Historical event · 1638
First Printing Press in British America (1638)
In 1638 Stephen Daye set up the first printing press in England’s American colonies, steps from Harvard Yard. Its Bay Psalm Book (1640) was the first book printed in British America — a copy sold in 2013 for $14.2 million, the most ever paid for a printed book.
Why it matters
Cambridge’s founding technology. Everything since — the laboratories, the code, the mRNA — descends from a press in a parsonage.
Open the full civic recordCurrent pulse, routes, recommendations, and memory
Living object
Now, then, future
Every object is temporal: what it feels like now, what it used to mean, and what it can become next.
Now
Thenquiet enough to notice details. Best now: the older layer.
1607: Young Puritan minister (1607–1638) whose deathbed gift of his library and half his estate gave the new college his name.
Future2026: America’s 250th — July 4, 2026.
Current modegolden hour
Historical echoJohn Harvard
Connected eventCambridge 400 — Newtowne’s Quadricentennial (2030)
Pulse
How it feels right now
Current energyquiet enough to notice details
Best nowthe older layer
Best timegolden hour
historicserendipitous
Rain scoremodest
Indoor escapes within a few blocks.
Laptop friendlinessdecent
Coffee, libraries, bookstores, and campus edges.
Student presencehigh
How strongly the nearby graph reads as campus life.
Tourist pressurelow
Fame, landmark pull, and visitor-facing assets.
Historic densityextreme
Older records and historical edges around this object.
Serendipityhigh
Different kinds of things hiding within a short walk.
Turn this into a walk
Routes with a point of view
What should I see next?
Chosen moves from here
The editor's hand
Human recommendations
The Civic Graph Editorial DeskEditorial standard
Look for the older layer before you move on. This object is connected to more than its facade suggests.Newtowne Becomes Cambridge (1638) →Cambridge History DeskLocal historian
Look for the older layer before you move on. This object is connected to more than its facade suggests.Newtowne Becomes Cambridge (1638) →
Civic memory
What this meant before
16381638First Printing Press in British America (1638) enters the civic record here.1636Founding of Harvard College (1636)The Great and General Court voted £400 in 1636 to establish a college at Newtowne — the first institution of higher learning in English America.1663The Eliot Indian Bible (1663)The first Bible printed in British America was printed in Cambridge in 1663 — in Wôpanâak, the Massachusett language, translated with Native collaborators including Job Nesutan and James Printer.
- Date
- 1638
- Graph connections
- 4
In the graph 4 relationships — first-class data, not links
Explore First Printing Press in British America (1638) in the interactive Graph Explorer — click to expand every connection →Historically related
Located in
Nearby what sits within a few minutes’ walk
Historical event · 1 min walk
The Eliot Indian Bible (1663)
Building / Landmark · 1 min walk
John Harvard Statue
Building / Landmark · 1 min walk
Statue of Charles Sumner
Historical context
Related reading
An unexpected connection
First Printing Press in British America (1638) is linked, through the graph, to The Press That Started It — article / guide, 9 min walk away. The kind of thread you only find by following the connections.
Keep exploring graph-powered — every path below is a real relationship, not a guess
NearbyA few minutes’ walk away
More historical eventsOther historical events in the graph
From the colonial eraOf the same period
Visitors also exploreReached through the same connections
One record, 4 framings cross-property publishing — never duplicated
How we know graph confidence — we explain our certainty, not just assert it
○Source qualityBest source is unclassified
✓Independent corroboration2 sources
✓Human-reviewedEditorially verified
○Institutional backingNo primary source yet
✓Record completeness80% of canonical fields present
Sources, by tier
Houghton Library Unclassified
American Antiquarian Society Unclassified
Graph scores — our north star is relationship density, not page count
Relationship density44
4 connections
Record coverage66
metadata completeness
Graph authority82
centrality + reach + trust
Schema.org JSON-LD — what answer engines read
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