Four Eighteenth Century Women Printers: Catharine Zenger, Sarah Goddard, Margaret Draper, and Hannah Watson

In comparing the printing careers of Catharine Zenger, Sarah Goddard, Margaret Draper, and Hannah Watson, an investigation is conducted of each of the four women's motive, preparedness and extent of comprehension of the role of the printer and the newspaper in the community. It is evident that these four women were products of their time periods, as they evolved in similar directions to other colonial printers. And in examining the evolution of these women's roles as printers, a better understanding is provided of their interpretation of their roles with respect to society and also of the evolution of printing and the dissemination of information that occurred during the eighteenth century.