Nord directs institute on news, making of America
Professor Emeritus David Paul Nord co-directed a two-week institute, The News Media and the Making of America, 1730-1865, at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts July 27 to Aug. 7.
The event focused on the role of news and public information from the colonial period through the Civil War. It was designed for middle and high school educators and was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Nord and his colleagues developed a program considering many forms of information distribution, from print media to sermons. Participants studied these methods of communication as they manifested in towns and cities but also in intentional groups like political parties.
The following research questions informed their work, according to the institute’s website: “What counted as news in early America? How was news gathered, distributed, shared, and consumed? What impact did changes in media technology have on content?”