Timeline 1776 Benjamin Franklin, who is sent to France as U.S. commissioner, becomes the new nation’s first international celebrity. 1829 Andy Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans, takes office as America’s first Populist celebrity president. 1830s The Industrial Revolution reaches the United States. 1833 The first ‘‘penny paper,’’ the New York Sun, is sold on the streets of New York. 1837 Samuel Morse introduces his telegraph. 1842 The rotary press speeds printing. 1844 Mathew Brady opens his portrait studio in New York City and begins to photograph famous Americans. 1845 The lurid National Police Gazette is launched by George Wilkes. 1850 Jenny Lind, ‘‘The Swedish Nightingale,’’ is brought to America at great expense by showman P. T. Barnum. 1863 Samuel Clemens steps into the persona of Mark Twain and becomes one of America’s first major celebrities. The wedding of General and Mrs. Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton and Lavi- nia Warren) takes place. 1871 P. T. Barnum opens his first circus. 1873 The lavishly illustrated Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper appears in New York. 1877 Thomas Edison invents the phonograph and also records the human voice. 1880 Halftone technology improves print illustrations. 1882 British literary celebrity Oscar Wilde tours the United States. 1883 Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show premieres and tours America. xix
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