The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Va.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
4,111 issues from 1903 to 1914, published in Richmond, Virginia, digitised for Chronicling America.
Formed in 1903 with the merger of the Times and the Dispatch, the Times Dispatch of Richmond quickly emerged as Virginia’s primary newspaper of record. Indeed, its only significant competition in the capital city was the evening News Leader, which tended to focus on routine local issues than on statewide politics, business, and other in-depth news. The Times Dispatch was published from 1903 until 1914, when it became, officially, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the city’s current newspaper. During the first decade of the twentieth century, the Times Dispatch, a morning paper, was published in a large broadside format, usually measuring 17 inches by 23 inches with an average weekday issue of no more than 10 pages.
The editorial outlook of the Times Dispatch during those early years sometimes swayed from one political or social viewpoint to another. For example, although publisher Joseph Bryan, a Confederate Civil War veteran, opposed black equality with whites, he was not necessarily opposed to increased rights for African-Americans and, in fact, campaigned for a secret ballot open to both races. And yet with enactment of the new state Constitution of 1902, which mandated severe restrictions on black rights, the newspaper moved to different ground, supporting the radical curtailment of black voting rights amid fears of racial discord and bloodshed.
The Times Dispatch was perhaps strongest in its frequent editorials and articles in support of Virginia businesses. Publisher…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Richmond, 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