Who uses newspapers? Newspaper use is as varied as the human imagination. For the
scholar of history, the student of culture, the genealogist, the student of contemporary
issues, or the job seeker, the newspaper is absolutely essential. In the Library's
Newspaper Room or Microtext Department, one is likely to find people of all ages and
persuasions, bent over a newspaper or microfilm reader, busily taking notes, engrossed in
the never ending quest for knowledge. The use of a newspaper does not end with the date of
its publication. Its meaning and significance increases with the passage of time. The
newspaper that is discarded today may in the future yield a variety of information
available in no other source.
P U B L I C K
OCCURRENCES
Both FORREIGN and DOMESTICK.
Boston, Thursday Sept. 25th.1690
America's first newspaper suppressed after first issue!
Benjamin Harris published the first American newspaper in 1690. He
was a former publisher of Whig books, pamphlets, and a newspaper in London. Harris had
fled England with his family four years earlier after clashing with authorities for
publishing seditious pamphlets, leading to uncomfortable episodes in the pillory and jail.
Successful financial ventures, including a Boston bookstore, coffeehouse, and general
printing business, soon enabled him to launch his second newspaper. Publick Occurrences
was intended to be "furnished once a moneth (or if any Glut of Occurrences
happen, oftener)." Unfortunately, he once again ran afoul of the government, and
official reaction was swift and certain. Four days after distribution, the Governor and
Council issued a statement disallowing the publication, claiming it had been issued
"Without the least Privity or Countenance of Authority."
Particularly irksome to the powers-that-be was some gossip regarding
the immoralities of the King of France and an account of recent events of the French and
Indian War. Harris denounced the barbarous ways in which the Indian allies of the English
had treated their French captives.
Declaring "high Resentment and Disallowance of said
Pamphlet," the government ordered that Publick Occurrences be "Suppressed
and called in." It was further ordered that nothing would be set to print in the
future without prior authority.
Thus, the first newspaper published in America became the first to be
suppressed by the authorities. And in the wake of its closing, we experienced the first
governmental intervention with an order of prior restraint.
From The New Publick Occurrences, New England Press
Association, Sept. 25, 1990.
The Universal Yankee Nation (Sept. 27, 1841) measures 54
1/2"x 35 1/2". "The largest paper in all creation." This newspaper was
located in the Library's newspaper collection at the New England Deposit Library during
survey work for the Massachusetts Newspaper Program. The illustration on the front page of
the paper depicts State Street in Boston, the address of Universal Yankee Nation and
several other newspapers published at the time, with the paper hanging from a balcony as
several passersby peruse its contents. It was one of several newspapers published in the
oversize format during the first half of the 19th century. American publishers were
influenced by the size of papers in England where a newspaper tax per page was in effect.
The size of the paper was possible due to the development of cylinder presses.
The Massachusetts Abolitionist (1839-1841) was the
organ of the Massachusetts Abolition Society, a faction of the Antislavery movement that
believed that abolition could be achieved through political means and offered an
alternative to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, the Liberator, and William
Lloyd Garrison's non-resistance philosophy. Under the direction of its first editor, the
multitalented Elizur Wright, the paper became the Massachusetts spokesman for the Liberty
Party and its presidential candidate, James G. Birney. After their candidate's
overwhelming defeat in the 1840 election, the paper changed its name to the Free
American and attempted to broaden its audience; however in December, 1841 it
merged with the New York based Emancipator in order to provide a more unified voice
for its supporters. Despite its relatively short existence, the paper provides
extraordinary insights into the divisions within the Antislavery movement and the
movement's relationship to collateral reform activities.
By today's journalism standards, the Mid-Town Journal (1938-1966) probably wouldn't raise an eyebrow of
concern among proper Bostonians who have become conditioned over the years to explicit
reporting in virtually all media.
But back in the '50’s and '60’s, the "South End scandal
sheet," as it was known, earned a place on the local Catholic Church's list of
publications "unfit for reading," and faced an unsuccessful bid by a state
legislator to ban its publication.
Founded in March, 1938 by Frederick Shibley, a former vaudeville performer, the Journal
scandalized authorities and socialites alike as it served up a weekly menu of
crime, racing tips, and gossip for its more than 50,000 readers.
Shibley, who almost single-handedly wrote, edited, and published the eight-page weekly,
resorted to some clever pseudonyms to vary his bylines and capture the essence of the
messages. "Iben Snupin," for instance, was the gossip columnist, and
"Handicap Harry" offered tips from Suffolk Downs, the local racetrack.
During the '50’s a department head at the Boston Public Library, outraged by a
story in the Journal, did the unthinkable; he ordered all copies of the scandal
sheet expunged from the Library's shelves.
The paper ceased publication in 1966, and were it not for a $400,000 NEH grant
to fund the Massachusetts Newspaper Program, the
Mid-Town Journal might never have found its way back into the BPL's collections.
Penny Shibley, daughter of the former publisher, quite cognizant of the BPL's search
for copies of old newspapers, contacted the Library and wondered if we would be interested
in appraising 50,000 copies of the Journal found in the
cellar of her late father's South End residence.
Massachusetts Newspaper Program staff responded immediately. In the basement of the
Rutland Street address they began to sort through the mountains of unorganized papers,
some of which were water-damaged and required special effort to separate. After months of
concerted effort, they found that all but about a dozen issues of the 1,500 editions
published by Shibley had been found and the microfilming began.
The Journal certainly holds a place in Massachusetts history (and lore) with its
unique literary vision. It is also a study in how to run a one-man newspaper. Happily, the
Mid-Town Journal now resides in its rightful place among Massachusetts' newspapers
in the United States Newspaper Program in the Boston Public Library's Research Library.
