Blackfoot News (Blackfoot, Idaho)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
582 issues from 1891 to 1902, published in Blackfoot, Idaho, digitised for Chronicling America.
John W. Jones, a decorated Civil War veteran originally from Virginia, published the first issue of the Idaho News on June 11, 1887 in the town of Blackfoot, Idaho. What is today known as the “Potato Capital of the World,” Blackfoot was then a community in rural, territorial Idaho dependent on the railroad industry for its economic survival. Jones outlined the political intentions for his paper in the first issue, “Politically, we shall be true to our training and shall, as occasion demands, advocate with the best strokes of our pen the principles of the grand old Democratic Party.” His eldest son, Norman Jones, soon took over as publisher. The News was a weekly publication released on Saturday. The publication was first printed in a four-page, seven-column format, which changed to an eight-page, six-column format in February 1888.
The Idaho News documented the territorial politics of Idaho’s Democrat, Republican, and anti-Mormon interests. Anti-Mormon interests, championed on the state level by the Republican Party, aimed to deny Mormons the right to vote, hold office, or obtain public lands. In July 1890, Idaho achieved statehood, creating one complete, unbroken chain of states running from coast to coast. That same year, the “1890 Manifesto,” penned by LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff, denounced the practice of polygamy. This policy change led to a softening of anti-Mormon sentiment in Idaho.
In November 1891, the Idaho News changed its name to the Blackfoot News.…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Blackfoot, Idaho, 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