Oct 02, 2012 - Sale 2287

Sale 2287 - Lot 323

Price Realized: $ 3,840
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF ONE OF AMERICA'S GREAT NEWSPAPERS. (MISSOURI.) Business archive of the early years of Joseph Pulitzer's St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Several hundred items in 49 folders (2 linear feet); various sizes and conditions. Vp, 1878-1902
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Additional Details

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was formed in 1878 when former reporter Joseph Pulitzer purchased the St. Louis Dispatch and quickly merged it with the rival Evening Post. It soon developed a reputation for aggressive reporting and a strong progressive bent. Pulitzer acquired the New York World in 1883, and endowed the Pulitzer Prize upon his death in 1911.
The correspondence files include letters addressed to Pulitzer and various members of the newspaper staff. Subject matter ranges from Pulitzer's acquisition of the Dispatch stock, to the purchase to printing presses and newsprint, to Pulitzer's struggles with editor Charles H. Jones, to charitable efforts on behalf of the 1900 Galveston flood victims. Also included are the original 1878 receipt for the purchase of the Dispatch; an early manuscript draft of the Post-Dispatch partnership agreement ("the political course of the St. Louis Post and Dispatch should be independent with a Democratic leaning"); an assessment of each member of the editorial staff compiled by Jones; detailed circulation statistics; financial records including balance sheets; and much more. While no signed Joseph Pulitzer letters or documents are included, several of his telegraph messages can be found in the files. A more detailed inventory is available upon request.
The papers in this archive were formerly on deposit at the Western Historical Manuscript Collection in St. Louis, which holds a microfilm copy. Additional signed Pulitzer documents will appear in Swann's November autograph auction.