History, Natural History & the Arts
Call it the little newspaper that hoped it could.
“What! another paper in Washington County!” publisher George A. Nash wrote in the first issue of The Commercial Advertiser of Sandy Hill, now Hudson Falls, on November 26th, 1879. [Read more…] about The Little Newspaper That Hoped It Could
The Whitehall correspondent submitted a long-winded, pun intended, weather report for the Dec. 28, 1889 issue of The Granville Sentinel: “The atmosphere was in great commotion here Sunday night – evidently having urgent business elsewhere – and things movable presented a decidedly twisted appearance in town Monday morning.”
A contemporary editor likely would ask the reporter to consult the National Weather Service about the speed of the wind, and would have boiled down the verbiage to something like, “Severe winds in Whitehall uprooted trees and blew off roofs at Whitehall on Sunday. But dramatics frequently trumped details in 19th century newspapers. [Read more…] about Flowery & Imprecise: 19th Century Weather Reports
Trivia clue: Saratoga County Democrats barbecued an 800-pound ox to celebrate his election in 1884.
Correct response: Who is Grover Cleveland? A Glens Falls hotel keeper saved a piece of the rib bone as a souvenir. [Read more…] about Political Anecdotes from Northern New York Historic Newspapers
In the early 1800s it was unusual for Americans to be interested in sporting matters on their own shores. News from Europe was the only sporting news of merit, and publishing an American sporting journal was considered a risky use of capital.
The first attempt along these lines may have been in 1829 Baltimore, where John S. Skinner published a monthly magazine which focused on race horse pedigrees called The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine. Another early attempt was published in New York by the recognized writer and horseman Cadwallader R. Colden, whose organ was called The New-York Sporting Magazine and Annals of the American and English Turf, first published in 1833.
Among the most notable of the sporting press arrived in 1831, when William T. Porter and James Haw published the first issue of The Spirit of the Times, focusing on horse literature and sporting subjects. They had chosen the name for their broadsheet from a quotation in Shakespeare’s King John, “The spirit of the times shall teach me speed.” [Read more…] about The Spirit of the Times: A 19th Century Chronicle of American Sports
Trivia clue: This federal agency that started as an experiment of the Army Signals Corps and was transferred in 1887 from the War Department to the Department of Agriculture. [Read more…] about Anecdotes from Historic Newspapers
Trivia clue: This New York governor showed up too late to play in a November 12th golf game promoted as a friendly match between “is” and “to be.”
Correct response: Gov. Nathan Miller, the Republican incumbent who just weeks before had lost re-election to Democrat Al Smith, who Miller had un-seated two years earlier. [Read more…] about Lighthearted Political Anecdotes From NNY Newspapers
Visions of chestnuts roasting on an open fire come December could be squelched if Jack Frost nipped at your nose in September.
“We have good promise of a fine crop of chestnuts. Frost holding off is favorable for large nuts with rich meats,” the Fort Ann correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on September 22nd, 1876. [Read more…] about September 1886: When Winter Comes Early
Trivia clue: The piano company that First Lady Caroline Harrison, a music teacher, selected for the White House piano in 1889 after an extensive scrutiny of domestic and foreign brands.
Correct response: Who is J & C Fischer of New York City? [Read more…] about NY Newspaper Anecdotes From Political History
August 1884 opened with a promising outlook for Warren County farmers, but as the month continued the weather would be an up-and-down roller coaster ride.
“The recent rain made vegetation revive so that it looks quite promising,” the Horicon correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on August 1st. [Read more…] about August 1884, An Early Frost In Warren County, NY
Nationally-syndicated sports writer Grantland Rice penned a parody of a classic nursery rhyme for the opening of the 1922 World Series.
“Sing a song of sixpence, and eke of dollar bills,” he wrote in a poetic ditty, published October 3rd, 1922 in The Post-Star of Glens Falls. “Four and thirty thousand fans, paying for their thrills.” [Read more…] about 1922 World Series Was First To Be Broadcast