Page History: Seattle Star
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Page Revision: 2009/09/16 16:32
Title info
- Ayer Annual1
- Publish day: daily except Sunday
- Content: Independent
- Established: 1899
- Pages: 4
- Size: 20x24 inches
- Size: 18 x22 inches 2
- Editor: E.H. Wells
- Publisher: Star Publishing Company
- Frequency: Daily, Evenings, except Sunday
- Coverage
- Unique ids
- SN: sn87093407
- OCLC: ocm17285351
History
- Continues:
- Continued by:
- WSL publish history chart:
TopEssay Draft
E. W. (Edwin Willis) Scripps, legendary newspaper businessman, once wrote "the best community in which to found a newspaper is one that is comparatively young and whose population has in very recent time increased." With a population of 40,000 and growing, Seattle, Washington in 1899 fit Scripps'description well. Scripps hired editor E. H. Wells to found his latest venture, the Seattle
Star, on February 2, 1899.
Scripps papers generally supported the principle of public ownership. The
Star was a strong advocate of a 1902 ballot initiative to allow the city to generate its own power, for instance. When editor Wells proposed starting a newspaper in Tacoma (Washington), Scripps proposed borrowing money for the venture from employees. The notes promised to pay 6 per cent interest for two years. This idea grew into the Newspaper Saving Society and the First Investment Company.
E. W. Scripps thought that advertising had a corrupting effect on journalism. In 1903 the Bon Marché department store stopped advertising in the
Star because the editorial staff refused to write particularly favorable articles about the store. When business manager E. F. Chase told Scripps that he regretted losing the contract, Scripps praised him for it. To reduce the papers reliance on advertising, Scripps papers focused on increasing circulation and limiting advertising space in order to inflate the value of that space. This approach is evident in the layout of the paper( maybe???)
Though Scripps generally took a hands-off approach to the daily management of his papers, he conceived of his business as a service to the working people. Occasionally his editorial staff would drift from the central mission of supporting the interests of labor and the poor, and Scripps felt the need to intervene. For instance, when editor B. H. Canfield opposed the Seattle General Strike of 1919, Scripps wrote a heated "disquisition" in return.
Reel info
- Filmed by: UW
- Positives held by: UW
- Negatives held by: UW
- Holdings
TopDigitization plan
2010 grant
- Plan to digitize 1911-1922 (41 reels)
2008 grant
- Digitized 1899-1910 (22 reels)
TopNotes
e.g. put notes in box -
lrobinson, 2009/09/16 09:54 TopResources
- N.W. Ayer & Son's American newspaper annual 1903 page 885
- N.W. Ayer & Son's American newspaper annual 1908 page 913
- NDNP Candidate Title List (Appendix A1.2)
- Chronicling America record (LOC) - Seattle Star
- WorldCat record - fill in title
- WSL record - fill in title
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