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Secondary sourceBook1904

The Paul Revere Album

Howard W. Spurr · 1904

A 1904 promotional booklet summarizing a biography of Paul Revere, published by a coffee company with engravings of his life.

This later promotional booklet retells Revere's life story, showing how his legend grew after his death.

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The Paul Revere AlbumPDF · 56 pages
Howard W. Spurr, The Paul Revere Album, 1904. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

Written by Howard W. Spurr and published in 1904 by the Howard W. Spurr Coffee Company, this album describes Elbridge Henry Goss's biography Life of Col. Paul Revere and includes more than twenty engravings depicting incidents from Revere's life, including his famous ride of 18 April 1775.

Why it matters

This booklet was a promotional giveaway rather than a serious historical work, meant to attract young readers while advertising coffee. It shows how, over a century after his death, Paul Revere had become a popular legendary figure used in advertising and children's entertainment, reflecting his lasting place in American memory.

Look closer

  • Why would a coffee company want to give away a book about Paul Revere to children?
  • How might a promotional item differ from a scholarly biography in reliability?
  • What does the popularity of Revere's story in 1904 tell us about how Americans remembered the Revolution?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Paul Revere on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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