Peculiar Effect of Type on Memory (Letter from Milo Mead: September 1903)

Source: Greenwich Graphic. Greenwich, Connecticut. September 12, 1903

Editor of the Graphic:

You made two mistakes in your article, you state in the beginning, that “that in the beginning of the nineteenth century,” it was the eighteenth century, that Capt. Abraham Mead was born Dec. !4, 17__, and died Dec. 24, 1827.

You state that the farm was bought by Jonas Mead of Jeremiah Mead. It was owned by Jeremiah Mead and sold to Daniel Close, who sold it to Jonas Mead. It says the old house was built by Mr. Close ; it should have been Mr. Jeremiah Mead.

MILO MEAD.

The above letter, which refers to the article on Mr. Milo Mead which appeared in the ___ of the GRAPHIC, of Aug. 29th, reached us a few days ago.

We always make an effort, in publishing an article of this sort to be as accurate as possible. It is very difficult to get information about events which took place a century or more ago or in writing descriptive articles of this nature. But this is the strange part of it: The people from whom it is hard to elicit any information, when we are trying to get it for ____, seem suddenly, once the article has appeared in print, to blossom out into and old knowledge of all that we found it do difficult to learn.

Even in cases where the proof-sheet is submitted for inspection, the trouble does not seem to be obviated. 

We publish the information as we get it, but our informants do not always adhere to their original statements. 

There is something about clear cold print that seems to make all mistakes standout _____ingly, and there seems to be something about the appearance of the printed sheet which clarifies the memorys.