The News and Observer celebrates a birthday

N&O_1894_new_ownership

Happy Birthday to The News & Observer. Although the paper’s roots date back to the 1880s, the first issue under publisher Josephus Daniels rolled off the presses on this date in 1893. And since then, the paper has operated continuously under its current title. The print version of today’s paper features a front page mocked up in the style of the 1893 paper.

We’re marking the occasion by providing you with a look at the full first issue. To take a closer look at the individual pages, click on one of the images below. You’ll be taken to a new page. Click on the image on that page and you can view the full page.

One thought on “The News and Observer celebrates a birthday”

  1. Reading Daniels’s editorial on page two, in which he describes the purpose of the new paper, I found it interesting that he was positioning it as a statewide paper from the very beginning. He spoke of “Lending a helpful hand to the enterprises of all counties from Cherokee to Currituck . . . [the N&O] will deserve and will receive the support of public-spirited citizens in both the lowlands and the highlands as well as those in the Piedmont belt.”

    Most of the newspapers published previously in North Carolina reprinted bits of news from around the state, but I don’t recall seeing any that claimed a truly statewide mandate. Does anyone know of others, or was this another example of the innovation and/or hubris of Daniels?

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