Royal American Magazine

''The Royal American Magazine, or Universal Repository of Instruction and Amusement'' (January 1774 – March 1775) was a short-lived monthly periodical published in Boston, Massachusetts, by Isaiah Thomas and later by Joseph Greenleaf. It supported patriot and revolutionary sentiment in the Colonies against the Kingdom of Great Britain, and had contributors that included John Hancock and Paul Revere.

History

In 1773, Thomas solicited subscribers to the proposed magazine, placing advertisements in local New England newspapers such as ''The Boston News-Letter''. The first issue appeared in January 1774. It included a mix of original work and pieces reprinted from the British press: "conventional essays; articles on politics, medicine, agriculture, education, literature, and religion, advice to the ladies; fiction; 'poetical essays;' and current events, including marriages, deaths and meteorological tables." "The title of the ''Royal American Magazine'' epitomizes the magazine's double nature: it both wanted to imitate the British models of polite literature...and to advance the cause of the American patriots"

"Besides the usual variety of general literature, this work contains a faithful summary of the public transactions of Boston during that eventful year, and great value is added to the work by the public documents preserved in its pages," such as Thomas Hutchinson's ''History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.''

Despite its relative success, the magazine ceased in March 1775. "The general distress and commotion in the town, occasioned by the operation of the act of the British parliament to blockade the port of Boston, obliged him to discontinue it ... much to the injury of his pecuniary interest." The ''Royal American Magazine'' was "the last of the periodicals of Boston under the provincial governors."Ebenezer Smith Thomas. Reminiscences of the Last Sixty-five Years: Commencing with the Battle of Lexington. 1840; v.1, p.26.

Image gallery

Image:1774 Boston byPaulRevere RoyalAmericanMagazine.png, "A view of the town of Boston with several ships of war in the harbour" by Paul Revere, in ''Royal American Magazine'', January 1774.
File:The able doctor, or America swallowing the bitter draught (NYPL Hades-248165-425086).jpg, "The able doctor, or American swallowing the bitter draught" by Paul Revere, in ''Royal American Magazine'', January 1774.
Image:1774 SamAdams RoyalAmericanMagazine.jpg, Portrait of Samuel Adams
Image:1774 RoyalAmericanMagazine July Greenleaf.png, Greenleaf's letter to subscribers, ca.June 1774
Image:1774 WaterSpout RoyalAmericanMagazine02774001.jpg, Copy after illustration originally published in Benjamin Franklin's ''Experiments and Observations on Electricity'', London, 1774; in ''Royal American Magazine'', Sept. 1774.
Image:1774 HillTops RoyalAmericanMagazine no8.png, "The Hill Tops, a New Hunting Song," in ''Royal American Magazine'' no.8.
Image:1774 November RoyalAmericanMagazine.jpg, ''Royal American Magazine'', November 1774, "printed and sold at Greeleaf's printing office in Union-Street," Boston
Image:Bees RoyalAmericanMagazine02784003.jpg, Copy after illustration originally published in ''Universal Magazine'', June 1768; in ''Royal American Magazine'', December 1774.

References

Further reading

{{commons category, Royal American Magazine
* Frank Luther Mott. ''Royal American Magazine'
A History of American Magazines
Volume I, 1741-1850. Harvard U.P., 1930; p. 83+
* Edward W. R. Pitcher. ''The Royal American magazine, 1774-1775 : an annotated catalogue''. Lewiston, N.Y. ; Lampeter : E. Mellen Press, c2001. (Studies in British and American magazines v. 12).

18th century in Boston
1775 disestablishments in the Thirteen Colonies
1770s in the Thirteen Colonies
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1774
Magazines disestablished in 1775
Magazines published in Boston