The Pennsylvania Gazette
Philadelphia, PA: Printed by B. Franklin and H. Meredith, 1763
AN2 P4 U64, No. 1822 November 24, 1763

The Pennsylvania Gazette was published in Philadelphia between 1728 and 1800. It began publication with the title The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette, founded by Samuel Keimer. In 1729 Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Meredith bought the paper and shortened the name. Franklin printed the paper and also contributed pieces, often using a pseudonym. The paper became one of the most successful in the American colonies. This issue, no. 1822, November 24, 1763, leads with letters of welcome to John Penn, grandson of William Penn, upon his arrival in Philadelphia as governor.

Penn took the oath of office on October 31. He would be the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, leaving in 1776 after the creation of an independent Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, when the Penn family was removed from power.

Letters of welcome include those from the Quakers, the “Managers and Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Hospital,” “the Corporation for the Relief of poor and distressed Presbyterian Ministers, and the Relief of their Widows and Children,” “the Baptist Church, at Philadelphia,” and “the Library Company of Philadelphia.” All of the letters seek aid of one sort or another from Penn. The Library Company’s letter notes that the Penn family “has always favoured our Institution, and promoted it, by their frequent and generous Benefactions.”

This issue was a gift from Dr. Ronald Rubin, a frequent and generous benefactor to the Rare Books Division.  Dr. Rubin, a political science professor and noted antiquarian, has written articles on world politics for the New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Jewish Press, the Jerusalem Post, Western Political Quarterly, Christian Science Monitor, Forward, the Wall Street Journal and other leading publications. An anthology of his pieces, A Jewish Professor’s Political Punditry: Fifty-plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin, was published this March.