The Carbon Advocate (Lehighton, Pa.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,042 issues from 1873 to 1893, published in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, digitised for Chronicling America.
The first white settlement in what became Carbon County was a Moravian mission to the Lenni Lenape Indians in 1745, beside the Lehigh River. The site became known as Lehighton in 1794, and waterpower from the river supported many industries, including foundries, textile mills, and railroad shops. The Carbon Advocate was the second newspaper in Lehighton (the Lehighton Weekly News ran from January 1872 to fall 1873), publishing its first issue on November 23, 1872. The founding editor and publisher of the Advocate was H.V. (Harry Vernon) Morthimer (1826-1904), a Scottish immigrant who began his newspaper career under Horace Greeley at the New York Tribune. Morthimer served with Pennsylvania troops in the Civil War, afterward settling in Mauch Chunk, the county seat, and then in Lehighton. Morthimer fathered thirteen offspring, several of whom eventually worked at the Advocate: George W., associate editor; William, a compositor; and H.V. Jr., who was editor by the late 1880s and who oversaw the newspaper until its sale in 1902.
The Advocate was a weekly, published on Saturday, and proud of being “an independent truth-teller of transpiring events,” with no declared political party affiliation. The newspaper’s nameplate carried the motto: “Independent – Live and Let Live.” The Advocate supported temperance and opposed perceived vices including smoking and pool-playing. It was also deeply interested in local labor and economic matters. The Advocate’s coverage of strikes and…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Lehighton, Pennsylvania, United States
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress