The document summarizes the key points of Anne Hyde's book "The Great Fear: Rumor and Print Culture on the Early Western Frontier, 1812-1860". It examines how rumors spread and the role of newspapers in three western communities between 1812-1860: St. Louis ca. 1812, Illinois in the early 1840s, and Denver in 1858-1860. The challenges of using small frontier newspapers as historical sources are also discussed. Images and maps from the time period are included to provide historical context.

1. The Great Fear:
Rumor and Print Culture on
the Early Western Frontier,
1812-1860
Anne Hyde, Colorado College

2. • THREE Places:
– ca. 1812 in St. Louis
– Early 1840s in Illinois
– Denver in 1858-1860
• THREE Issues:
– How rumors spread
– Role of newspapers in western
communities
– Challenges of using small newspapers

3. Currier and Ives, Arguing the Point, 1855

4. Louisiana Territory, 1804

5. 1804 Atlas of North America

7. Indian Land Cessions, 1795-1812

8. Tecumseh, 1809, Niles Register

9. 1810 Cartoon

10. Fort Michilimackinac Falls: 1812

11. 1814 “Upper Territories of the United States

12. Walls of Words:
Reading a 19th
Century
Newspaper
Warsaw, Illinois,
1842

14. Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Legion,
National Intelligencer, 1843

15. Mormon Temple, Nauvoo IL 1845

16. Joseph Smith’s Murder, Carthage, IL 1844

17. Mormon Route, 1847 (Nauvoo and West)

18. 1858 Poster Advertising Guidebooks to The
Goldfields

19. 1858 Map to Pikes Peak Gold Regions

20. 58’ers, Harper’s Weekly

21. William and Elizabeth Byers

22. Early 19th
century Printing Press

23. Byers’ Rocky Mountain News

24. Denver, 1859 Harper’s Weekly

25. “Rumors” May 1859

26. Leslie’s Illustrated, Denver 1860

27. Denver, “Jefferson Territory” 1859