The Early German Newspapers of Eastern Canada

Abstract

Although news disseminating media can be traced back to ancient Rome, the beginnings of the newspaper press as we know it fall into the eighteenth century. The European press, though established first in Italy and Germany, developed most rapidly in England, where, by 1854, The Times of London could already boast a circulation of over 50,000 and that in the face of active competition. The first English newspaper in North America, the Boston News Letter, began in 1704, and the initial attempt to establish a German newspaper was made in Philadelphia in 1732 when Benjamin Franklin issued a Philadelphia Zeitung which, however, was discontinued after its second number. Seven years later, in 1739, the German press began on what proved to be a more lasting basis in the United States, and has continued there with varying fortunes until the present day. By 1850 there were 89 German newspapers in existence in the United States. This number grew in consequence of large-scale immigration during the second half of the nineteenth century until at its highest point around 1890 there were 756 German newspapers and periodicals, of which 87 were dailies. By 1920, at approximately the same time that German newspapers temporarily disappeared from the Canadian scene, this number had shrunk to 278, with 29 appearing in daily editions. The first English-language newspaper in Canada is reputed to have been the Halifax Gazette, founded in 1752 with John Bushell as its printer and publisher. It is noteworthy that the first German newspaper in Canada was issued from that same printing office in Halifax by the successor of John Bushell, Anthon Henrich (also sometimes Anthony Henry or Hanery). But Henrich's venture was of an ephemeral nature; his Die Welt, und die Neuschottlaendische Correspondenz appeared for only approximately two years-1787 to 1789. It was obvious that