The ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' was a morning

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. It ceased publication on September 19, 1982.

History

The ''Courier-Express'' was created in 1926 by a merger of the ''Buffalo Daily Courier'' and the ''Buffalo Morning Express.'' William James Conners, the owner of the ''Buffalo Courier'', brought the two papers together. The combined newspapers claimed a heritage dating to 1828. One notable part-owner and editor of the ''Buffalo Express'' was

Samuel Langhorne Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

, also known as Mark Twain, whose tenure at the newspaper lasted from 1869 to 1871. In August 1979, The ''Courier-Express'' was purchased by the

Cowles Media Company Cowles Media Company ( ) (1935–1998) was a newspaper, magazine and information publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The company operated Cowles Business Media, Cowles Creative Publishing, and Cowles Enth ...

, a publishing company based in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. After a change in corporate leadership, Cowles Media decided to close the paper in September 1982. After the local

Newspaper Guild The NewsGuild-CWA is a labor union founded by newspaper journalists in 1933. In addition to improving wages and working conditions, its constitution says its purpose is to fight for honesty in journalism and the news industry's business practice ...

members voted to oppose a deal to sell the ''Courier Express'' to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

's News Corporation, the September 19, 1982 issue was the last issue published. That left Buffalo with only one daily newspaper, the ''Buffalo Evening News'', now known as ''

The Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

''. Cowles Media donated the library to the

Buffalo History Museum The Buffalo History Museum (founded as the Buffalo Historical Society, and later named the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society) is located at 1 Museum Court (formerly 25 Nottingham Court) in Buffalo, New York, just east of Elmwood Avenue and ...

and Buffalo State College. The library is now housed in the E. H. Butler Library at Buffalo State College. The library consists of approximately one million news clippings, 100,000 photographs and several pieces of artworks and framed photographs. The news clippings and photographs, arranged by subject and person, cover the late 1950s to September 19, 1982. The collection served as the library for the reporters of the paper. The librarians weeded both the clippings and photographic files, discarding older files on a routine basis. As a result, many subject areas are not covered. The library is currently being digitized. While that may take years, photographs will continually be added to the Butler Library Archives Flickr site.

Editors

Editors of the ''Buffalo Courier''

Douglas A. Levien Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

, 1850s"Death of Douglas A. Levien," ''New York Times'', April 28, 1897. * David Gray, 1870s

Editors of the ''Buffalo Express''

* Almon M. Clapp, editor, founded ''Express'' in 1846(6 April 1899)
Mr. A.M. Clapp Stricken
'' Evening Star'' *

, also known as '

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

', 1869–1871, co-editor *

Josephus Nelson Larned Josephus Nelson Larned (May 11, 1836 – August 15, 1913) was an American newspaper editor, author, librarian, and historian. As superintendent of the Young Men's Association Library, he presided over its transformation into what is now the Buff ...

, co-editor with Twain *

James N. Matthews James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, 1878–1888 *

George E. Matthews George E. Matthews (1855–1911) was president of the "J. N. Matthews Co.," which published the ''Buffalo Courier-Express''. At the time of his death, Matthews owned the Falconwood Club in Grand Island, New York. Early life Matthews was born ...

, 1888–1911 *

Burrows Matthews Burrows may refer to: * Plural of burrow * Burrows (surname), people with the surname ''Burrows'' Places * Burrows (electoral district), a provincial electoral district in Manitoba, Canada * Burrows, Saskatchewan, Canada * Burrows, Indiana, Unit ...

, 1911–1925

Editors of the ''Buffalo Courier-Express''

* Burrows Matthews, 1926–1955 * Cy B. King, 1956–1970 * Douglas L. Turner, 1971–1980 * Joel R. Kramer, 1981–1982 * Theo C. Meier, 1950s

General Managers of the ''Buffalo Courier-Express''

* Gordon Bennett, 1960s * Richard C. Lyons, 1971–74 * Donald J. Maul, 1970s

Notable alumni

Tom Toles Thomas Gregory Toles (born October 22, 1951) is a retired American political cartoonist. He is the winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. His cartoons typically presented progressive viewpoints. Similar to Oliphant's use o ...

* Wilbur Porterfield, photo pictorialist, 1926–1958

References

External links

{{commons category-inline
History of the Buffalo Newspaper Guild
* As of October 2022
NY State Historic Newspapers
has th
''Courier-Express,'' 1977-1982
available online for free, public access. *As of October, 2022
Newspapers.com
has th
''Courier-Express,'' 1932-1943
online for paid subscribers. Some public and academic libraries offer Newspapers.com to their users.
''Buffalo Courier-Express'' Collection
at Buffalo State College History of Buffalo, New York Publications established in 1926 Defunct newspapers published in New York (state) Newspapers published in Buffalo, New York Publications disestablished in 1982 1926 establishments in New York (state) 1982 disestablishments in New York (state) Daily newspapers published in New York (state)