Books and Manuscripts

Printed Broadside
Boston: Printed by Richard Draper, 1767. Printed broadside, being “By His Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq; Captain-General and Governor in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England, and Vice-Admiral of the same. A Proclamation for a general Fast…” 16 x 13 in. (406 x 330 mm). Creasing from old folds, separations along same; sheet toned; dampstaining in top edge; foxing in bottom edge; contemporary inscription at bottom; repairs on verso, docketing on same. In mat, 21 x 16 1/2 in. (533 x 419 mm). Evans 10681; Ford, Broadsides 1415

An early colonial Massachusetts broadside, being a proclamation by Governor Francis Bernard declaring April 9, 1767 as a “Day of Fasting and Prayer." Fasting days of prayer and repentance were traditionally observed in New England, from the colonial period to the 20th century. Tracing their origins to the 17th century, Fast Days were proclaimed by Colonial Governors at the beginning of spring planting in the hopes of avoiding plagues, natural disasters, and crop failures. The Fast Day was typically observed through church attendance, fasting, and abstaining from secular activities. The earliest known Fast Day was observed in Boston in 1670, and was abolished in Massachusetts more than 200 years later at the close of the 19th-century. It was replaced with the currently observed Patriot's Day in commemoration of the battles of Lexington and Concord.