An Almanac for New England for the Year 1639

almanac by Pierce

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June 18, 2026

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The An Almanac for New England for the Year 1639, compiled by William Pierce, was the first almanac printed in colonial North America. Almanacs are books or tables containing calendars, astronomical data, and climate information. Historically, they provided farmers with guidance for seasonal work and offered instructive and entertaining content where reading material was scarce.1

This particular almanac served as an early example of the popular almanac tradition in the New World, which often included calendars, weather predictions, and other miscellaneous data. It was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the supervision of Harvard College.1

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almanac
…in colonial North America was An Almanac for New England for the Year 1639, compiled by William Pierce and printed in Cambridge, Mass., under the supervision of Harvard College. This was followed by many other American almanacs, one of the best of which, the Astronomical Diary and Almanack, was begun…
Read More
…in colonial North America was An Almanac for New England for the Year 1639, compiled by William Pierce and printed in Cambridge, Mass., under the supervision of Harvard College. This was followed by many other American almanacs, one of the best of which, the Astronomical Diary and Almanack, was begun…
Read More