Call number
Publication
Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1977.
Physical description
xi, 196 p.; 23 cm
Notes
PREFACE.
The immense energy and endurance of religion in America is quickly sensed when one enters the libraries of the numerous denominational colleges of antebellum origin in the states of the Old Northwest. The files of religious newspapers stored in those libraries attest also to the comprehensive sweep of religious interests and to the depth of religious commitment in that generation. The papers are the vibrant remains of the personalities and careers of the scores of men who , with an extravagant vision, became their editors and proprietors.
The newspaper was one of several agencies which religious societies developed to promote their multiple objectives. It was published weekly whenever possible to carry both the "good news" of the gospel and secular news and comment within a religious framework. The clergy who conducted them intended to save men and make for them, and fit them for, a kingdom which had both religious and secular dimensions. The combination of religious and secular function , unique to that generation, makes the religious newspaper the most revealing source of the complex motives , interests, and opinions of the religiously inclined. In reaching for their goal, the sponsors of this enterprise authentically reflected and influenced important segments of the public, with all classes of Americans being involved.
There is a particular value in a survey of this institution in the Old Northwest. The region was in many respects and in many areas ' a frontier, yet it blended all elements of the American population and of the American experience. Cincinnati, the principal publishing center in the region, as a thriving city of more than 160,000 in 1860, was but one of several flourishing urban areas. Even so, important denominational presses had been very recently turning out papers on farms and many were still operating in remote villages. Several denominations established their first publishing centers in the Northwest or had moved them there before 1860 and were sending papers back to their members in the East. The proponent of religion in the West was both proudly American and proudly aware of the impingement of the West upon American civilization. His multiplication of religious newspapers emphasizes that the growing edge of this and other religious enterprise was in his domain.
The assortment of religious papers in the Old Northwest demonstrates how real individualism and diversity were in the religious life of the region; so much so that personalities, ideas, and methods of the period must seem remote and uncongenial to the more ecumenical and cosmopolitan modem temper. It would, however, dishonor the personnel associated with this activity to treat them as merely quaint or to destroy their individuality by overzealous generalization. One of the great sources of pride among men of all faiths was their right and ability to be different. Certainly the truth of America's past cannot be known unless scholars are willing to experience the inconvenience of viewing candidly this extraordinary diversity as a daily fact of life. This perspective is vividly revealed in examination of the entire spectrum of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews publishing next door to one another, competing with one another, and uninhibitedly placing their respective views before the public.
CONTENTS:
Preface.
I. The Development and Management of the Religious Newspaper.
II. The Editorial Corps.
III. Coping with Religious Diversity.
IV. Morals and Manners.
V. Public Policies in the Age of the Common Man.
VI. The Politics of Slavery.
Epilogue.
Notes.
Bibliography of Religious Newspapers, With Library Holdings. [pp. 159-178]
Index.
The immense energy and endurance of religion in America is quickly sensed when one enters the libraries of the numerous denominational colleges of antebellum origin in the states of the Old Northwest. The files of religious newspapers stored in those libraries attest also to the comprehensive sweep of religious interests and to the depth of religious commitment in that generation. The papers are the vibrant remains of the personalities and careers of the scores of men who , with an extravagant vision, became their editors and proprietors.
The newspaper was one of several agencies which religious societies developed to promote their multiple objectives. It was published weekly whenever possible to carry both the "good news" of the gospel and secular news and comment within a religious framework. The clergy who conducted them intended to save men and make for them, and fit them for, a kingdom which had both religious and secular dimensions. The combination of religious and secular function , unique to that generation, makes the religious newspaper the most revealing source of the complex motives , interests, and opinions of the religiously inclined. In reaching for their goal, the sponsors of this enterprise authentically reflected and influenced important segments of the public, with all classes of Americans being involved.
There is a particular value in a survey of this institution in the Old Northwest. The region was in many respects and in many areas ' a frontier, yet it blended all elements of the American population and of the American experience. Cincinnati, the principal publishing center in the region, as a thriving city of more than 160,000 in 1860, was but one of several flourishing urban areas. Even so, important denominational presses had been very recently turning out papers on farms and many were still operating in remote villages. Several denominations established their first publishing centers in the Northwest or had moved them there before 1860 and were sending papers back to their members in the East. The proponent of religion in the West was both proudly American and proudly aware of the impingement of the West upon American civilization. His multiplication of religious newspapers emphasizes that the growing edge of this and other religious enterprise was in his domain.
The assortment of religious papers in the Old Northwest demonstrates how real individualism and diversity were in the religious life of the region; so much so that personalities, ideas, and methods of the period must seem remote and uncongenial to the more ecumenical and cosmopolitan modem temper. It would, however, dishonor the personnel associated with this activity to treat them as merely quaint or to destroy their individuality by overzealous generalization. One of the great sources of pride among men of all faiths was their right and ability to be different. Certainly the truth of America's past cannot be known unless scholars are willing to experience the inconvenience of viewing candidly this extraordinary diversity as a daily fact of life. This perspective is vividly revealed in examination of the entire spectrum of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews publishing next door to one another, competing with one another, and uninhibitedly placing their respective views before the public.
CONTENTS:
Preface.
I. The Development and Management of the Religious Newspaper.
II. The Editorial Corps.
III. Coping with Religious Diversity.
IV. Morals and Manners.
V. Public Policies in the Age of the Common Man.
VI. The Politics of Slavery.
Epilogue.
Notes.
Bibliography of Religious Newspapers, With Library Holdings. [pp. 159-178]
Index.