Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

 

According to American Memory from the Library of Congress, it was on today’s date in 1784 that the first daily newspaper in our country was published. Although various independent newspapers had been printed for decades, informing citizens about wars, politics, and community life, the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser was the first of its kind to provide a daily record of the sort that we still depend on today. You can even see an edition of the Pennsylvania Packet in our digital collections courtesy of Ohio University, featuring an early printed version of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787.

Ohio Memory has a huge number of newspaper resources, from photographs to articles to entire runs of Ohio papers. You can also learn more about our contributions to Chronicling America as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program here at OHS, spanning over 200,000 pages of historic newspapers from 1836 to 1922!

Newspapers have long played an important role in our state’s history, from the publication of The Philanthropist, an anti-slavery gazette from southern Ohio, to Warren G. Harding’s career as owner and editor of the Marion Star. The Ohio native and former president is pictured below, setting type at the newspaper’s headquarters during his 1920 campaign.

Other aspects of the newspaper industry can be seen throughout Ohio Memory, such as the newsboys in the photograph below, the printing offices and presses of the Hopley Printing Company of Bucyrus, the female staff of the Plain City Advocate, and the editors and printers of the Pemberville Leader in Pemberville, Ohio.

Take a look around and see what else you can find on Ohio Memory–interesting articles include Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to Athens, a 1916 demonstration of Edison’s phonograph in Columbus, and even the invention of the electrical shoe!

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Thanks to Lily Birkhimer, Digital Projects Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, for this week’s post!