas W. Streeter'sAmericana—Beginnings(Morristown, N.J., 1952).

[106]No. 588 in the sale catalog.

Oregon Spectator. "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." Vol. I Oregon City, (Oregon Ter.) Thursday, May 28, 1846. No. 9.Oregon Spectator. "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." Vol. I Oregon City, (Oregon Ter.) Thursday, May 28, 1846. No. 9.

Oregon Spectator. "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." Vol. I Oregon City, (Oregon Ter.) Thursday, May 28, 1846. No. 9.

Medare G. Foisy performed the first Oregon printing in 1845 with type owned by the Catholic mission at St. Paul. Apparently without the benefit of a permanent press, he printed at least two official forms, and there is evidence that he produced tickets for an election held on June 3, 1845. Foisy was a French Canadian who had worked at the Lapwai mission press for Henry Harmon Spalding (see p. 63, above) during the fall and winter of 1844-45.[107]

Later certain forward-looking settlers organized the Oregon Printing Association, obtained a printing press, hired a printer named John Fleming, who had migrated to Oregon from Ohio,[108]and founded theOregon Spectatorat Oregon City on February 5, 1846. This was the earliest English-language newspaper in North America west of the Missouri River.[109]The earliest Oregon printing in the Library of Congress is the ninth semimonthly number of theOregon Spectator, dated May 28, 1846. It is a small four-page sheet presently bound with 15 other numbers of theSpectatorthrough May 13, 1847. All bear the newspaper's motto: "Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." When this ninth number was printed, the Oregon Country was still jointly occupied by the United States and Great Britain. Shortly after, on June 15, 1846, the U.S. Senate ratified the Oregon Treaty, whereby the Oregon Country was divided at the 49th parallel. News of the ratification as reported in the New YorkGazette and Timesof June 19 reached Honolulu in time to be printed in thePolynesianof August 29, and the information was reprinted from that paper in the November 12 issue of theSpectator, which is included in the Library's file.

The issue of May 28 has a decidedly political emphasis because of impending local elections, and among its articles is an amusing account of a meeting at which several inexperienced candidates proved embarrassingly "backward about speaking." The difficulty of obtaining information for the paper is illustrated by a section headed "Foreign News," consisting of a letter from Peter Ogden, Governor of Fort Vancouver, in which he gives a brief account of the political upheaval in Britain over the Corn Law question. He cites as the source ofhis information a letter he received via "an express ... from [Fort] Nesqually." He concludes, "In three or four days hence we shall receive newspapers, and I trust further particulars." The last page of this issue is given entirely to the printing of an installment of "An Act to establish Courts, and prescribe their powers and duties," which had been passed by the provisional legislature.

In addition to its small volume of issues from 1846 and 1847, the Library of Congress has an incomplete volume ofSpectatorissues from September 12, 1850, to January 27, 1852, when the paper had a larger format and appeared weekly. Evidence for the provenance of the earlier volume is the inscription, "J. B. McClurg & C.," on the issue of December 24, 1846, designating a Honolulu firm which carried this advertisement in the sameSpectator:

J. B. McClurg & Co.SHIP CHANDLERS,GENERAL AND COMMISSIONMERCHANTS.JAMES B. McCLURG,ALEXANDER G. ABELL,HENRY CHEVER.}HONOLULU, OAHU,SANDWICH ISLANDS.

Several issues in the later volume are addressed either to the "State Department" or to "Hon. Daniel Webster," who was Secretary of State at the time. The Library'sA Check List of American Newspapers, published in 1901, records holdings only for December 12, 1850, to February 27, 1851, but all of theSpectatorissues look as if they have been in the Library from an early date.

Rules for House-Wives.(Rules for House-Wives.)

(Rules for House-Wives.)

[107]See nos. 1-2 in George N. Belknap'sOregon Imprints 1845-1870(Eugene, Ore. [1968]).[108]SeeThe Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 3, 1902, p. 343.[109]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 27-30.

[107]See nos. 1-2 in George N. Belknap'sOregon Imprints 1845-1870(Eugene, Ore. [1968]).

[108]SeeThe Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, vol. 3, 1902, p. 343.

[109]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 27-30.

Ordinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed(Ordinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed)

(Ordinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed)

Brigham Young's nephew Brigham Hamilton Young was the first printer within the present boundaries of Utah. A manuscript "Journal History" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints records that on January 22, 1849, "Brigham H. Young and Thomas Bullock were engaged in setting type for the fifty cent bills, paper currency. This was the first typesetting in the [Salt Lake] Valley. The bills were to be printed on the press made by Truman O. Angell."[110]

The Law Library of the Library of Congress keeps in a small manila envelope a remarkable group of five very early examples of Utah printing, some of which must have been issued in 1850. The one that seems to be the earliest has the titleOrdinances, Passed by the Legislative Council of Great Salt Lake City, and Ordered to be Printed. This piece—like the others without indication of place or date of printing—may be assigned to a press from Boston which reached Salt Lake City in August of 1849 and supplanted the original homemade press. Listed as number 3 in Douglas C. McMurtrie'sThe Beginnings of Printing in Utah, with a Bibliography of the Issues of the Utah Press 1849-1860(Chicago, 1931), it is a four-page leaflet containing nine ordinances passed between February 24 and December 29, 1849. Among them are a "Penalty for Riding Horses Without Leave, Driving Cattle Off the Feeding Range, &c." and "An Ordinance Creating an Office for the Recording of 'Marks and Brands' on Horses, Mules, Cattle, and All Other Stock."

A 34-page pamphlet entitledConstitution of the State of Deseret(not in McMurtrie; Sabin 98220) is obviously from the same press. Appended to the constitution, which was approved November 20, 1849, are several ordinances passed between March 9, 1849, and March 28, 1850. Another issue of this press (not in McMurtrie or Sabin) is a slightly mutilated three-page leaflet:Rules and Regulations for the Governing of Both Houses of the General Asse{mbly} of the State of Deseret, When in Joint Session; and for Each Respective House, When in Separate Session. Adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives, December 2, 1850.Of unspecified date is a single leaf, unrecorded and apparently unique, captionedStanding Committees of the House. Finally, there is among these imprints a copy of the 80-pageOrdinances. Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret, known as the "Compilation of 1851" and listed as number 8 by McMurtrie, who writes, "A copy of the 1851 volume in the library of the Church Historian's Office was used in 1919 for making a reprint, but the original has since disappeared.[111]A copy is said to be in private ownership in California." The latter is undoubtedly the one now in the Library of Congress.

The only one of these extremely rare imprints to show marks of previous ownership is the "Compilation of 1851." It was autographed by Phinehas Richards, who served both as representative and as senator in the provisional legislature of the state of Deseret. Whether the other four pieces also belonged to him is not clear; in any event all five came into the hands of his son, Franklin Dewey Richards (1821-99), who for half a century was an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, becoming president of the Apostles' Quorum, and who served as Church Historian for the last 10 years of his life.[112]A Library of Congress purchase order dated October 31, 1940, reveals that these imprints were contained in a bound volume labeled "Laws of Utah—F. D. Richards"; that by agreement the Library had them removed from the volume and subsequently returned it to Mr. Frank S. Richards, in care of the San Francisco bookseller John Howell; and that the price paid for the detached items was $1,600. Frank S. Richards, an attorney residing in Piedmont, Calif., is a great-grandson of Franklin Dewey Richards, most of whose books he has given to the Bancroft Library of the University of California.

[110]Quoted from Wendell J. Ashton,Voice in the West, Biography of a Pioneer Newspaper(New York, 1950), p. 367, note 17. This book is about Utah's first newspaper, theDeseret News, established June 15, 1850, of which the earliest original issue in the Library of Congress is dated May 31, 1851.[111]It is now available again at the Church Historian's Office. Another copy is in the Harvard Law Library.[112]See Franklin L. West,Life of Franklin D. Richards(Salt Lake City [1924]).

[111]It is now available again at the Church Historian's Office. Another copy is in the Harvard Law Library.

[112]See Franklin L. West,Life of Franklin D. Richards(Salt Lake City [1924]).

Minnesota Chronicle and Register St. Paul, Minnesota Territory, Saturday, August 25, 1819. Vol. 1 No. 1(Minnesota Chronicle and RegisterSt. Paul, Minnesota Territory, Saturday, August 25, 1819. Vol. 1 No. 1)

(Minnesota Chronicle and RegisterSt. Paul, Minnesota Territory, Saturday, August 25, 1819. Vol. 1 No. 1)

Minnesota's first printer was James Madison Goodhue of Hebron, N.H. An Amherst College graduate, he had abandoned a legal career to run a pioneer newspaper at Lancaster, Wis. Shortly after the establishment of the Minnesota Territory, he moved his printing equipment to St. Paul, and on April 28, 1849, he founded his weekly newspaper,The Minnesota Pioneer. It is reported that even though he brought along two printers, Goodhue himself worked both as compositor and pressman, and further that the printing press he used at Lancaster and St. Paul was the same on which Iowa's first printing had been performed.[113]The Library of Congress' scattered file of this first Minnesota newspaper contains just one 1849 issue, dated October 25.

Taking precedence as the Library's earliest example of Minnesota printing is the first issue, dated August 25, 1849, of another St. Paul paper, theMinnesota Chronicle and Register, which resulted from the merger of two early rivals of thePioneer. In an introductory editorial the proprietors, James Hughes and John Phillips Owens, make certain claims on behalf of this paper:

Our union bases us upon a foundation which renders our permanent success beyond a contingency. The combining of the two offices places us in possession of probably the best and most complete printing establishment on the Mississippi, above St. Louis. These advantages, with our practical experience in the art, the aid of health and a free good will, and a moderate share of the other requisites, we hope will enable us to give the Chronicle and Register a place in the front rank of well executed, useful and instructive newspapers.... We have two new Washington Printing Presses, with all the recent improvements attached. We defy any establishment in the Union to produce superior pieces of machinery in the way of Hand Presses. Our assortment of book and job type is also of the newest and handsomest styles, and comprises larger quantities and greater varieties than can be found this side of St. Louis. And we are happy to announce we have more coming.

They also make an interesting statement of editorial policy:

The Chronicle and Register have each a reputatation [sic] at home and abroad, gained during the few months of their separate existence. The views of the respective editors in regard to general politics, and the relation they bear upon these matters to our present administrations, National and Territorial, has been a matter of no concealment on the part of either. And were it not for one reason, we would here let this subject rest. But the ground Minnesota at present occupies is neutral. We have no vote in the Legislative councils of the Nation, no vote for President. Why should we then divide and distract our people upon questions that they have no voice in determining? Why array each other in separate bands as Whigs and Democrats when such a course can only show the relative strength of the two parties, without adding one iota to the prosperity and welfare of either? The measures of one or the other of the great parties of the country will receive the sanction of the next Congress, and no thanks to Minnesota for her votes. We as citizens, and as whigs, are willing to leave it for the future to determine which of these parties are to sway the destinies of our Territory.

The Library has eight issues of theChronicle and Registerfrom the year 1849, as well as later ones through February 17, 1851, all bearing its motto: "The greatest good for the greatest number." Many of the earlier issues are addressed to John M. Clayton, who was Secretary of State until July 1850, and somelater issues are addressed to his successor, Daniel Webster. (The Library's file ofThe Minnesota Pioneeralso has a State Department provenance.)

Short newspaper items(Short newspaper items)

(Short newspaper items)

In addition the Library of Congress owns three official publications printed by James Madison Goodhue in 1849:Message from the Governor of Minnesota Territory to the Two Houses of the Legislative Assembly, at the Commencement of the First Session, September 4, 1849;Rules for the Government of the Council of Minnesota Territory, and Joint Rules of the Council and House, Adopted at a Session of the Legislature, Commenced September 3, 1849; andMessage of the Governor, in Relation to a Memorial from Half-Breeds of Pembina.[114]On September 5, the day after it authorized Goodhue to do its printing, the newly formed legislature ordered the first two of these titles printed in editions of 500 and 100 copies, respectively.[115]The Library copies of both pamphlets are unbound, without marks of personal ownership. The first is an older acquisition of undetermined origin; the second a 1940 purchase from the Rosenbach Company in New York, at $165. The third title was ordered printed in 300 copies on October 1, 1849, the day the Governor's message was delivered.[116]It is a four-page leaflet, one of 73 rare American imprints that the printing historian Douglas C. McMurtrie sold to the Library for $600 in 1935.

[113]See M. W. Berthel,Horns of Thunder, the Life and Times of James M. Goodhue, Including Selections from his Writings(St. Paul, 1948).[114]These are nos. 18, 66, and 23 in Esther Jerabek'sA Bibliography of Minnesota Territorial Documents(St. Paul, 1936). Unrecorded in this bibliography are two early pamphlets printed by theChronicle and Register:Courts of Record in the Territory of Minnesota; Approved Nov. 1, 1849—Took Effect Dec. 1, 1849andLaw of the Territory of Minnesota; Relative to the Powers and Duties of Justices. Approved November First, 1849—Took Effect December First, 1849. The Library's copies are inscribed to Elisha Whittlesey, comptroller, U. S. Treasury Department.[115]SeeJournal of the Council During the First Session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota(St. Paul, 1850), p. 23.[116]Ibid., p. 51.

[113]See M. W. Berthel,Horns of Thunder, the Life and Times of James M. Goodhue, Including Selections from his Writings(St. Paul, 1948).

[114]These are nos. 18, 66, and 23 in Esther Jerabek'sA Bibliography of Minnesota Territorial Documents(St. Paul, 1936). Unrecorded in this bibliography are two early pamphlets printed by theChronicle and Register:Courts of Record in the Territory of Minnesota; Approved Nov. 1, 1849—Took Effect Dec. 1, 1849andLaw of the Territory of Minnesota; Relative to the Powers and Duties of Justices. Approved November First, 1849—Took Effect December First, 1849. The Library's copies are inscribed to Elisha Whittlesey, comptroller, U. S. Treasury Department.

[115]SeeJournal of the Council During the First Session of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota(St. Paul, 1850), p. 23.

[116]Ibid., p. 51.

Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence(Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence)

(Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence)

Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, ... continued(Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, ...continued)

(Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, ...continued)

The earliest recorded example of Washington printing is the first number ofThe Columbian, published at Olympia on September 11, 1852. The founders of this newspaper were James W. Wiley and Thornton F. McElroy, who purchased a press on which the PortlandOregonianhad for a short time been printed and which before that saw service in California.[117]

In 1853 the Territory of Washington was created from the northern part of the Territory of Oregon, and on April 17, 1854, the new Territorial legislature elected James W. Wiley to be Washington's first official printer. The earliest specimen of Washington printing held by the Library of Congress appears to be the following example of his work, printed at Olympia in 1855:Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, Passed at the Second Regular Session, Begun and Held at Olympia, December 4, 1854, in the Seventy-Ninth Year of American Independence. It includes an act passed at the second session, on February 1, 1855, specifying the size and distribution of the original edition:

Sec. 1.Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, That the Public Printer be, and is hereby required to print in pamphlet form, six hundred copies of the laws of the present session, and a like number of the laws of the last session of the Legislative Assembly....Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the territory to forward to each county auditor in the territory fifteen copies of the laws of each session for the use of the county officers, and two copies for each member of the Legislative Assembly, and to each officer of the Legislative Assembly, one copy of said laws.

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the territory to forward to each county auditor in the territory fifteen copies of the laws of each session for the use of the county officers, and two copies for each member of the Legislative Assembly, and to each officer of the Legislative Assembly, one copy of said laws.

The Library owns three copies of this 75-page official document, all acquired probably during the last quarter of the 19th century. They are in old Library bindings and bear no marks of prior ownership.

Among the Library's collections are five other Olympia imprints of the same year but from the press of the second official printer, George B. Goudy, who was elected on January 27, 1855. One of these, a work of more than 500 pages, the Library also holds in three copies:Statutes of the Territory of Washington: Being the Code Passed by the Legislative Assembly, At Their First Session Begun and Held at Olympia, February 27th, 1854. Also, Containing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Act of Washington Territory, the Donation Laws, &C., &C.The others areJournal ofthe Council of the Territory of Washington: Together With the Memorials and Joint Resolutions of the First Session of {the} Legislative Assembly ...;Journal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Washington: Together With the Memorials and Joint Resolutions of the First Session of the Legislative Assembly ...;Journal of the Council of the Territory of Washington, During the Second Session of the legislative Assembly ...; andJournal of the House of Representatives of the Territory of Washington: Being the Second Session of the Legislative Assembly ....

Most official printing in the Territories was paid for by the Federal Government, and copies of many publications were sent to Washington, D.C., to meet certain administrative requirements. In some copies now at the Library of Congress visible evidence to this effect remains, as in the above-mentioned Council and House journals for the second legislative session, both inscribed to "Library State Dept." Although the Department of State continued to exercise broad supervision over the Territories at this period, supervision of their official printing was assigned, as it had been since 1842, to the Treasury Department. The cover or halftitle now bound in at the end of the above-mentioned House journal for the first legislative session bears notations made in the office of the Treasury Department's first comptroller, who exercised this particular responsibility.[118]One is a barely legible record in pencil: "Recd Oct 14/56 in letter of Sec Mason of Augt 26/56"; and another is in ink: "Finding enclosed to Sec Mason March 31/57." These notations refer to correspondence between the comptroller and the secretary of the Territory of Washington about remuneration for printing. Part of the correspondence is still retained at the National Archives (in Record Group 217).

[117]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 35-38.[118]See W. A. Katz, "Tracing Western Territorial Imprints Through the National Archives,"The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 59 (1965), p. 1-11. Two Minnesota documents inscribed to the comptroller are cited in footnote no. 2 on page 69.

[117]See Roby Wentz,Eleven Western Presses(Los Angeles, 1956), p. 35-38.

[118]See W. A. Katz, "Tracing Western Territorial Imprints Through the National Archives,"The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 59 (1965), p. 1-11. Two Minnesota documents inscribed to the comptroller are cited in footnote no. 2 on page 69.

Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government(Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government)

(Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government)

Scholarly investigation has revealed that a supposed early instance of Nebraska printing—the MormonGeneral Epistle"written at Winter Quarters, Omaha Nation, west bank of Missouri River, near Council Bluffs, North America, and signed December 23d, 1847"—actually issued from a St. Louis press.[119]The Library of Congress copy of this imprint is consequently disqualified for discussion here, as are also the Library's three issues of theOmaha Arrow, beginning with the initial number dated July 28, 1854, since these issues were printed in Iowa, at Council Bluffs, before Omaha acquired its own press.

Nebraska printing begins in fact with the 16th number of theNebraska Palladium, issued at Bellevue on November 15, 1854. Previously issued at St. Mary's, Iowa, the paper takes pride in introducing printing to the newly formed Territory of Nebraska and identifies the men responsible:

The first printers in our office, and who have set up the present number, are natives of three different states—Ohio, Virginia, and Massachusetts, namely: Thomas Morton, foreman, Columbus, Ohio (but Mr. Morton was born in England); A. D. Long, compositor, Virginia; Henry M. Reed, apprentice, Massachusetts.[120]

The first Nebraska books were printed at Omaha by the Territorial printers Sherman & Strickland in 1855, and they are represented in the Library of Congress collections:Laws, Resolutions and Memorials, Passed at the Regular Session of the First General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska, Convened at Omaha City, on the 16th Day of January, Anno Domini, 1855. Together with the Constitution of the United States, the Organic Law, and the Proclamations Issued in the Organization of the Territorial Government; Journal of the Council at the First Regular Session of the General Assembly, of the Territory of Nebraska, Begun and Held at Omaha City, Commencing on Tuesday the Sixteenth Day January, A. D. 1855, and Ending on the Sixteenth Day of March, A. D. 1855; andJournal of the House of Representatives, of the First Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Territory of Nebraska .... These three official publications record quite fully the work of the first Nebraska Legislature, which consisted of a council of 13 and a house of 26 members. From later in the same year the Library owns still another Sherman &Strickland imprint:Annual Message of Mark W. Izard, Governor of the Territory of Nebraska, Addressed to the Legislative Assembly, December 18, 1855. The Governor delivered this address at the convening of the second legislature.

The press on which these four books were printed had been transported to Omaha from Ohio, and it was used to produce the initial number of theOmaha Nebraskan, January 17, 1855.[121]On March 13, with the approval of a joint resolution which may be read in theLaws, Resolutions and Memorials, John H. Sherman and Joseph B. Strickland became the official printers of the Territory; and "An Act to provide for Printing and Distributing the Laws of Nebraska Territory," also approved on March 13, stipulated that a thousand copies of the laws and resolutions of the first legislature be printed. Two of the thousand copies are listed as a "present" inAdditions Made to the Library of Congress, Since the First Day of November, 1855. November 1, 1856(Washington, 1856).[122]They are still on the Library shelves, along with a third copy received by transfer from another Government agency in 1911. The Library received its copy of theJournal of the Councilin 1867 and its copy of theJournal of the House of Representativesprobably not much later in the 19th century.[123]The Statute Law Book Company sold the Library Governor Izard'sAnnual Messagefor $22 in October 1935.

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