The Philadelphia Record

History

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. At the time it was published at Clark's Hall at 3rd and Chestnut Streets.

In 1877, William M. Singerly acquired the small-circulation paper and renamed it the Record, and lowered its price to one-cent. By 1894, The New York Times praised it as "one of the best and most widely circulated newspapers in the United States." Despite the dire economic state at the time, the Record "held its own", and sold 57,000,000 copies in 1893. It was the first newspaper in Philadelphia to use the Linotype machine.

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.

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.

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 $ in inflation-adjusted terms). 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. 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, as a staff writer, Evans covered many topics including segregation in the armed services during World War II.

In 1947, the Record went out of business and sold its assets to the Philadelphia Bulletin after a drawn-out strike.

References

References

1. Keels, Thomas H.. (2003). "Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries". Arcadia Publishing.
2. The Record, ''Backstage with a Great Newspaper'', Philadelphia (1936)
3. "The National record. : (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1877-1946". [[Chronicling America]].
4. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE5D81630E033A25756C0A9609C94659ED7CF Success of The Philadelphia Record], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 5, 1894.
5. Ogden, Christopher. (1999). "Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg". [[Little, Brown and Company.
6. Williams, Edgar. (20 June 2003). "A history of The Inquirer". Philadelphia Inquirer.
7. From July 1936 to 1938, the ''Record'''s circulation fell by 40%.Gerry Wilkinson, [http://www.phillyppa.com/inquirer.html The History of the Philadelphia Inquirer], The Philadelphia Press Association, retrieved July 15, 2009.
8. 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. 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;"[http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/08/08/90683627.html?pageNumber=58 "ORRIN C. EVANS, JOURNALIST, 68: Veteran Black Reporter in Philadelphia Is Dead,"] ''New York Times'' (August 8, 1971).
9. Christopher, Tom. (2002). "Orrin C. Evans and the story of All-Negro Comics". TomChristopher.com.