Mary K. Goddard published early Declaration

Goddard broadside has two columns of type. The Dunlap version had only one. Inset: Mary Goddard.

It is the birthday of Baltimore publisher Mary Katherine Goddard (1783), who printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence in 1777 with the typeset names of those who signed it. It is known as the Goddard broadside, and was the second version of the document to be printed. (The first, known as the Dunlap broadside and produced in 1776 by printer John Dunlap in Philadelphia, did not include the names of the signers.) Goddard published The Maryland Journal, a revolutionary publication started by her brother. For 14 years, she served as postmaster of Baltimore until the Postmaster General declared that the position had to be filled by a man. Despite local protests and a petition signed by 200 Baltimore men, Goddard was removed. Goddard got into a squabble with her brother and in 1784 the siblings published rival almanacs for the following year. For a dozen years late in life, Goddard operated a bookstore in Baltimore.