Joseph M. Adelman

A historian of media, communication, and politics in the Atlantic world, in 2019 I published his first book, entitled Revolutionary Networks: The Business and Politics of Printing the News, 1763-1789 with Johns Hopkins University Press. The book was awarded an Honorable Mention for the 2019 St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize from the Bibliographical Society of America. I’m now at work on a history of the Post Office in America and a study of the origins of the free press.

I earned my bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University and a master’s and Ph.D. in history from the Johns Hopkins University. I was previously a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society, a postdoctoral fellow in the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia, and served as a Lecturer in the History Department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, I have worked as Communications Director to a member of the New York State Assembly and as a consultant for the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. In my career, I’ve held fellowships and grants from the American Antiquarian Society, the American Philosophical Society, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute for American History, and the Library Company of Philadelphia, among others. I’ve presented and published broadly, including in the journals Enterprise & Society and Early American Studies, TheAtlantic.com, the Washington Post, and as a blogger at the Junto. I’m an elected Member of the American Antiquarian Society and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

In addition to my university work, I currently serve as an Associate Editor with The New England Quarterly. Finally, I’m the co-founder and President of Clio Digital Media, Ltd., which produces the award-winning Ben Franklin’s World podcast.

Find me on Bluesky and Instagram.