Bristol News (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
719 issues from 1868 to 1882, published in Bristol, Tennessee, digitised for Chronicling America.
In 1865, printer John Slack trekked nearly 90 miles from his new home in Bristol to Independence, Virginia, where he purchased a hand-turned printing press. He hauled the press on a wagon across rugged terrain back to Bristol where he began editing and publishing a weekly. Between 1865 and 1867, the paper was known simply as the News, with the words “The Bristol News” also printed on the front page. This publication perhaps revived a former Bristol newspaper dating to 1857, the Virginia & Tennessee News, edited by Albion K. Moore. J. Austin Sperry replaced Moore as editor in 1858, and the paper ceased publication in 1862 when Sperry moved to Knoxville to edit the Knoxville Register.
In 1866, Slack leased the News to David F. Bailey, and on August 7, 1868, it was sold to two brothers from Tazewell, Virginia, I.C. (Isaac Chapman) and Elbert Fowler, at which point it became the Bristol News. Early in 1869, the paper was moved to the adjoining town of Goodson, Virginia, but retained the title the Bristol News. In 1890, Goodson changed its name to Bristol, so that today there are two Bristols-one in Tennessee and the other in Virginia. Fowler’s paper had pushed for economic development for both cities, editorializing on August 7, 1868, “We shall advocate the consolidation into one great line of several railroads now used as a link . . . between Norfolk and the trade west and south of Virginia.” As editor, I.C. Fowler was colorful, frank, and fearless. He served as mayor of…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Bristol, Tennessee, 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