Oprechte Saturdagse Haerlemse Courant van 6 januari 1770 met het nieuws over de overstroming van de Rijndijk in Gelderland Possibly 1770 - 1776

Curator: What stands out to you about this newspaper clipping? Editor: This is the "Oprechte Saturdagse Haerlemse Courant van 6 januari 1770," made by Johannes Enschedé. It's a printed newspaper, and the visible aging of the paper gives it a tangible sense of history. The tight columns of text almost feel overwhelming. What does this object reveal about its time, beyond the immediate news it contains? Curator: Look closely at the physical making of it. This isn’t just news; it’s a commodity produced within a specific economic and social framework. Consider the labor involved in sourcing the materials – the paper itself, the ink – and the craft of typesetting and printing. Editor: So you're saying that understanding its production tells us more about its cultural impact? Curator: Exactly. Who had access to this kind of information? What were the working conditions of the printers, the distributors? Examining these aspects deconstructs the traditional narrative of the news as objective and allows us to think about it as an output from the cultural industries of the 18th century. Editor: I never thought about it that way, seeing it as a produced object. Now, the style of typography, the paper quality – all of it seems very intentional. Curator: Precisely. We move past just *what* it says and ask *how* it was made and *for whom*. The production method dictated accessibility and reach of its stories about a flood and shaped its importance within that society. What did you find surprising about this discussion? Editor: Definitely the way it shifts the focus from the information to its material creation, giving a broader and more comprehensive context for its existence.