Joel Munsell (born
Northfield, Massachusetts
Northfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Northfield was first settled in 1673. The population was 2,866 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Connecticut R ...
, 14 April 1808; died
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
, 15 January 1880) was a United States printer, publisher and author.
Biography
He established himself as a printer in Albany in 1827. He edited and published the ''Albany Minerva'' in 1828, was associate editor of the ''Microscope'' in 1834, and was publisher and editor of the ''New York State Mechanic'' from 1841 to 1843. Subsequently, he published ''The Lady's Magazine'', the ''Northern Star and Freeman's Advocate'', ''The Spectator'', the ''Unionist'', the ''Albany Daily State Register'', the ''Guard'', ''The New York Teacher'', the ''Morning Express and Statesman'', ''Webster's Almanac'', ''The Daily Statesman'', and for three years the ''New England Historical and Genealogical Register''.
Munsell made a close study of the craft of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
, in its history and application, and his collection of works on the subject, the largest in America, was in part purchased by
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
for the
New York State Library. His printing and publishing business was continued by his sons.
He was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...
in 1854.
American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
/ref>
Publications
He contributed papers to the ''Transactions'' of the Albany Institute, of which he was a founder, and published:
'Outline of the History of Printing''
(1839)
''Annals of Albany''
(1849–59)
*''The Typographical Miscellany (1850)
*''Chronology of Paper and Paper-Making'' (1857; enlarged 1870)
''Every-Day Book of History and Chronology''
(1858, 1st edition)
*''Manual of the First Lutheran Church of Albany, 1670-1870'' (1871)
*''Woodworth's Reminiscences of the City of Troy''
Among his contributions to American historical literature was the “Historical Series” (10 vols., Albany, 1850–58) that he edited and annotated mostly himself. In 1872, he published a catalogue of all the books and pamphlets he had printed down to that date (8vo, 191 pp.).
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Munsell, Joel
1808 births
1880 deaths
American printers
American publishers (people)
American non-fiction writers
19th-century American historians
19th-century American male writers
Writers from Albany, New York
Members of the American Antiquarian Society
Historians from New York (state)
19th-century American businesspeople
American male non-fiction writers