This Institute is both a colloquium and a hands-on workshop that will explore how news media from 1730 to 1800 was connected to civic engagement and how media fit into the public and private lives of the American people. Through readings, discussions, and library workshops with original primary source material, this Institute will provide participants with a unique and relevant way to approach the colonial period and the era of the American Revolution. Studying the founding of the country through the lens of news media will enable participants to help their students see their own media lives in historical perspective.