Newspapers & Periodicals
The Alternative Press
The spiritualist and radical press published opinion pieces, letters, and important articles covering woman’s rights, suffrage, labor relations, contraception, and marriage reform. Some of the periodicals had short lives, others lasted for years. They provide a wealth of information on both Woodhull and Clafllin.
American Journal of Eugenics (Moses Harman, Chicago and Los Angeles), 1907-1910.
Banner of Light (Luther Colby, ed., 1857-1894, Boston), 1857-1885.
Hull’s Crucible (Moses Hull, Boston) 1871-1877.
Lucifer, the Light Bearer (Moses Harman, Valley Falls, Kansas, Topeka, Kansas, Chicago, Illinois) 1883-1907.
Became the American Journal of Eugenics in 1907.
Present Age (Col. Dorius M. Fox, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Chicago) 1868-1872.
Religio-Philosophical Journal (S.S. Jones, Chicago) 1865-1880.
The Revolution (S.B. Anthony and E.C. Stanton, New York) 1868-1869.
The Social Revolutionist, 1856-1858.
The Social Revolutionist grew out of Thomas and Mary Nichols “Monthly” and was one of the leading journals of the sex radicals.
The Truth Seeker (DeRobigne M. Bennett, Paris, Illinois, then New York) 1873-1875, monthly, then weekly through 1929.
The Una (Paulina Wright Davis, Providence, Rhode Island) 1853-1855.
The Universe (H.N.F. Lewis, Chicago & New York) 1869-1870.
Vanguard (William Denton, Alfred Cridge, et alia, Dayton, Ohio; Richmond, Indiana, Cleveland, Ohio) 1857-1859.
The Water-Cure Journal (J. Shew, M.D. & Russell Trall, M.D., New York) 1845-1862.
Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly (Victoria C. Woodhull, Tennessee Claflin, James H. Blood, New York, New York) 1870-1876.
The Word (Ezra Heywood and Angela Tilton Heywood, Princeton, Massachusetts) 1872-1893
The Mainstream Press
New York City
Brooklyn Eagle (1841-1955)
Founded in 1841 as a temporary political forum for the 1842 election, the Brooklyn Eagle remained in publication for 114 consecutive issues (closing in 1955). Widely known for covering national and international affairs in addition to city news, the Eagle was at one point the most widely read afternoon newspaper in the nation. From 1846 to 1848 poet Walt Whitman was the editor.
New York Clipper (1853-1924)
The Clipper was a weekly entertainment newspaper, in 1924, the paper was absorbed into the entertainment journal Variety.
New York Evening Post (1801-present)
Founded by Alexander Hamilton, the Post bills itself as the longest continually running daily newspaper in the United States. The Post’s best known editor was William Cullen Bryant, who was editor-in-chief and co-owner from 1826 until his death in 1878. Under Bryant, the paper was closely aligned with the Republican Party and liberal causes. Today it is known simply as the New York Post.
New York Herald (1835-1924)
Founded in 1835, by the time of the Civil War, the Herald was one of the largest newspapers in circulation. A staunch supporter of the Democratic Party during and after the Civil War, the paper also financed Henry Stanley’s expeditions to Africa in search of Dr. David Livingstone. In 1924, it was absorbed into the New York Tribune, becoming the New York Herald Tribune.
The Sun (New York) (1833-1950)
Founded in 1833, the Sun was considered to be one of the more serious papers in New York, it was also one of the most conservative of the New York metropolitan papers. The first paper was the first to report crimes and personal events such as suicides and divorces, and its editor was the first to hire reporters to go into the streets to seek out stories. In 1868 Charles A. Dana assumed control of the paper, and was its owner and editor until his death in 1897. Today, the Sun is best known for printing the editorial “Is There A Santa Claus?” by Francis P. Church.
The New York Times (subscription required) (1851-present)
Founded in 1851 as The New York Daily Times, the name was officially shortened in 1857. The paper’s influence grew in 1870 and 1871 when it published exposes on the notorious William “Boss” Tweed and his Tammany Hall racket, despite Tweed’s offer of five million dollars not to publish the pieces. The paper has won over 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other paper.
New York Tribune (1841-1966)
Established in 1841 by Horace Greeley, the Tribune supported the Radical Republican causes that erupted during the Civil War and Reconstruction. This was largely due to Greeley’s own interests in reform and his belief that all citizens should be free and equal; once a follower of Charles Fourier, in 1852 Greeley famously debated Henry James and Stephen Pearl Andrews on the issue of marriage in his editorial pages. Greeley also hired a number of writers who would go on to be famous in their own right, notably Charles A. Dana, Karl Marx, and Margaret Fuller.
New York World (1860-1931)
As opposed to the Tribune, the New York World provided a voice to the Democratic Party. Never particularly influential during the Civil War and Reconstruction, the World had its heyday when Joseph Pulitzer bought the company in 1883.
Useful papers outside of New York:
Boston Globe (subscription required) (1872-present)
Chicago Enquirer (1910-1975)
Chicago Inter-Ocean (subscription required) (1872-1914)
Chicago Times (subscription required (1854-1888)
Chicago Tribune (subscription required; 1864-1872 available free here) (1847-present)
Cincinnati Daily Gazette (subscription required) (1835-1883)
Cincinnati Enquirer (subscription required) (1841-present)
Cleveland Plain Dealer (subscription required) (1842-present)
Clearfield Republican, Clearfield, PA (subscription required) (1854-1881)
Daily Ohio State Journal Columbus (1848-1865)
Daily Ohio Statesman Columbus (1855-1870)
Newark Advocate (1820-present)
Surviving issues prior to 1888 are available on microfilm at the Licking County Library, 101 West Main Street, Newark, OH 43055.
Ottawa Free Trader (Ottawa, Illinois) (1843-1916)
Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required) (1860-2001)
Pittsburgh Post Gazette (subscription required) (1786-2003)
Quincy (Illinois) papers
Hebern Claflin lived in Quincy between the years 1864-1867 and he and his sisters, Victoria, Tennessee, and Utica appeared often in the four Quincy publications.