Learn about the past as a education volunteer during the Andover Historical Society’s annual school program Andover at Work during the 1820s. This engaging and hands-on program developed in 1981 by a team of educations, staff, and volunteer brings local history to over 500 Andover students each year.
As a education volunteer for Andover at Work in the 1820s you can continue learning about the history of Andover through educational outings and research for program development. During Andover at Work in the 1820s, volunteers describe how a community worked together sharing the history of individuals who lived in town including Timothy Flagg a printer for Flagg and Gloud.
The founding of the Andover Theological Seminary in 1808 provided the stimulus which was to turn Andover into a well-known center for the writing, printing and binding of theological texts and for the production of religious tracts in many foreign languages for use in the mission field. Dr. Ephilet Pearson was one of the founders of the Theological Seminary and its first presdient from 1808-1809. In Dr. Pearson established the Seminary printing press on the second floor of “The Old Hill Store” which had been built by Deacon Mark Newman in 1810 at the junction of South and Back Streets. Traing printers were needed so Dr. Pearson trained in his shop. Abraham Gould and Timothy Flagg were apprentices who answered the call after serving their sevn years of training. Abraham Gould arrived in Andover in 1812. Timothy Flagg was 21 when he arrived in Andover in 1813 with his new skills and his “complete new set of clothes” or “walking suit.” His indenture paper is owned by the Andover itorical Society and is interesting to read since it clearly described what is to be required of apprentice and a of master.
By 1830 the Flagg and Gould press was flourishing and the need for new quarters was apparent. In 1832 Mark Newman, son of Deacon Mark Newman and a graduate of Bowdoin College, entered the business with Flagg and Gould and new quarters were erected. A bronze plaque on an Academy Gate on the West side of South Main Street across from the present Bell Tower reads, “On this site in 1832 Flagg, Gloud and Newman set up their printing establishment. For over seventy years it issued learned books in many languages. In 1904 the Printing House became the Brick house, a dormitory for scholarship for boys. It was torn down in 1912.”
The houses built by Timothy Flagg, Abraham Gould, and Jonathan Leavitt (the bookbinder), still stand at 234, 239, and 244 South Main Street. The houses and the press shop constituted “Book Row” in Andover. Timothy Flagg died on June 14, 1833, but has left a lasting legacy.
Volunteers for Andover at Work in the 1820s are invited on educational outings including a private tour of Phillips Academy Campus, a visit to Old Sturbridge Village and a stop at the Printers Museum in North Andover. If you are interested in learning more about Andover’s history and how this community has thrived, become an education volunteer at the Andover Historical Society. Visit us on February 28th or March 7th from 10-11 a.m. for an informational session about Andover at Work in the 1820s. Experience hands-on activities and learn about the history of Andover.




