Printing Press That Aided Chilean Independence Goes on Show

The printing press used to launch Chile’s first politically crusading newspaper has gone on display at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia as part of its special The Declaration’s Journey exhibition.

Running through January 3, 2027, The Declaration’s Journey looks into the stories of the many countries whose independence movements were inspired by the words of the U.S. nation’s founding document.

On loan from the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, the printing press was used to launch Chile’s first newspaper, the Aurora de Chile which focused on politics and political ideology and spurred on Chilean independence from Spain in the early 19th century. 

In 1811, American shipper Mathew Hoevel arrived in the Chilean port city of Valparaiso with supplies for independence fighters, American printers, and this printing press. It had been shipped from New York by American supporters, including John R. Livingston, a merchant and the younger brother of Robert R. Livingston, a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. 

Camilo Henríquez – a priest, author, and politician – became the first editor of the Aurora de Chile, and published its first issue on February, 13, 1812, using this press. The paper went on to republish speeches by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other American Revolutionaries, as well as introduce readers to Enlightenment philosophies and the latest news from the United States. 

Henriquez’s team of printers from the United States included Samuel Burr Johnston, William H. Burbidge, and Simon Garrison. The Declaration’s Journey also includes a compilation of published letters written by Johnston, on loan from the American Antiquarian Society, as well as a July 9, 1812, issue of the Aurora de Chile recording how the Fourth of July was celebrated in Santiago, Chile. At the celebration, Chileans hung up American flags and bunting, and circulated an eight-line patriotic poem likely printed on the same printing press.
 
The printing press has returned to the United States for the first time since it was sent to Chile in 1811. 

“The printing press for the Aurora de Chile is a treasure from the ‘Age of Revolutions,’” said Matthew Skic, the Museum’s Director of Collections and Exhibitions. “It was a tool used to communicate revolutionary ideas that drew inspiration from the United States Declaration of Independence. Today, the press symbolizes Chile’s fight for its sovereignty.”