The Donaldsonville Chief (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-Current
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,365 issues from 1871 to 1922, published in Gonzales, Louisiana, digitised for Chronicling America.
The area around Donaldsonville, Louisiana, was settled between the 1760s and 1790s by French Acadians and Spanish Isleños (Canary Islanders). Planning of the town itself began around 1806, and it briefly served as the capital of Louisiana in 1830-31. Located along the Mississippi River at the heart of Louisiana’s sugar-growing district, much of Donaldsonville was destroyed by the Union navy during the Civil War. Although sugar continues to be an important part of the local economy, today the area is mainly known for its petrochemical industry.
The Donaldsonville Chief was founded in 1871 by Linden E. Bentley (1852-1944). Born in Ohio, Bentley came to Louisiana with his father, a surgeon in the Union army. After the Civil War, the family settled near Donaldsonville. In 1868, at the age of 16, Bentley and a brother published the short-lived St. Landry Progress in Opelousas. He also cofounded the St. James Sentinel at Convent in 1871 before moving to nearby Donaldsonville, the seat of Ascension Parish, later that year and founding the Donaldsonville Chief. Bentley was assisted in editing the paper by his wife, Ella Donnaud Bentley (1858-1900), with whom he founded the Louisiana Press Association in 1880. She served as its first vice president and was one of the state’s most respected literary women. The couple’s daughter, Ella Bentley (1881-1959), who would later marry Stanley Clisby Arthur, a well-known writer on Louisiana history and culture, also contributed to the paper’s…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Gonzales, Louisiana, 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