Small town presses
As in so many other areas of American life, the newspapers of the early 20th century were in transition. The Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, Cincinnati Inquirer and other big-city presses were regularly publishing stories by their own national and foreign correspondents, as well as investigative journalists. For the majority of newspapers in the country, however, the meat and potatoes were news stories about new stores opening, local boys joining up and local items about subscribers comings and goings — all with an eye to boosting the community.
Photo courtesy of the Early Office Museum. http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com
“It is very doubtful if there is a community wherein the women are more earnestly engaged in the great work of providing comfort for the soldiers than right here in our town,” reads one front-page story of an Ohio newspaper of September 6, 1917. “Not only are the regular meetings of the Red Cross Society attended by a large number of the working members, but the ladies of the Lutheran church have organized into a working corps and are doing splendid work especially in the knitted goods that are so greatly needed in the trenches.”
Laurie Loewenstein 