Ebenezer Hazard (400)

Ebenezer Hazard (c.1744/45–1817) was a documentary editor, bookseller, postmaster, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1781. Born in Philadelphia, by 1770 he established himself as a bookseller in New York City and began collecting various historical documents and pamphlets in his spare time. In an attempt to compile and publish his collection, Hazard was in contact with Thomas Jefferson, who was a patron of Hazard’s efforts until the looming war for independence took precedence. Hazard left his bookstore to fulfill his new duties as Postmaster General (1775), then Surveyor General of the Continental Post Office (1776), before the Continental Congress appointed him Postmaster General (1782). During the Revolutionary War, Hazard went through extreme lengths to make sure communication between army camps, committees, and cities could remain: often this meant personally following armies around and dodging British forces, having little time to compile his historical collections, but nevertheless squeezing in moments to copy a city’s records here and there. He worked as Postmaster General until 1789 when President Washington denied him reappointment. Jobless, he returned to Philadelphia the following year and co-founded the Insurance Company of North America. Though he lacked Washington’s favor, Jefferson still supported Hazard’s now decades-long historical collection side-project, though the high cost and initial low-subscriber count was cause for alarm. Nevertheless, the first volume went to print in 1792, and though sales were low, a second volume was published two years later. Financial limitations prevented Hazard from publishing further volumes. After 1800, he left business altogether. Though not a roaring success in his lifetime, Hazard was the first American to compile a documentary history of the nation.