Bulletin Boards, Hand Bills, & Where they are Now

Bulletin Boards & Hand Bills built communication around the world

Long before people received instant notifications on their phones, communities needed a reliable way to share news. Bulletin boards and handbills provided that service by placing important information where the public could see it.

These communication tools might appear simple, but they changed how governments, businesses, political movements, and ordinary citizens reached an audience.

There is no single inventor of the bulletin board. The concept developed from an ancient and widespread practice: displaying information in a public location.

In ancient Rome, officials used whitened boards known as albums. Public notices written on these boards included government edicts, lists of senators and jurors, official records, and accounts of daily events.

These Roman boards were not identical to the cork bulletin boards seen in modern schools or offices. However, the central idea was already present. A message could be placed in a shared location so that many people could receive the same information.

This means that bulletin boards were not invented on one particular date. They evolved over centuries as societies created designated locations for public announcements.

The modern bulletin board continued this tradition. Boards placed in schools, churches, government buildings, markets, businesses, and community centers gave people a convenient location to advertise jobs, announce events, promote services, or share official information.

Handbills also do not have one recognized inventor.

A handbill is generally a small sheet containing an announcement, advertisement, argument, or public message. It may be handed directly to someone or posted where people gather. A related form, the broadside, is a larger sheet usually printed on one side.

Handbills grew out of earlier handwritten and printed notices. Their production became easier as printing technology improved.

Printing existed in Asia centuries before European movable-type printing. Smithsonian Magazine notes that Chinese monks were block-printing the Diamond Sutra by 868. Johannes Gutenberg later developed a method of movable metal type in Europe during the mid-1400s.

Gutenberg therefore did not invent the handbill. His contribution was helping make printed communication easier to reproduce in Europe. Instead of copying every notice by hand, printers could make multiple copies of the same message.

Bulletin boards and handbills helped governments notify citizens about laws, meetings, legal matters, and public decisions. They also gave businesses a way to advertise goods, services, performances, and special events.

The Library of Congress describes printed ephemera as material produced for specific purposes and often intended to be discarded. Its collection includes notices, invitations, proclamations, petitions, posters, leaflets, propaganda, ballots, and business cards. Before radio and television, broadsides and similar printed materials were an important source of news.

Handbills were especially valuable during periods of political change. They were inexpensive enough to distribute widely and brief enough to communicate a clear message.

A surviving example from 1774 demonstrates their importance during the American Revolution. The handbill was printed during the First Continental Congress for mass circulation. It urged local merchants not to order additional goods from England or accept goods that were already on order.

Broadsides also announced legislation, recruited troops, communicated instructions, celebrated events, and attempted to influence public opinion during the Revolutionary era.

The greatest impact of bulletin boards and handbills was their ability to extend communication beyond face-to-face conversation.

A merchant could reach potential customers who had never entered the store. A government could present the same official announcement to an entire town. A political organization could distribute its arguments to people who had never attended one of its meetings.

These methods also made community organization easier. People could advertise employment, announce public gatherings, seek assistance, sell property, promote entertainment, and warn others about local concerns.

Their influence remains visible today. Internet forums, neighborhood applications, online marketplaces, social-media feeds, and digital announcement systems all place messages in shared spaces. The delivery method has changed, but the purpose is remarkably similar.

The power to spread information also created opportunities to spread misinformation.

Smithsonian Magazine reports that partisan broadsides and pamphlets circulated in England and colonial America during the 1600s. It also describes longstanding concerns that printing could spread falsehoods alongside useful knowledge.

The Library of Congress collection confirms that printed ephemera included propaganda and manifestos as well as ordinary notices and useful public information.

Access was another limitation. A written announcement was less useful to someone who could not read. Information posted in a central location could also fail to reach people who lived far away or were excluded from that public space.

In addition, handbills were temporary materials. They could create litter, remain displayed after becoming outdated, or disappear before everyone had a chance to read them.

Bulletin boards and handbills were not the work of one inventor. They were communication methods that evolved as societies searched for better ways to distribute information.

Together, they supported trade, political participation, public administration, advertising, and community life. They could educate and unite people, but they could also spread propaganda, exclusion, and false information.

Their history demonstrates an important lesson that still applies today: every communication tool depends on how people choose to use it.

AI Disclosure: This blog post was created with the assistance of Microsoft Copilot. I began by using the assignment prompt provided by my professor, which focused on the history of podcasting and its impact on society. I then used Copilot to help generate a research-based presentation script that organized the information into a format suitable for a class presentation. After reviewing the script, I prompted Copilot to transform the content into a blog post written in a journalistic style. Copilot assisted with organizing and presenting the information, while the topic selection, prompts, and final review of the content were completed by me. 

The Voices We Don't Hear

Mainstream news keeps antiwar voices out of their press

After diving deeper into The American Conservative and Antiwar pages, I am able to create an idea and opinion on why these views are not heard on mainstream news. 

Both of these pages reflect strong opinions that are often overlooked by society and especially mainstream news. As I wondered why these perspectives are not made public, I realized it is because, in my opinion, that every news station has a “look” and standard that they would like to maintain. 

When we view news channels like Fox and CNN, we notice that they produce news to a direct audience that has a direct point of view. These antiwar pages offer perspectives that can be appealing to either side of the political debate. They are made to be a face of activism and fight for the constitution, rather than a picking of a side. 

Once we look further into who these voices are and what they are saying, we see that they are not voices that the news is trying to shut down, but they are not voices that align with the station's values or persona. 

In order to maintain their viewers and rates, mainstream news stations must continue to provide for their audiences. If they started portraying views that did not align with the views that they have been portraying or if they started pouring out a different type of news, ultimately, they would lose their viewers, which would lead to a loss of money, and which could ultimately lead to a loss of company. 

Antiwar voices aren’t bad, they are different. 

In my opinion, different is something a lot of citizens are scared of or don’t like. As viewers we are going to stick with something that agrees with our values and morals. And for mainstream news stations, in order to maintain the status and wealth already obtained, they will not incorporate a different set of values or morals. 

Privacy Online and Off

Nobody's lives are ever fully private online or off

Today as a society we are promised that our information is being kept secret. We agree to terms and conditions, join social media apps, and even do simple tasks such as going to the grocery store. This information is just for us, for our enjoyment, for our lives, but a 2014 TED Talk by Catherine Crump shows us how our lives aren't fully just ours. 

Catherine Crump

Crump goes into detail about different devices the government uses to track who citizens are and what they are doing, even if they aren't doing anything wrong. From Flock Cameras, License Plate Readers, and Cell Towers, the government has access to you and your information in all ways possible. 

Flock Cameras are a road tracking device that the government uses to track individuals and their whereabouts. They give access to who is in a car and because there are so many of them, the government is able to track where that person is going. License Plate Readers are cameras designed to scan license plates every time a car passes by them. While this allows the government to check off any hotlist, it also gives them the power to track all moves citizens are making. 

Lastly, Crump touches on Cell Towers. As long as your cell phone is on and you are using your cellular data from a Cell Tower, the government is able to pinpoint exactly where you are.

These devices give the government access to our personal lives and information without consent and most times without reasonable cause. I believe that the government should implement limits to their surveillance and only use when necessary. Tracking citizens as they leave their houses, go to grocery stores or work without reason invades our privacy and releases private information.

Juan Enriquez

While the government may be tracking us in ways we didn't know possible, there is also information that we willingly give to the government and public. 

Another Ted Talk by Juan Enriquez in 2013, discusses our "electronic tattoos" as citizens. Everything we post or do online is never fully forgotten or deleted, there is always somewhere that information is kept. Leaving us with a permanent stain, known as an electronic tattoo. 

Because of this tattoo that we are given, it is important that we are protecting ourselves in the best way we can. This means clearing our browser history, not accepting every cookie offered by a website, and being conscious of what we post and what we send to others.

So, while the government may be willingly tracking us, we are also willingly giving the government information, ultimately, limiting our privacy online and off. 

AI Disclosure: No AI was used on this assignment

My Free Expression Value

All Voices Have a Right to Free Speech

The Eight Values of Free Expression aim to tell us about our rights in speech according to the First Amendment. While each value serves its own meaningful purpose, the one that is most meaningful to me is number 8. 

“Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule,” Steve Shiffrin says in his book, Dissent, Injustice and the Meanings of America. This text goes into depth about how the First Amendment is in place to not just protect one group of people but all groups of people, no matter their view points. Shiffrin explains that all groups of people are free to express their opinions, disagree with the government, and criticize the government according to the First Amendment and it being a “heart of a core American value.”

This value is most important to me because I myself am a minority. Being a minority, I see how the government and other groups of people try to silence voices of those who look different from them. Because of the measures taken to silence minorities, different protests such as Black Lives Matter came to life, to make sure that the minority belief would not always be the minority. Shiffrin says that we should encourage this dissent because higher powers such as the Supreme Court limit dissent. 

In today's societies we see the government and superior powers limiting dissent through redlining, redistricting, and gerrymandering, in addition to federal and local laws. These setbacks go against what Shiffrin suggests about the First Amendment being for everyone because when boundaries are set in place that give the majority voice an advantage, the minority voice is overpowered and no longer heard.  

Mamdani, Crockett, and AOC

On the contrary, minorities have started standing up and doing what Shiffrin said to do. Encourage dissent. Minorities have stood their ground through movements and going even further to be in government positions. Today we have the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Teachers for Better Pay Movement, and political leaders and activists, such as Jasmine Crockett, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdami. All minorities, all standing up for what they believe in and criticizing the government on what they believe it is doing wrong. 

Fox News and CNN

When you hear the word “minority” you may often think of race, social classes, and career balances. But a minority can also refer to one's beliefs and perspectives. Shiffrin challenges us to think about how all views and perspectives deserve to be heard no matter how many people or what people agree. We see this a lot in the news today. Many stations or channels serve a specific group of people who believe the information that they are sharing. We see this at CNN as they take on a more liberal standpoint and on Fox as they take on a more conservative standpoint. Both of these stations have the right to Freedom of Speech, which allow for different sides of events and views to be shared equally. Because of this freedom everyone involved is able to express their opinion and criticize the government in areas they see fit. 

Today, we see many different ways to use our voices, but we must take Shiffrins advice and use it to our full capacity to speak up for what we believe in, no matter who doesn't agree. 

Supreme Court Reflection

The Supreme Court is the most trusted Court in the U.S.

Before watching this documentary, I thought of the Supreme Court as a distant institution that simply interpreted laws and issued decisions. What stood out to me most was how human the Court really is.

The documentary emphasized that the Court’s power does not come from money, military force, or elections. Instead, its authority rests on public faith and the trust of the American people.

That idea stayed with me.

I was surprised to learn that some justices serve longer than the presidents who appoint them and that the average justice serves around sixteen years. According to the video, it can take three to five years for a new justice to fully adjust to the role.

The historical sections were especially interesting. The documentary explained how the Court gained respect under John Marshall and discussed major moments such as the Dred Scott decision and the impact of the Fourteenth Amendment.

One of the most thought-provoking points was how the Constitution has come to embrace people who were not fully included when the nation began. That observation changed the way I think about constitutional law and its evolution over time.

The Current Supreme Court

The daily work of the Court was also fascinating. Justices review written arguments, decide which cases to hear, and listen to lawyers who have only thirty minutes to present their positions.

The oral arguments sounded far more demanding than I expected. The justices ask difficult questions, not simply to challenge lawyers, but to draw out important information.

I also enjoyed learning about the traditions of the Court.

Every justice shakes hands before taking the bench, and they often communicate with one another through written notes. These small details made the institution feel less distant and more personal.

My biggest takeaway is that the Supreme Court is not a place of secret answers. It is a place where people carefully think through difficult questions, knowing that their decisions depend on maintaining the trust of the nation.

AI DISCLOSURE: The post was a collaboration using Microsoft Copilot. I took detailed notes while watching a 20-minute video about the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to facts that I learned, I emphasize my own reactions and opinions while watching. I then asked Copilot to help me improve the text by correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation. I asked Copilot to help me shape the text into a blog post format. After reviewing the text, I added links to related resources and appropriate images and captions. 

My Top 5 News Sources

Facebook

Facebook is an app that can connect you to almost every social media app. I find Facebook to be reliable the majority of the time because of the specific groups you are able to join and companies that have pages. There are groups dedicated to those who live in my hometown, those who have gone to the same school as me, and the news stations and police departments have their own pages. These groups give me quick and upfront information about what is going on near me and what may even directly affect me. WXII

WXII is an outlet I use for local news around me and surrounding areas. I am able to watch before I start my day or when I have ended my day. This station provides a variety of stories whether it may be breaking news or just something interesting happening in the community. I tend to always learn something new when watching.
CNN

I enjoy watching CNN for many reasons. Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper are two of my favorite anchors, when it comes to reporting, conversing, or interviewing, I love how they get to the nitty gritty. I am also one who enjoys politics, so I tend to get a lot of political updates from CNN as well. Also, with them being a national outlet, they are a source that I can use to stay updated not just on my country but on others around the globe.
Apple News

Apple News is another outlet that I use because it sends me direct notifications to my cellular device. It being connected to my phone allows me to see breaking news and other headlines before having to open any other apps or turn on the television.

Instagram

While Facebook keeps me updated on the news around me, Instagram serves as a source that quickly updates me world-wide. Many pages, such as the Shade Room, give me access to not just serious events but entertainment as well.