in the days before blogs and social media and the internets
Apparently, people used to read their news on these super large, poster sized pieces of paper, that were delivered to their homes by child workers on bikes. They were called newspapers.
The news was written at least a day before! The papers were so large, they were difficult to fit on a desk or kitchen table, and were printed in such poor quality, that the ink would rub off onto the reader's fingers.
If you'd like to learn more about these dark times, ToddAnd has a terrific post about the history of newspapers.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:49 AM
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Hey Darryl,
Thanks for the plug. Newspapers from the 1700s and early 1800s are actually very small by today's standards. Many of the earliest papers had dimensions around 8" x 12". It wasn't until the late 1800s and early 1900s when newspapers blew up to gigantic dimensions larger than most kitchen tables.
Prior to 1870, newspapers were printed on very durable rag linen paper, so newspapers reporting on the Revolutionary and Civil Wars are actually in better condition than yesterday's newspaper, which is probably already yellow and brittle because it was printed on wood pulp.
The durability of historic newspapers from the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s make them an excellent collectible - unlike the newspaper from when the Chicago Bears last won the Super Bowl in 1985, which is already shredded and faded. Just look at the photos of the 18th century papers on my post - they're unbelievably well-preserved for being close to 300 years old.
I went ahead and incorporated the above comment into my post as I think this is important information about historic newspapers.