The First American Newspapers
Collecting rare and historical newspapers is exhilarating because you’re reading first reports and eye-witness accounts of the news as it was reported in its time. And we’re not just talking any old news here… no, we’re talking about the stuff from your history books - actual pirates in the Caribbean, the plague in London, the Boston Tea Party, the pivotal battles of the American Revolution and Civil War, George Washington crossing the Delaware River, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Wright Brothers first flight, the great Chicago fire, the gun fights of the wild west. Newspapers are the first draft of history!
Unlike old baseball cards and coins, which have millions in circulation, historic newspapers are scarce. Back in the early 1700s, the earliest newspapers only printed a few hundred copies. In fact, the very first American newspaper – The Boston News-Letter (started in 1704) – was the only newspaper in the colonies for 15 years, but it never exceeded 300 subscribers during that time.
I just did some research to find all the earliest American newspapers and think I have a solid list of the first 20+. The list includes the start date and length of first run for each title - many of which restarted, often under new management, at later dates. Keep in mind that this list does not include Publick Occurrences, which was printed on September 25, 1690, but was banned after the first issue and therefore doesn’t qualify as an actual newspaper.
The First American Newspapers
1. The Boston News-Letter – April 24, 1704 - 1776 (Boston)
2. The Boston Gazette – December 21, 1719 – 1798 (Boston)
3. The American Weekly Mercury – December 22, 1719 – 1749 (Philadelphia)
4. The New England Courant – August 7, 1721 – 1727 (Boston)
5. The New York Gazette – November 8, 1725 – 1744 (New York)
6. The New England Weekly Journal – March 20, 1727 – 1741 (Boston)
7. The Maryland Gazette – September 16, 1727 – 1734, 1745 – 1820+ (Annapolis)
8. The Pennsylvania Gazette – December 24, 1728 – 1815 (Philadelphia)
9. The Weekly Rehearsal – September 27, 1731 – 1735 (Boston)
10. The South Carolina Gazette – January 8, 1732 – 1775 (Charleston)
11. The Rhode Island Gazette – September 27, 1732 – 1733 (Newport)
12. The New York Weekly Journal – November 5, 1733 – 1751 (New York)
13. The Boston Weekly Post-Boy – November 18, 1734-1775 (Boston)
14. The Boston Evening-Post – August 18, 1735 – 1775 (Boston)
15. The Virginia Gazette – August 6, 1936 – 1750 (Williamsburg)
16. The Pennsylvania Journal – December 2, 1742 – 1793 (Philadelphia)
17. The New York Weekly Post-Boy – January 3, 1743 – 1747 (New York)
18. The Independent Advertiser – January 4, 1748 – 1749 (Boston)
19. The North Carolina Gazette – August 9, 1751 – 1759 (New Bern)
20. The New York Mercury – August 3, 1752 – 1768 (New York)
21. The Connecticut Gazette – April 12, 1755 – 1768 (New Haven)
According to this list and highlighted in The History of Printing in America by Isaiah Thomas, only four newspapers existed in 1754 – all weeklies printed in Boston and they never printed more than 600 copies. Still, between April 1704 and April 1775, 78 different newspapers were printed in the colonies. And when the American Revolution started in 1775, there were 37 newspapers printing in the colonies. Soon after the Revolutionary War, daily newspapers were printed in Philadelphia and New York with 20 more published by 1810. In 1800, there were at least 150 newspapers in total, and 10 years later the newspaper count was more than 360.
According to America’s Historical Newspapers, after the Civil War, the number and size of newspapers continued to grow rapidly. The adoption of the telegraph and the prevalence of the Associated Press contributed to a second transformation of the newspaper industry during the second half of the 19th century. Daily editions replaced many weeklies, and—by the early 20th century—nearly every town in the United States had its own newspaper.
Sources Used or Recommended for Newspaper History:
The History of Printing in America (Thomas)
The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media (Emery)
History and Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820 (Brigham)
Collecting American Newspapers (Lyons)
The Mitchell Archives
HistoryBuff.com
About.com: Journalism
Click here for more resources…
The Changing Face of The American Newspaper
The legendary Milt Rosenberg of WGN Radio recently spoke with Jane Hirt, Dick Ciccone and Charles Madigan about the future of newspapers (12/10/07). Jane Hirt is editor of Chicago youth- and commuter-oriented Red Eye. Dick Ciccone is the former managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. Charles Madigan is the author of the new book, -30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper. Are newspapers on the road to extinction? Click the play button below and listen to the Milt’s podcast to find out…
Here are the show notes from the WGN Radio website about this one:
THE CHANGING FACE OF THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER
What is happening to the big city newspapers? As circulation at newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune begin to dwindle, these papers are increasingly focusing their attention in other areas, such as the Internet, or free daily newspapers like the Redeye. We will look at the situation facing large newspapers with Charles Madigan, who has just written -30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper. We will also be joined by former Managing Editor of the Chicago Tribune Dick Ciccone, and editor of the Redeye Jane Hirt, who will talk about the steps that Tribune is taking to reach it’s audience through alternative means.
Amazon Kindle: Taking The Paper Out of Newspaper
The Amazon Kindle looks like a great toy for gadget geeks, but could it also quicken the pace toward a paperless world? With a Kindle by your side, you can have top U.S. newspapers - including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post - all auto-delivered wirelessly. No more nasty newsprint rubbing off on your fingers or cumbersome page flipping while on the train. Is this the beginning of the end?
Increased bandwidth penetration, swift changes in readership habits and the popularity of social media have all contributed to an extremely volatile print newspaper industry - a newspaper industry facing declining circulations and advertising revenues, as well as major consolidation. Newspapers and other traditional media are rushing to establish new business models and revenue sources. Newspapers are no longer just print… going online and adding video, audio, podcasts, blogs and more. The advertising sales forces at newspapers are being trained to sell not only printed display ads, but also audio and video commercials for their a/v content.
One year ago this December, Time magazine talked with some newspaper insiders about the industry’s gradual demise and asked them to forecast the long-term fate of newspapers. Will the Kindle and other similar gadgets take the paper out of newspaper? Will this lead to increased values of historic newspapers and more newspaper collectors?
Newspaper Collecting Resources
Newspaper collecting isn’t nearly as popular as collecting stamps, baseball cards or coins, so it can be difficult finding quality source material and resources. I’ve started compiling a list of resources, including videos, books and websites, which can be found on my resources page. If you have something to add, let me know.
Abraham Lincoln And The Civil War in Four Minutes
I greatly admire President Abraham Lincoln - not only for his obvious leadership and the fact he’s from my home state of Illinois, but also for his persistence.
Lincoln was born poor, lost his mother at an early age, later lost his first love to fever, married a woman who became mentally ill, lost eight political elections, twice failed in business… and eventually elected president of the United States in 1860. He was re-elected in 1864 only to be assassinated on April 14, 1865. He lead the nation through its greatest crisis, the Civil War, which took place from 1861 to 1865.
Over 1.3 million people died from the American Civil War or about three percent of the American population. Three percent of today’s 300 million population is nine million! The death toll included 618,000 soldiers. Based on 1860 census figures, eight percent of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including six percent in the North and an extraordinary 18 percent in the South. Of 180,000 African Americans who served in the Union army, 20 percent did not survive. Some reports say two-thirds of all deaths were due to disease.
Back in 2005, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opened in Springfield, the capital of Illinois. My wife and I were among the first to visit. The museum is very impressive and was definitely worth the three-hour drive. The most moving and powerful part of the experience was a four-minute animated video showed during the American Civil War exhibit. I recently discovered the video online and thought I’d share it. Take note of the casualty counter in the bottom right hand corner.
Silent Night: The Christmas Truce of 1914
FAMOUS ISSUE: January 8, 1915, the front page of the London Daily Mirror
“During World War I, in the winter of 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, one of the most unusual events in all of human history took place. The Germans had been in a fierce battle with the British and French. Both sides were dug in, safe in muddy, man-made trenches six to eight feet deep that seemed to stretch forever. All of a sudden, German troops began to put small Christmas trees, lit with candles, outside of their trenches. They began to sing songs. Across the way, in the ‘no man’s land’ between them, came songs from the British and French troops…
“A spontaneous truce resulted. Soldiers left their trenches, meeting in the middle to shake hands. The first order of business was to bury the dead who had been previously unreachable because of conflict. Then, they exchanged gifts. Chocolate cake, cognac, postcards, newspapers, tobacco. In a few places along the trenches, soldiers exchanged rifles for soccer balls and began to play games…
“For a few precious moments there was peace on earth and good will toward men. All because the focus was on Christmas.”
Snopes (as quoted above)
Wikipedia
First World War.com
The Christmas Truce
The History Channel
The First Press Release and PR News Clip Ever
Imagine the New York Times taking a press release and running it verbatim. Unbelievable, right?! Well, it happened with the very first press release ever written.
Born in 1877, Ivy Lee is considered to be the father of modern PR and recognized for writing the first press release.
On the morning of October 8, 1906, a Pennsylvania Railroad crash killed 53 people in Atlantic City. That afternoon, Ivy Lee wrote the first press release and counseled his client to arrange for a special train to take reporters to the scene. Ivy wanted to get as much accurate information out to the press in order to prevent false rumors from circulating about the accident.
Impressed by the innovative approach to corporate communications, The New York Times printed Ivy’s first press release verbatim on October 30, 1906 as a “Statement from the Road.” Both newspapers and public officials praised the Pennsylvania Railroad for its openness and honesty.
How’s that for the first clip of the first PR clip book!? Nice. Below is a copy of the original clip (and therefore also the first press release ever written) as published in the October 30, 1906 edition of The New York Times. It ran on page two as a continuation of the front page headline story about the crash (the front page can be viewed by clicking the image above). And that’s the story of the first and greatest PR clip of all time. The end.
Top 10 Most Popular Newspaper Typefaces
The 10 most popular typeface families in American newspapers according to a study by Ascender Corporation:
Click here to see the rest of the Top 10.
Source: 37 Signals
We Live in Financial Times
The Financial Times has been named newspaper of the year by the What The Papers Say awards, capping a year in which the title has bucked a trend of declining newspaper circulations and seen strong growth from FT.com.
