Her name was Mary Katharine Goddard and she was one of America’s first female publishers. Why don’t we all know more about this woman?

 

The Declaration of Independence printed with the names of the signers. Mary Katharine Goddard’s name is at the bottom. (Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection)

 

From The Washington Post,

 

This woman’s name appears on the Declaration of Independence. So why don’t we know her story?

 

by Petula Dvorak

 

“…look closely at one of those printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.

 

See it? The woman’s name at the bottom?

 

It’s right there. Mary Katharine Goddard.

 

If you’ve never noticed it or heard of her, you aren’t alone. She’s a Founding Mother, of sorts, yet few folks know about her. And some of America’s earliest bureaucrats did their best to shut her down. Same old, same old.

 

Goddard was fearless her entire career as one of America’s first female publishers, printing scoops from Revolutionary War battles from Concord to Bunker Hill and continuing to publish after her offices were twice raided and her life was repeatedly threatened by haters.

 

Yup, she faced down the Twitter trolls of 1776.

 

In her boldest move, Goddard put her full name at the bottom of all the copies of the Declaration that her printing presses churned out and distributed to the colonies…”

 

For the rest, click here.

 

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