Created and first published on December 24, 1728, this
newspaper was the second paper ever printed in
Philadelphia. It was published by editor
Samuel Keimer, who attempted to make the paper popular by publishing within it an
encyclopedia in one-page installments. It was soon bought up by
Benjamin Franklin and
Hugh Meredith on October 2, 1729, and was renamed
Pennsylvania Gazette. In its new form, the
encyclopedia content was dropped, and new
editorial standards were set by
Franklin, who also served as the paper's best writer and reporter.
The newspaper's initial effort to deliver encyclopedia content to a popular audience, and it's ambitious goal of serving as a "Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences," may have been an idea before its time, but it can also be seen as a 270 year old harbinger of the eventual development of the everything2 website. Or maybe not.