Place of Publication: Buffalo Springs, NC, with occasional references to Fayetteville, NC.
Frequency: Published monthly
Volume and Issue Data: According to Smith, 12 numbers (8 issues surviving); vol. I, No. 9, Sept. 1858. pp. 227-248.
Size and Format: About 9- by 11-inches
Editor/Publisher: John McLean Harrington
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
According to Smith, TheYoung American contained limited traditional newspaper content but it was more of a literary publication. The paper included politics, poetry, short stories, anecdotes and other timeless items. See below.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Michael Ray Smith, AFree Press in Freehand (Grand Rapids, MI: Edenridge Press, 2011). Additional bibliographic information about this and other Harrington papers contained in Smith.
Locations: John McLean Harrington Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC
“A boy named James A. Booth published a manuscript paper in Downieville in 1858. It was called the Schoolboys’ Echo, and was good enough to draw strong praise from Calvin B. McDonald, at that time editor of the Trinity Journal. McDonald only mentioned two issues of the Echo, although there may have been more.”
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Chester B. Kennedy, “Newspapers of the California Northern Mines, 1850-1860–A Record of Life, Letters and Culture,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University, 1949, pp. 27, 40, 547, 599
Place of Publication: Buffalo Springs, North Carolina
Frequency: Weekly
Volume and Issue Data: According to Smith, 21 numbers (16 issues surviving) Saturdays, beginning, April 17, 1858, and then Wednesdays, June 23, 1858 until September 8, 1858.
Size and Format: About 9 x 11 inches
Editor/Publisher: John McLean Harrington
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
According to Smith, The Nation. contained traditional newspaper content but concentrated on the politics of the Democrats. Occasionally Harrington called it The Nation. and used a period in the name.
The Nation, whose motto was “The majority must rule; the minority must submit,” contains verses, essays, an announcement of a Democratic party meeting, an advertising rates chart, and miscellany written by John McLean Harrington. In the first issue, Harrington, who would have been about 19 years old at the time, declares his political partisanship by announcing that The Nation will be “strictly Democratic” (p. 4).
Other John McLean Harrington papers include:
The Young American (January-December, 1858), 12 issues
The Weekly News’ Advertising Sheet Monthly (February-April, 1860) 3 issues
The Weekly News (June 1860-March 1864), 182 issues
The Times (October 1867-April 1869)
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Michael Ray Smith, Free Press, Free Hand (Grand Rapids, MI: Edenridge Press, 2011). Additional bibliographic information about this and other Harrington papers in Smith.
Volume and Issue Data: One issue, dated Dec. 6, 1858
Size and Format: Unknown
Editor/Publisher: Thomas E. Knight
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
A Thomas E. Knight, who may have been the editor of this paper, was a ship builder and “selectman” in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in the mid-19th century. He was involved with at least two legislative petitions in 1852 to (1) raise money to purchase a Portland, ME, bridge, and (2) deal with some sort of dispute between the city of Cape Elizabeth and a Randall Skilling.
Place of Publication: “Editor’s office, Starboard Front Cabin, ‘Thames City,'” en route from Gravesend, England to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Frequency: Weekly (“read aloud each Saturday night, the day of publication, by the commanding officer, Capt. H.R. Luard, R.E.”)
Volume and Issue Data: 17 numbers issued: No. 1, Nov. 6, 1858 to No. 17, April 2, 1859; not published during three week layover at Falkland Islands
Size and Format: 10.75 x 18 inches; pre-printed title/masthead; pen and ink
Editor/Publisher: Second Corporal Charles Sinnett, R.E., assisted by Lt. H.S. Palmer, R.E.
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description & Notes:
Contains a news section, natural history of the voyage, correspondence, conundrums, naval and military intelligence, songs, poetry, jokes, advertisements, foreign intelligence and market intelligence.
The Emigrant Soldiers Gazette and Cape Horn Chronicle was published originally in manuscript form on board the ship “Thames City,” which sailed from Gravesend, England, on October 10, 1858 and reached Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British Columbia on April 12, 1859. Aboard the ship was a detachment of Royal Engineers selected for service in B.C.
The paper was edited by Second Corporal Charles Sinnett, R.E., and assisted by Lt. H.S. Palmer, R.E. Each Saturday night, the day of publication, the paper was read aloud by the ship’s commanding officer, Captain H.R. Luard, R.E.
The first issue explained that as one of the ways to avoid monotony and “keep a merry heart,”
[A] thoughtful friend on shore, whose name should be held in honour among us, has provided us with the means of establishing a small Newspaper, to be kept up by our own contributions. Let us set about it with good will and heartiness. Some little amusement and instruction will be sure to follow. Any trifling matter recorded now will be a pleasure to refer to hereafter as a memorial of the peaceful and happy days of our voyage.
The first issue also published a notice “To Correspondents,” as a guide to contributors:
1. In future, contributions of Leading Articles on any subject are requested to send them in to the Editor by noon every Thursday, and all other contributions should be sent in by 8 o’clock the same evening, to give ample time for publishing the paper.
2. Any person willing to answer letter addressed “To the Editor,” are invited to do so, addressing their answers in the same manner.
3. The answers to Charades and Conundrums will be published the Saturday after they appear, and any person guessing an answer, may learn on application to the Editor or Sub-Editor if he is right or wrong. But is hoped correct guessers will keep their secret.
The paper maintained a regular front page news section and other regular sections, such as “Natural History of the Voyage,” “Correspondence,” “Conundrums,” “Naval and Military Intelligence,” “Songs and Poetry,” “Jokes,” “Foreign Intelligence,” “Market Intelligence,” and “Advertisements.”
The printed edition of the paper included a map detailing the ship’s route and marking its locations on the dates of publication.
After the arrival of the Thames City at New Westminster, B.C., the men aboard the ship paid to have the paper printed as a souvenir of their voyage. The “British Columbian” newspaper in New Westminster printed the paper from the manuscript originals.
In Volume One–”To the correspondents 1. In the future, contributors of Lending Articles on any subject are requested to send them in to the editor by noon every Thursday, and al other contributions should be sent in by eight o’clock the same evening, to give ample time for publishing the paper. 2. Any person willing to answer letters addressed “To the Editor,” are invited to do so, addressing their answers in the same manner. 3. The answers to the Charades and Conundrums will be published the Saturday after they appear, and any person guessing an answer may learn on application to the Editor or Sub-Editor if he is right or wrong. But it is hoped correct guessers will keep their secret.”
Preface to the published collection: [Printed by R. Wolfenden, 1907]
“The ESGCHC was published originally in manuscript form, on board the ship “Thomas City,” which was sailed from Gravesend on the 10th of October, 1858, and reached Esquimalt, V. I. on the 12th April, 1859, having on board a Detachment of Royal Engineers selected for service in B.C. The paper was edited by Second-Corporal, Charles Sinnett, R.G., assisted by Lt. H. S. Palmer, R.G. and was read aloud each Saturday night, the day of publication, by the commanding officer, Captain H.R. Luard, R.G. After the arrival of the Detachment of the camp, New Westminster, it was thought advisable to have this most interesting journal printed for distribution amongst the members of the Detachment. This was done, at the men’s expense, at the office of the “British Columbia,” New Westminster, by the late John Robson.
From No. 1 [11/6/58]–p.1 “As one means towards this desired end [to avoid monotony and keep a merry heart], a thoughtful friend on shore, whose name should be held in honour among us, has provided us with a means of establishing a small Newspaper, to be kept up by our own contributors Let us set about it with good will and heartiness. Some little amusement and instruction will be sure to follow. Any trifling matter recorded now will be a pleasure to refer to hereafter as a memorial of the peaceful and happy days of our voyage.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Emigrant Soldiers Gazette and Cape Horn Chronicle (Printed by R. Wolfenden, 1907); Roy Atwood, “Shipboard News: Nineteenth Century Handwritten Periodicals at Sea,” Paper Presentation to the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 1997; Reprint, New York Public Library.
Locations: British Columbia Archives and Records Services, Victoria, British Columbia; (printed edition) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California; New York Public Library, New York.
Volume and Issue Data: Published from 1858, for 16 years; “circulated among 300 subscribers, two-thirds of them African”
Size and Format: “handwritten”
Editor/Publisher: Charles Bannerman, “first African to publish a newspaper in West Africa” (according to Akufo-Addo)
Title Changes and Continuation: Unknown
General Description and Notes:
According to John Chick, the paper appeared in 1857, the year of Ghanaian independence. However, according to the BBC, the year was 1858:
The first African produced paper in West Africa was Charles Bannerman’s Accra Herald, produced in 1858 in the Gold Coast (modern Ghana).
Akufo-Addo also support the 1858 date. He claims that Charles Bannerman was the first African to publish a newspaper in West Africa.
According to Hasty,
The first newspaper, The Gold Coast Gazette and Commercial Intelligencer, was published from 1822-25 by Sir Charles MacCarthy, governor of the British Gold Coast settlements. As a semi-official organ of the colonial government, the central goal of this Cape Coast newspaper was to provide information to European merchants and civil servants in the colony. Recognizing the growing number of mission-educated Africans in the Gold Coast, the paper also aimed at promoting literacy, encouraging rural development, and quelling the political aspirations of this class of native elites by securing their loyalty and conformity with the colonial system.
The appropriation of print media by local African elites began in mid-century with the publication of The Accra Herald by Charles Bannerman, son of a British lieutenant governor and a princess from the Asante royal family. Handwritten like MacCarthy’s former colonial paper, The Accra Herald was circulated to some 300 subscribers, two-thirds of them African. Enduring for 16 years, the success of Bannerman’s paper stimulated a proliferation of African-owned newspapers in the late nineteenth century . . . (emphasis added)
Information Sources:
Bibliography: John D. Chick, “The Asanti Times: A Footnote in Ghanaian Press History,” African Affairs, 76:302 (1977), p. 80 (fn.3); “The Story of Africa: African History from the Dawn of Time,” BBC World Service, accessed August 18, 2011; Nano Akufo-Addo, “Welcome Back! A Goodwill Message,” The Statesman, republished on the Modern Ghana website, March 21, 2011; Jennifer Hasty, “Ghana,” World Press Encyclopedia (2003); JenniferHasty, Big Language and Brown Envelopes: The Press and Political Culture in Ghana, Ph.D. Dissertation, Duke University, 1999
Gazette-Extr., Philadelphia, 1846; attributed to Herman Melville; courtesy of Prof. Roger Stritmatter, Dept. of Humanities, Coppin State University, Baltimore, MD, USA
The Handwritten Newspapers Project 
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