The Mirror (Stillwater, Minn.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,650 issues from 1894 to 1925, published in Stillwater, Minnesota, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Prison Mirror, at various times entitled just the Mirror, is the newspaper of the Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater, also known as the Stillwater State Prison, and claims to be the longest, continuously published prison newspaper in the country. It was initially published weekly but is currently published monthly and is written by and for people incarcerated at the prison. The first issue was released on August 10, 1887, with the motto, “God helps those who help themselves.” A few issues later the motto changed to “It is never too late to mend.” The newspaper was intended to “[shed] a ray of light upon the lives of those behind the bars” to the outside world, and it aimed to be self-sustaining in terms of funding, declaring: “The entire profits of the Mirror, above the running expenses, will be devoted solely to the purchase of books and periodicals for the prison library.”
The Prison Mirror was co-founded by brothers Cole, Robert, and James Younger, members of the James-Younger Gang who were serving life sentences after taking part in a raid in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1876. Cole Younger was particularly involved in the newspaper and was listed as the associate editor in early issues. In the second issue the editor wrote, “Cole Younger is the librarian of the prison, and as he is an inmate for life, the unfortunate fellow is making the richest atonement within his power for the errors of his past life.” Robert died in prison in 1889 and in 1901 Cole and…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Stillwater, Minnesota, 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