The Varying Lives and Layers of Mid-Eighteenth-Century News Reports:The Example of the 1748 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in Dutch News Media

This article compares the content and quality of mid-eighteenth-century news accounts about the 1748 conclusion of peace in Aix-la-Chapelle that were published in Dutch newspapers and news digests. It also assesses the position of news digests between newspapers that included topical information and historiography. This case demonstrates that while newspapers can be consideredas a first step in the writing of history, news digests offered a further step. Newspapers provided factual information ordered according to chronological principles, yet due to incorrect sources and uncertainties also included mistakes and rumors. By making better news summaries and providing commentary, news digest editors could avoid such failures and had more time and opportunityto put facts into perspective. They could also reflect on the news via artistic interpretations, such as allegorical engravings. The case shows the different ways news was managed in the Dutch Republic’s mid-eighteenth-century news media