STEM Connection: Language, Literacy & Communication
The history of language and literacy in the 19th century is deeply intertwined with technological advancement, urbanization, labor patterns, and sociopolitical reform. The sources in this collection uncover the evolution of printing technologies, the role of youth in information networks, oral and Indigenous storytelling traditions, and the infrastructure that supported mass communication in a rapidly industrializing world. Students can explore the science of sound, the mechanics of printing presses, data journalism, and even the sociology of communication through these references—bridging historical inquiry with media and communication sciences.
Printing Technology & Mechanical Engineering
Resources such as Letterpress Printing, the Columbian Press video, and Letterpress Terms offer direct insight into the mechanics and physics of early print production. These tools revolutionized literacy and public information but were also marvels of industrial design. Students can explore leverage, pressure distribution, and typesetting as applied engineering.
STEM Activity Idea: Reconstruct a simple hand press using CAD software or physical models and calculate the force needed for even ink distribution across different paper weights.
Communication Networks & Information Theory
From the History of America’s Newsboys to New York’s newsboys by Staller, this section provides a foundation for examining how human communication networks functioned before digital systems. These boy-run news delivery routes were analog equivalents to packet-switching networks, with nodes, paths, and reliability metrics.
STEM Activity Idea: Map the communication network of 19th-century newspaper distribution in NYC. Use graph theory to analyze points of failure and communication density.
Epidemiological Literacy & Public Health Messaging
Condran’s chapter on epidemic disease in NYC invites students to analyze how disease patterns were communicated to the public—and how misinformation or delay in print affected urban health outcomes. This allows for a powerful intersection of epidemiology, literacy, and media impact studies.
STEM Activity Idea: Compare two disease outbreak reports—one from the 19th century and one from modern times—and assess how information format, speed, and accessibility changed outcomes.
Sociolinguistics & Indigenous Knowledge Systems
The Potawatomi Oral Tradition source and the Scots Language Centre reveal the enduring value of oral communication and regional dialects. Students can investigate linguistic preservation, code-switching, and phonological systems across cultures—blending linguistics with anthropology and data science.
STEM Activity Idea: Conduct a phonetic comparison between English, Scots, and Potawatomi terms for key natural elements (e.g., fire, water, tree) and create a visualization of sound shifts.
Data Journalism & Election Fraud Analysis
Multiple newspaper clippings (e.g., election and ballot fraud, Tolby’s murder, political coverage) allow students to practice historical data journalism. Students can mine language from archived articles to identify bias, assess reporting frequency, and conduct sentiment analysis.
STEM Activity Idea: Use natural language processing (NLP) tools to compare tone and vocabulary between newspapers reporting on the same event. Students can quantify sensationalism vs. neutrality.
Transportation & Media Distribution Logistics
Articles such as Horse and Buggy: The Primary Means of Transportation connect transportation engineering with media access. Students can study how the physical constraints of mobility affected the timing and geography of information dissemination.
STEM Activity Idea: Calculate delivery time from NYC to Las Vegas, NM using horse-and-buggy speed estimates, then simulate modern delivery times via digital networks to explore exponential change.
Sound Science & Audiovisual Preservation
Kari Gallerneaux’s History of Early Printing Presses includes an audio component, which opens up lessons in the science of sound. Students can explore how vibrations create speech and sound waves and how early technologies captured or mimicked them.
STEM Activity Idea: Build a simple membrane microphone to capture voice waves and visually model amplitude and frequency using waveform analysis tools.
Summary: This rich body of sources reveals how communication—whether printed, spoken, or delivered by foot—has always been a STEM-powered process. From the mechanical intricacies of early printing presses to the networked information ecosystems formed by young newsboys and Indigenous oral historians, this section helps students bridge engineering, linguistics, epidemiology, and information science. Language and literacy are not just cultural—they are technical systems we build, transmit, and evolve through scientific means.