Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois © Bill Oliver 5 March 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #09 ISBN: pending Osiyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, In reading old newspapers and background material about newspapers, I spotted some quotes that I liked [found at www.historicpages.com/uprhist.htm: /"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."/ -Thomas Jefferson, 1787. /"For my part I entertain a high idea of the utility of periodical publications; insomuch as I could heartily desire, copies of ... magazines, as well as common Gazettes, might be spread through every city, town, and village in the United States. I consider such vehicles of knowledge more happily calculated than any other to preserve the liberty, stimulate the industry, and ameliorate the morals of a free and enlightened people."/- George Washington, 1788. /"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press..."/ -Article One, Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution, 1789. /"Here is the living disproof of the old adage that nothing is as dead as yesterday's newspaper... This is what really happened, reported by a free press to a free people. It is the raw material of history; it is the story of our own times."/ -Henry Steel Commager, preface to a history of the New York Times, 1951 The /"daily diary of the American dream"/ - The Wall Street Journal. Newspapers usually serve a geographic area, with orientation toward particular ethnic, cultural, social, or political groups, with birth, marriage, and death records the most sought after information by genealogical researchers. They can furnish both additional information from official documents and also substitute for official documents where official documents no longer exist. Though "newspapers" or what became newspapers have been around since the 1400s, the first newspaper in what became the United States appeared in Boston in 1690. The "Publick Occurrences", as it was entitled, was suppressed and its publisher arrested. The "Boston NewsLetter", produced by the then postmaster John Campbell in 1704 is considered the first "successful" newspaper. By the end of the American Revolution there were forty-three newspapers. The Fourth Estate of that day played a large role in the life of the new nation. The journalism of that day was far more lively and libelous than is allowed today. The ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791 guaranteed the freedom of the press and newspapers in this country took on a large role in the daily national affairs of this country. By 1814 there were about 350 newspapers and as advances in printing and papermaking occured by the 1830s there emerged what is known as the "Penny Press". It was then possible to produce newspaper copy for a penny a copy. At this time, newspapers were affordable to more than the wealthy, literate minority. This grand availability of cheap affordable reading material was the singular stimulus to the high universal literacy of the American pupulace. The American industrial revolution continued to affect the numbers of papers and their paid circulations; by 1850 there were more than 2500. With the presses able to produce ten thousand editions per hour the first "pictorial" weeklies emerged furnishing illustrations of events in the news. These illustrations at first were wood cuts; however, soon the invention of photography aided the unprecedented demand for timely, accurate news reporting of the Civil War. Reporters during this period were called "specials" and were looked upon by the public as idols and heroes for reporting first hand accounts of battles. From this time forward, newspaper reporters have been thought of as intrepid adventurers and idolized. By the 1880s the numbers of different papers rose to over eleven thousand and by the 1890s circulation figures in the millions of copies per issue were recorded. Sadly, these papers were not preserved due to the extremely poor quality of the paper. The World War II era paper drives further contributed to the lack of preserved copies. During the 1910s, newspapers had added many of the features that we are familiar with in our modern day papers; "banner" headlines, extensive use of illustrations, the "funnies" pages, and expanded coverage of organized sports events. During this period there was the rise of what became known as "yellow journalism", or public opinion manufacturing. Following the Spanish American War in late 1898, there occurred consolidation of independent newspapers into powerful "chains". This move ceased to foster the once fearless and incorruptible press. These chains of newspapers became vehicles for the distribution of the wills of their owners, without the challenging competition of different viewpoints. In the time of many of us, radio and television gradually became the primary information sources, clouding the role newspapers have played in our history. News reporting has continued to radically change. News reporting of wars from WWI through the present day Middle East actions have been complicated by media development from radio to the modern internet blogs. Once, in history, the format and content of newspaper front pages consisted of advertisements and news of a national character. Media coverage today has fostered more on local news headlines. Photographs have appeared more frequently and tabloid forms have given the newspaper a more popular appeal and easier readability. /"People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors"./- [Edmund Burke, 1729-1797] This quote was found on the internet at <theoldentimes.com/ads.html>, the section of "The Olden Times Genealogy & Local History" site. There are some bits of historic newspapers online, but be aware for all its various categories it also contains commercial sites for many different items. e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) and Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: Other sites worth visiting: http://www.deannedurrett.com/codetalkers.html PostScript: = = = = http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html