'What If...' Fictional Conversations Which Can Illuminate History For Today's Community Engagement

The WPAA-TV and Media Center Humanities Project Moses Yale Beach-Revealed is ongoing. We discovered that his contributions far exceed the 'footnote in history' to which he is currently ascribed. He lived in Antebellum America. He was a man of his time with entrepreneurial aspirations and the talents of an engineer.

AN INVITATION TO THE NEXT PROJECT PHASE: Moses Yale Beach In Conversation

We're seeking collaborators who are excited to:

• Dive deep into primary sources and Antebellum America historical research
• Craft compelling, performable dialogue
• Challenge simplified historical narratives
• Create work that's intellectually rigorous and dramatically engaging
• Explore how 19th-century conversations illuminate 21st-century challenges

Project Email: myb@wpaa.tv
Project Status: Development phase, seeking research and creative collaborators.
Target Completion: On or before July 4th, 2026
Connecticut Connections: All subjects have CT ties, so there is potential for CT America250 Partners

~~~~

The founder of the Associated Press—a man who literally shaped how Americans received their news—wrestled with the same tensions between profit and principle that we face today? An understanding of Antebellum (Pre-Civil War) America, Moses Yale Beach's lifetime, is more relevant now than ever.

Mr. Beach is a unique lens for examining how information, capitalism, and moral choices shaped American identity.

We're developing a filmed conversation series for community television that features Moses Yale Beach—AP founder and New York Sun editor (1831-1848)—in dialogue with four Connecticut contemporaries. Consider helping us get the details right about these historical figures so we can collectively explore big questions about capitalism, media, and moral compromise in antebellum America.

This project asks: How do we tell inclusive, truth-based American history that doesn't flatten complexity? Beach and his peers made choices that built modern media while embedding compromises we're still reckoning with. Understanding their entrepreneurial motivations alongside their moral blind spots helps us see how systems and institutions develop—and how they might be reformed.

WHY MOSES YALE BEACH MATTERS

Moses Yale Beach is an under-explored figure who shaped America’s media infrastructure:

• Founded the Associated Press (1846) – The AP News cooperative is 180 years old, and the syndicated News model he pioneered continues to this day
• Pioneered syndicated news – A single story, multiple platforms, amplified reach
• Improved printing technology – Print cost reduction enabled mass media to be financially viable
• Published both sensation and serious journalism - Including coverage of the Amistad case and "The Balloon Hoax"
• Embodied contradictions - Anti-bank Democratic editorials while founding banks; entrepreneurship alongside moral compromises

A Historical Dialogue Series

A series of four fictional conversations rooted in biographical research and journalism history, featuring Moses Yale Beach (editor of The New York Sun, 1831-1848) in dialogue with:

1. Roger Sherman Baldwin (1832) - Attorney in the Amistad Case: Legacy, human rights, and the contradictions of liberty
2. P.T. Barnum (1842) - The Showman: Commerce, spectacle, and what Americans want to believe
3. Edgar Allan Poe (1844) - The Literary Artist: Truth, deception, and "The Balloon Hoax"
4. Daniel Webster (1849) - The Statesman: Expansion, war, and the price of compromise

WHY THIS MATTERS NOW

History isn't just our past—it's our foundation. We're still becoming "all people," which means inclusive history isn't soft; it's essential truth-telling. This project challenges the narrative that America's founding institutions were driven purely by ideological imperialism, revealing instead the complex interplay of entrepreneurship, innovation, and moral compromise that built our information landscape.

THE APPROACH

These conversations are:

• Grounded in Research: Built on biographical evidence and journalism history
• Dramatically Structured: Designed for performance (theater, film, podcast, or digital media)
• Thematically Rich: Exploring capitalism vs. morality, mass communication evolution, and the roots of systemic inequality
• Connecticut-Connected: All conversation partners have Connecticut ties, allowing for regional interest

THE CONVERSATIONS' DRAMATIC POTENTIAL

Sherman Baldwin (1832): The weight of legacy. Baldwin descends from Declaration-signer Roger Sherman. How do you honor inherited ideals while confronting their limitations? Beach's Sun covered the Amistad case—but how deep did his commitment to human rights actually run?

P.T. Barnum (1842): Two entrepreneurs who understood the American appetite. Mining ventures, museum financing, and the birth of modern media spectacle. Where's the line between giving people what they want and manipulating what they believe?

Edgar Allan Poe (1844): The year of "The Balloon Hoax." Publisher meets literary artist. Both understood deception as craft. Was it art? Commerce? Journalism? Can we tell the truth through fiction, and if so, what are the consequences?

Daniel Webster (1849): The reckoning. Aristocratic Whig meets Democratic newspaperman. Both compromised their stated principles. The culminating conversation reveals Beach's role in expansion and war—the ultimate cost of commercial success.

WE NEED CURIOUS & TALENTED PARTNERS

Historians & Researchers: To deepen the biographical foundation, verify period details, and ensure intellectual rigor about the characters and antebellum America

Writers: To craft dialogue that's historically grounded yet dramatically alive, balancing accuracy with theatrical impact

Actors: To embody these complex historical figures and test the conversations in development

Theater/Film Professionals: Directors, dramaturgs, and designers to help stage at studioW

THE CONVERSATION WE'RE STARTING

This project asks: How do we reconcile the innovation and entrepreneurship that built American institutions with the moral compromises embedded in their foundations? How do we tell stories that humanize history without excusing it?

These aren't just questions about the 1830s-1840s. These are questions about truth, media, capitalism, and inclusion that we're still grappling with today.