Author: George Bresnick

George Bresnick writes about New England, its ephemera and intellectual underpinnings. His boyhood was spent, in part, trailing his older brother through the antique shops and used bookstores of Eastern Massachusetts. George has traced New England influence to the Midwest (through Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Ripleys of Brook Farm), and to California (with John Muir). The Green and Russell invoice was inherited from his late brother. George retired from academic medical and public health work. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he practices “historical restitution,” researching historical items and donating them to families or historical societies associated with them.

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Advertising a Revolution: An Original Invoice to “The Town of Boston to Green and Russell”

The year is 1764, and smallpox is sweeping the town of Boston. One of Paul Revere’s children is stricken, and the family chooses to quarantine in their home until the child recovers.[1] The local newspapers document new smallpox cases. Incoming vessels with smallpox victims on board are impounded, and the passengers and crews are immediately […]

by George Bresnick