The Handwritten Newspapers Project

The Casket (NE, 1875)

Publication History:

Place of Publication:  Prospect Hill School (District 75), Waverly, Lancaster County, Nebraska

Volume and Issue Data:  Vol.1, No. 1, Jan. 22, 1875

Vol. 1, No. 2, Feb. 19, 1875

Vol. 1, No. 3, March 19, 1875

Size and Format:  Ledger paper, 7.75 x 12 inches; pen and ink; 2 cols.

Editor/Publisher:  Students, including Charles A. Pierce

Title Changes and Continuations:  See THE EXPERIMENT and WILLOW CREEK JOURNAL may have been precursors to The Casket

General Description & Notes:

The Casket contains short news items, editorials anecdotes and student “compositions.”  The weather apparently was of concern in all three extant numbers because of a bitter cold spell.

The editorial in the first number explains the circumstances of the new publication:

We come into your presence this afternoon, to make our first bow, in the editorial line, and hope that you will take our paper.  When it was announced, a couple of weeks ago, that “our school” was to have a paper, many were the disheartening exclamations, and hints that it would be a second rate sort of thing, if it did come out.

The Casket (NE, 1875)

We were not discouraged, however, for we had confidence in our contributors; but we were surprised by the number of articles which came pouring in.  Instead of our first number being a four or eight page paper, as we expected; we are enabled to issue a first class sixteen-page one, which we know exceeds the expectations of any of us.  Our motto is “Excelisor,” as you may see, and we will try to improve with every number, instead of retrograding, as some papers do.  As a last word, we ask you to keep on supporting use, as you did have this time, and we will soon be able to challenge any paper of this kind in the state, to excel us.

One of the student editors, Charles A. Pierce, was the son of Charles W. Pierce, a civil war veteran, who was transferred to Demopolis, Alabama in 1866 as a major with the Freedman’s Bureau and District commander of western Alabama.  The senior Pierce served one term in the 41st Congress from Alabama’s fourth district in 1867.  I was during this time that his son, Charles A., began his first handwritten newspaper, THE EXPERIMENT, at Oakland Hall, Chunchula, Alabama.  In 1872 the family moved to Waverly, Nebraska, where THE EXPERIMENT, and its successor, WILLOW CREEK JOURNAL were published by Charles A in 1873.  THE CASKET appeared in Nebraska in 1875 as a school effort, no doubt with the help of Charles A.

The Casket (NE, 1875)

Information Sources:

Bibliography:  None

Locations:  Nebraska State Historical Society, State Archives, Lincoln, NB, Charles Pierce papers, Ms. 554