Content deleted Content added
corrected a citation's last name |
|||
Line 132:
===Rural papers===
[[File:Drawing of a country store by Marguerite Martyn.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Fanciful drawing of a rural [[general store]] by [[Marguerite Martyn]] in the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' of October 21, 1906. On the far left, a group of men share reading a newspaper.]]
Nearly every county seat, and most towns of more than 500 or 1000 population sponsored one or more weekly newspapers. Politics was of major interest, with the editor-owner typically deeply involved in local party organizations. However, the paper also contained local news, and presented literary columns and book excerpts that catered to an emerging middle class literate audience. A typical rural newspaper provided its readers with a substantial source of national and international news and political commentary, typically reprinted from metropolitan newspapers. Comparison of a subscriber list for 1849 with data from the 1850 census indicates a readership dominated by property owners but reflecting a cross-section of the population, with personal accounts suggesting the newspaper also reached a wider non-subscribing audience. In addition, the major metropolitan daily newspapers often prepared weekly editions for circulation to the countryside. Most famously the ''Weekly New York Tribune'' was jammed with political, economic and cultural news and features, and was a major resource for the Whig and Republican parties, as well as a window on the international world, and the New York and European cultural scenes.<ref>Nicholas Marshall, "The Rural Newspaper and the Circulation of Information and Culture in New York and the Antebellum North," ''New York History'', Spring 2007, Vol. 88 Issue 2, pp 133-151,</ref> The expansion of the [[Rural Free Delivery]] program, which allowed easier access to daily newspapers to rural areas of the United States in the early twentieth century, increased support for populist parties and positions.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Perlman | first1=Elisabeth Ruth | last2=Sprick Schuster | first2=Steven
=== Newspapers of the Territories ===
| |||