Martinsburg Gazette (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.])
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
956 issues from 1833 to 1855, published in Martinsburg, West Virginia, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Martinsburgh Gazette and its subsequent iterations were the product of John Alburtis. A Baltimore native, Alburtis moved to Berkeley County, Virginia as a young man and entered the printing trade as an apprentice to Nathaniel Willis, Sr., owner and editor of The Potomak Guardian. Political differences ultimately drove the two men apart as Alburtis embraced the Federalist Party, and in 1799, Alburtis established The Berkeley Intelligencer in Martinsburg. The Intelligencer drove the Potomak Guardian out of business, leaving Alburtis’ newspaper as the only one in Martinsburg. In 1810, he renamed the Intelligencer the Martinsburgh Gazette.
In 1822, John Alburtis retired and sold the Gazette to Washington Evans. Alburtis later established The Journal in nearby Shepherstown, whose planned relocation to Martinsburg was ended by Alburtis’ untimely death. Evans continued the paper’s issue and volume numeration, but in 1826, he rechristened the paper the Martinsburg Gazette and Public Advertiser. With the Federalist Party defunct, Evans embraced the emerging Whig Party, and indeed, the Gazette‘s columns offer a window into local Whig politics throughout the antebellum era.
In 1833, Evans sold the newspaper to Edmund P. Hunter, who returned the paper’s title to the Martinsburg Gazette. A local lawyer, militia officer, and aspiring politician, Hunter used the Gazette to elevate his public profile and further his political ambitions. He secured election to the Virginia House of…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Martinsburg, West Virginia, 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