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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
“Extra, extra!!” In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, newspaper publishers relied on newspaperboys, or “newsies,” to distribute their newspapers on city streets. The newsies purchased the papers and usually had to sell all of them to make a decent profit. In 1899, a sudden rise in the cost of newspapers prompts a contingent of New York City newsies to stage a strike against big-time publishers like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| April 19, 1886 | About 100 Detroit Newsboys strike at the Evening World newspaper office, demanding two newspaper copies for one cent. Anyone attempting to take out papers get beaten and his papers torn. |
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| July 2, 1887 | The Evening World newspaper is not on sale. Newsboys strike due to the newspaper price from one cent per copy to one and a half cents per copy. |
| July 24, 1888 | Dallas Newsboys strike in front of the Morning News office and refuse to buy newspapers unless the price was reduced from three cents per copy to two and a half cents per copy. | December 1892 | John E. Gunckel invites 102 Newsboys to Christmas Dinner where the Toledo Newsboys' Association would form. | July 13, 1894 | Boston Newsboys boycott the Herald and Globe unless the managers of those papers reduce the price from one and one-quarter cents to one cent. |
| July 1899 | Hundreds of New York City Newsboys refuse to distribute the Evening World and Journal, newspapers owned by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, because of increased prices. |
| August 16, 1904 | Newsboys' day is held at the St. Louis World's Fair. Newsboys from around the country arrive to attend the convention. With the leadership of John E. Gunckel, they formed the National Newsboys' Association. |
