Fair Play (Ste. Genevieve [Mo.])
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
2,198 issues from 1872 to 1921, published in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Ste. Genevieve Fair Play began publication in 1872, printing its first issues on Fridays but quickly switching to a Thursday publication schedule. Edited by S. Henry Smith, this weekly newspaper served the town of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and the county of the same name.
In the beginning, Henry Smith published the Fair Play as politically neutral, declaring on the masthead: “Politically Independent—Open to all Parties—Controlled by None.” However, by 1874, Smith had discarded his neutral stance, and the Fair Play’s masthead announced that it was “Democratic to the Hub!”
The Fair Play had very little competition during its early years, seemingly ruling the newspaper business until 1882 when Joseph Ernst began publishing two newspapers in Ste. Genevieve. Ernst launched the Ste. Genevieve Herald on May 6, 1882. The next week, on May 13, Ernst also began publishing a German edition titled the Ste. Genevieve Herold. The Herold was published until February 2, 1895, when it was absorbed by the English edition. The Herald–which included a German insert until March 30, 1918–is still in publication today.
The Fair Play enjoyed a 90-year run before it was succeeded by the Ste. Genevieve Fair Play in 1961. For 53 of those years, it was edited and published by the Janis family. In January of 1889, Henry J. Janis had purchased the Fair Play from Joseph Flynn, and Janis continued with the paper until May of 1907 when his brother Jules J. Janis took over and Henry and his family…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, 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