Anne Catherine Hoof Green

Anne Catherine Hoof Green (c.1720 – March 23, 1775) was a printer and publisher in Maryland.

For other people with the same name, see Anne Green.
Anne Catherine Hoof Green
Detail of paper in above painting, showing the words "Annapolis printer to..." referring to her succeeding her husband as official printer of Maryland.

Early life

Anne Hoof was most likely born in the Netherlands around 1720. She emigrated to Philadelphia with her parents sometime between 1720 and 1738.[1] She married Jonas Green (c.1720-1767) at Christ's Church in Philadelphia on April 25, 1738, and had fourteen children, with six surviving infancy.[2][3]

The Maryland Gazette

In 1738, Anne and Jonas moved to Annapolis where they later revived the dormant Maryland Gazette in 1745. The Maryland Gazette was one of the first newspapers published in America and was the main source for news for Maryland colonists. In Annapolis, the Greens rented a small two-story house with a kitchen and two bedrooms, located at 124 Charles Street. During the early 1740s the owner of the house expanded it to contain a print shop, post office, and room for their 14 children.[4] The Green family purchased the house in 1770.[5]

Jonas Green House, Annapolis

After the death of her husband on April 11, 1767, Anne Green took over production of the newspaper, becoming one of the first women publishers in the American colonies (preceded by Ann Smith Franklin of Rhode Island). In the April 16, 1767, edition, Anne Green announced that she would continue to publish the paper with her son.[6][1]

April 16, 1767, Maryland Gazette: announcement by Anne Green

She became the printer of the General Assembly after taking over her husband's contract.[2] The Maryland Gazette continued to be critical of British colonial policies.

Green's portrait was painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1769. The words "Annapolis printer to..." appear on the paper she is holding in the portrait, referring to the Maryland legislature's choice of Anne to succeed her husband as the official printer of the Maryland colony. Under her guidance business thrived and Anne Green became one of the few women of her time to gain success in the male-dominated business world.[4]

References
  1. "Anne Catherine Hoof Green, MSA SC 3520-14736". Biography of Anna Catherine Hoof Green. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  2. "Anne Catherine Hoof Green". Princeton University. Retrieved 2009-03-18. Married to Jonas Green of Boston in 1738, Ann Catharine Hoof Green seems to have been entirely occupied for the first thirty years of their marriage with bearing their fourteen children, and rearing the six who survived infancy. Upon Jonas's death in 1767, however, she assumed control of his printing operations and successfully petitioned the Maryland legislature to appoint her public printer to the province, a post her husband had also held. With the help of her son William, she completed the printing of the Acts and Votes of the 1767 session. The province at first paid her fee in tobacco, the local currency, until in 1770 she was commissioned to print $318,000 in paper money. Ann also continued to publish The Maryland Gazette, the newspaper established by Jonas in 1745.
  3. "Anne Catherine Hoof Green, MSA SC 3520-14736". Biography of Anne Catherine Hoof Green. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  4. MacLean, Maggie. "Anne Catherine Green: Colonial Printer and Publisher". History of American Women. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  5. "Jonas Green House (AA-392)" (PDF). Maryland State Archives.
  6. "Maryland Gazette Collection (MSA SC 2731), M 1281, Image No: 281 April 16, 1767". Archives of Maryland. Retrieved 2016-05-02.

Further reading
  • Leona M. Hudak, Early American Women Printers and Publishers: 1639-1820 (1978)
  • David C. Skaggs, "Editorial Policies of the Maryland Gazette, 1765-1783," Maryland Historical Magazine (1964) 59#4 pp 341–349 online
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