Publication History:
Place of Publication: Honolulu, Hawai’i
Frequency: Title says “daily” but actual frequency unknown; first printed editions were daily except Sundays
Volume and Issue Data: Vol. 1, No. 1, 1870-1882 (year of first printed edition)
Size and Format: Unknown
Editor/Publisher: Henry M. Whitney, J. W. Robertson
Title Changes and Continuation: The Daily Bulletin (1882-1895), Evening Bulletin (1895-1912)
General Description and Notes:
According the University of Hawai’i, the Daily Marine Bulletin edited by Henry M. Whitney began in 1870. He started the paper after he was forced to sell the Pacific Commercial Advertiser–the forerunner of the Honolulu Advertiser–amid criticism for his condemnation of the government’s role in importing labor from Asia. Soon after the sale, Whitney began posting this hand-written, single-sheet daily news sheet, the Daily Marine Bulletin, from his stationary and book business.
According to the university, the Daily Marine Bulletin included news and information on ship arrivals and mail dispatches but was reviled by the Advertiser’s editors as a gossip sheet“The title of ‘Marine’ Bulletin appears to us a misnomer, seeing that gossip and criticism is [sic] freely and rather recklessly indulged in, as to matters that are not the least marine in their nature.” The two papers apparently maintained a long rivalry.
The university also notes that “in 1878, James W. Robertson bought Whitney’s firm and continued publishing Whitney’s daily under various titles including the Daily Commercial Bulletin and J.W. Robertson’s Daily Bulletin. Although the lack of any holdings for this period make it difficult to find accurate information about the paper’s form and content, the first printed edition of the Daily Bulletin, launched on February 1, 1882, suggests that the new paper was a continuation of the hand-written sheet Robertson had taken over from Whitney five years earlier: ‘With this issue commences a new edition of our mornings [sic] Bulletin. After this it will appear in printed form, and will be delivered every morning free […] and if it is received as well as our written ones were, we will be satisfied.’”
Information Sources:
Bibliography: None
Locations: University of Hawai’i at Manoa Library, Honolulu, HI (printed editions only)
The Handwritten Newspapers Project 