Isaac Collins (1746-1817)
- Identifier
- NJS-PER-01815
- Given Name
- Isaac
- Family Name
- Collins
- Birth Date
- February 16, 1746
- Death Date
- March 21, 1817
- Sex
- Male
- Occupation
- Writing and Publishing
- Biographical Description
-
Isaac Collins was a printer and bookseller. He began his career in Philadelphia in the 1760s and then moved to Burlington, New Jersey, in 1770 and was appointed as Royal Printer. He printed currency and official books such as compilations of laws. He established a newspaper called the New-Jersey Gazette in 1777 during the American Revolution, and his paper expressed support for the revolutionary movement. This was the first recurring newspaper printed in New Jersey. The newspaper was first printed in Burlington, but Collins moved to Trenton several months later, and New-Jersey Gazette was published in Trenton from 1778 until its final issue in 1786, so it is generally regarded as a Trenton newspaper. He eventually moved back to Burlington in the 19th century. His house in Burlington is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Collins's New-Jersey Gazette newspaper frequently printed runaway advertisements and slave sale ads. On at least one occasion in 1781, he printed a runaway advertisement where he himself offered a reward of 8 dollars for a 15-year-old Black boy named Jack and advised the readers to bring the boy to the printing office in Trenton if captured. - Keywords
- white person
- enslaver
- printer
- References
-
See "Collins, Isaac" on p. 302 in: Blake, John Lauris. A Biographical Dictionary: Comprising a Summary Account of the Lives of the Most Distinguished Persons of All Ages, Nations, and Professions, Including More Than Two Thousand Articles of American Biography. Philadelphia: H. Cowperthwait & Company, 1859. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jWo7AQAAIAAJ.
Hixson, Richard F. Isaac Collins, a Quaker Printer in 18th Century America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1968. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Isaac_Collins_a_Quaker_Printer_in_18th_C/ZeNCAAAAIAAJ.
"The Isaac Collins House," Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=35902.
About The New-Jersey gazette, Chronicling America, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025471/
Isaac Collins (biography and objects), British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG218941.
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Resource class
- Agent