| Type | Morning daily |
|---|---|
| Publisher | William M. Singerly (1877-1898); J. David Stern (1928-1947) |
| Founded | 1877 (by Singerly) [1] |
| Political alignment | Democratic Party [2] |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1947 [2] |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| OCLC number | 15262211 |
The Philadelphia Record was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. It became among the most circulated papers in the city and was at some points the circulation leader.
The Public Record was a newspaper first published in Philadelphia on May 14, 1870; it was founded by William J. Swain, son of William Moseley Swain, who had founded the Public Ledger . [3] At the time it was published at Clark's Hall at 3rd and Chestnut Streets. [4]
In 1877, William M. Singerly acquired the small-circulation paper and renamed it the Record, and lowered its price to one-cent. [1] [5] By 1894, The New York Times praised it as "one of the best and most widely circulated newspapers in the United States." [1] Despite the dire economic state at the time, the Record "held its own", and sold 57,000,000 copies in 1893. [1] At that time, it was the most widely read newspaper in the city and equaled the combined circulation of any two of its Philadelphian competitors. Its printing facilities were lauded as modern and both its foreign and domestic reporting as accurate and prompt. [1] The Record's headquarters were at 917-919 Chestnut Street, in a building designed by Willis G. Hale. After Singerly died in 1898, the paper was acquired by the Wanamakers. [6] It was the first newspaper in Philadelphia to use the Linotype machine. [4]
After Rodman Wanamaker died in 1928, the paper was bought by J. David Stern, owner of the Courier-Post in nearby Camden, New Jersey; he also moved the headquarters of the Record in November of that year from 917-919 Chestnut Street to the former Packard Motor Corporation Building at 317-319 N. Broad Street. Though the circulation of the Record was only 123,000 when he bought it, Stern was able to raise it to 315,000 within a few years. [7]
During the Great Depression, the Record became one of only two morning newspapers in the city after the Public Ledger morning and Sunday editions were merged with The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1933. In 1936, the Record had a weekday circulation of 328,322 and Sunday circulation of 369,525. By comparison, it led the Inquirer during the week, when the competitor sold 280,093 copies, but trailed on Sundays, when the Inquirer sold 669,152 copies. That year, Moses Annenberg bought the Inquirer, and the rivalry between the publications significantly increased. The two papers, whose buildings were within sight of each other, engaged in a "duel of keep-the-lights-on", in which their employees attempted to log longer workdays than their competitors. Both newspapers during this time accused the other of attempts to steal stories. [2]
In the 1930s, as the competition stiffened between the Record and its primary morning competitor, the Inquirer, both increased their daily price to 3 cents (about $0.66 in inflation-adjusted terms). [2] From July 1936 to 1938, the Record's circulation fell by 40%. [8] In the latter year, the Record's weekday circulation had fallen to 204,000 and its Sunday edition to 362,783. During the late 1930s, the Record, a Democratic Party-aligned publication led by publisher J. David Stern, was seen as a voice for the executives in both the federal and state governments. [2] Red Smith, who would later win a Pulitzer Prize with the New York Times , was a sportswriter for the Record from 1936 to 1945.
The Record had a reputation for social activism. It ran stories that broke up bogus medical colleges, [4] stopped the sale of dead bodies, campaigned against Sunday blue laws, and recommended going off the gold standard. Once, outraged at the high price of coal, the newspaper bought the output of a coal mine and sold it at discounted prices to the public. [4] The Record made history in the early 1930s by hiring Orrin C. Evans as "the first black writer to cover general assignments for a mainstream white newspaper in the United States;" [9] as a staff writer, Evans covered many topics including segregation in the armed services during World War II. [10]
In 1947, the Record went out of business and sold its assets to the Philadelphia Bulletin after a drawn-out strike.
Walter Hubert Annenberg was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and diplomat. Annenberg owned and operated Triangle Publications, which included ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, TV Guide, the Daily Racing Form and Seventeen magazine. A loud supporter of the Vietnam War, he was appointed by President Richard Nixon as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he served from 1969 to 1974.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, often referred to simply as The Inquirer, is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, The Philadelphia Inquirer is the third-longest continuously operating daily newspaper in the United States.
John Wanamaker was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He served as United States Postmaster General in the Benjamin Harrison administration from 1889 to 1893.
Moses Louis Annenberg was an American newspaper publisher who owned the Daily Racing Form and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He also owned General News Bureau, a wire service that reported the results of horse races.
Wanamaker's, originally known as John Wanamaker Department Store, was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia in 1861, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags.
The Courier-Post is a morning daily newspaper that serves South Jersey in the Delaware Valley. It is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and serves most of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties. The paper has 30,313 daily paid subscribers and 41,078 on Sunday.
The Scranton Times-Tribune is a morning newspaper serving the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area. Until August 2023, it was the flagship title of Times-Shamrock Communications and run by three generations of the Lynett-Haggerty family. It is now owned by MediaNews Group, a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital.
Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns The Philadelphia Inquirer, a daily newspaper in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Bulletin was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United States. Its widely known slogan was: "In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads The Bulletin."
The Delaware County Daily Times is a daily newspaper founded 1876. It is the only major newspaper in the state to be branded with a county name rather than a city. It is known for its colorful "Sound Off" feature and allowing voices from the community on either side of the political spectrum to be heard.
The Times-Tribune is a six-day morning daily newspaper based in Corbin, Kentucky, and covering Knox, Laurel and Whitley counties in that state. It is owned by CNHI. Founded June 17, 1882, as the weekly Corbin Enterprise, the newspaper took on the names Corbin Daily Tribune and Sunday Times when it began daily publication. Held by a succession of local owners for 100 years—Dan T. Chestnut, T.L. Metcalfe, the Price family, Fred Novels and John L. Crawford—the newspaper was sold to the Thomson Corporation in 1982 by James Crawford and J. Springer Robinson, who had owned it since 1930. American Publishing bought it from Thomson in 1994, dealing it to the current owner, CNHI, in 1999. The newsroom staff are listed — Editor Erin Cox; Sports Reporter Les Dixon; Nighttime editor Brad Hall; Reporters Jarrod Mills and Emily Adams-Bentley.
Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC was an American holding company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by Brian Tierney in 2006, the company owned The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. After The McClatchy Company bought Knight Ridder in 2006, it announced it would sell, among other newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Interested in buying the papers, Brian Tierney assembled a group of Philadelphia businesspeople and investors to make a bid. In May 2006 Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the papers for $515 million plus the assumption of the newspapers' liabilities. Declining circulation and ad revenue for The Inquirer and Daily News caused financial strain, which resulted in the filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company's creditors acquired the newspapers at auction and established a new holding company, Philadelphia Media Network, in 2010.
One South Broad, also known as the Lincoln-Liberty Building or PNB Building, is a 28-story 472-foot (144 m) office tower in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The art deco tower, designed by architect John Torrey Windrim as an annex for Wanamaker's department store, was completed in 1932. Wanamaker's Men's Store opened in the first seven floors of the building, which is located a block from Wanamaker's main store, and was intended to rival European department stores with its size and selection. In 1952, the Philadelphia National Bank (PNB) bought the building and converted it into offices and banking space. Until 2014, the building's bell tower was decorated on all four sides with PNB's initials in stainless steel 16 feet (4.9 m) tall. Wells Fargo is the main tenant, occupying almost half the building. The former banking space at street level was converted to retail and restaurant space in 2000.
The Public Ledger was a daily newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, published from March 25, 1836, to January 1942. Its motto was "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence". It was Philadelphia's most widely-circulated newspaper for a period, but its circulation began declining in the mid-1930s. The newspaper also operated a syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate, from 1915 until 1946.
Triangle Publications Inc. was an American media group based first in Philadelphia, and later in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It was a privately held corporation, with the majority of its stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters. Its holdings consisted of newspapers, magazines, and radio stations. After nearly two decades of divestiture, it was folded into News Corporation in 1988.
All-Negro Comics is a 1947 American comic book that represents the first known comics magazine written and drawn solely by African-American writers and artists. Edited by Orrin Cromwell Evans, the comic anthology published a single issue with small circulation and sales.
Julius David Stern was an American newspaper publisher, best known as the liberal Democratic publisher of The Philadelphia Record from 1928 to 1947. He published other newspapers including the New York Post from 1933 to 1939.
William Miskey Singerly was an American businessman and publisher of The Philadelphia Record newspaper.
Orrin Cromwell Evans (1902–1971) was a pioneering African-American journalist and comic book publisher. Considered "the first black writer to cover general assignments for a mainstream white newspaper in the United States," he also published All-Negro Comics, the first known comics magazine written and drawn solely by African-American writers and artists.
The Chicago circulation wars were a period of competition between William Randolph Hearst's Chicago Evening American and both Robert R. McCormick's Chicago Tribune and Victor Lawson's Chicago Daily News in the early 1900s that devolved into violence and resulted in more than 20 deaths.
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