Boston News‐Letter

Boston News‐Letter (1704–76), originally a handwritten account sent to New England colonial governors by John Campbell, the Boston postmaster. The first printed issue appeared in 1704. Local news was gathered from many sources, and foreign news was reprinted in chronological order from English papers, so that the News‐Letter was sometimes a year behind time in foreign information. Bartholomew Green, the editor (1704–32), adopted a semi‐religious editorial policy, continued (1733–62) by his son‐in‐law John Draper. Richard Draper, the editor (1762–74), changed the title to The Boston Weekly News‐Letter and New‐England Chronicle and later to The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News‐Letter, making the journal the mouthpiece of the governor and loyalists. When he purchased the Boston Post‐Boy, he published the papers separately. In 1768–69 the Gazette was the official government organ, and the second half of the paper was alternately composed of the Post‐Boy and the News‐Letter. Draper edited the News‐Letter alone from 1769 to 1774. His widow and others ran the paper until February 22, 1776, when it was the only pa‐per published during the British occupation of Boston.