Brenham Weekly Banner (Brenham, Tex.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
421 issues from 1877 to 1897, published in Brenham, Texas, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Brenham Weekly Banner succeeded the Southern Banner and the Brenham Banner, both of which were deeply opposed to Reconstruction in the years following the Civil War. All three papers shared a central personality: “Colonel” John G. Rankin, a veteran of the Confederate Army, who edited and published the Weekly Banner through its entire run, from 1877 to 1907. In 1880, the paper was published every Friday and had 926 subscribers (the “largest circulation of any paper published in this senatorial district”), at a rate of $2.00 per year. By 1897, the Weekly Banner circulated an edition every Thursday to a growing subscriber base of 1,300 readers. At this time, the paper spanned eight pages, each 15 by 22 inches, at the same subscription rate.
Rankin gained experience in all facets of the newspaper business, first apprenticing at the Brenham Enquirer, which his father owned. When the Civil War broke out, Rankin enlisted in a Confederate cavalry company known as Green’s Brigade, in which he served for the next four years. Before founding the Weekly Banner, Rankin had launched the Southern Banner, a paper which drew the ire of the federal Reconstruction government. In all, Rankin managed the various incarnations of the Banner for 50 years. He also helped establish the Texas Press Association in 1869, of which he was elected president in 1898.
In later years, the Brenham Weekly Banner scaled back the political agendas of Reconstruction-era Democrats and focused more on local…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Brenham, Texas, 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