''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Published by
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, alongside illustrations. It carried extensive coverage of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, including many illustrations of events from the war. During its most influential period, it was the forum of the political cartoonist
Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
He was a critic of Democratic Party (United States), Democratic U ...
.
History
Inception
![Fletcher, James, John, and Joseph Harper (ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Fletcher%2C_James%2C_John%2C_and_Joseph_Harper_%28ca._1860%29.jpg)
Along with his brothers James, John, and Wesley,
Fletcher Harper
Fletcher Harper (January 31, 1806 – May 29, 1877) was an American publisher in the early-to-mid 19th century.
Fletcher Harper was born January 31, 1806, in Newtown, New York. He was the youngest of four sons born to Joseph Henry Harper, (1750â ...
began the publishing company
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
in 1825. Following the successful example of ''
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...
'', Harper started publishing ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' in 1850. The monthly publication featured established authors such as
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
and
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray (; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist, author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel '' Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portrait of British society, and t ...
, and within several years, demand for the magazine was great enough to sustain a weekly edition.
[Palmquist & Kailborn 2002, p. 279.]
In 1857, his company began publishing ''Harper's Weekly'' in New York City.
[ By 1860 the circulation of the ''Weekly'' had reached 200,000. Illustrations were an important part of the ''Weeklys content, and it developed a reputation for using some of the most renowned illustrators of the time, notably ]Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...
, Granville Perkins
Granville Perkins (1830–1895) was an American illustrator and painter, best known for landscape and marine subjects. He contributed illustrations to numerous journals and books of the 1870s and 1880s. He also painted in oils and watercolors ...
, Porte Crayon, and Livingston Hopkins
Livingston York Yourtee "Hop" Hopkins (7 July 1846 – 21 August 1927)B. G. Andrews,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 421-422. Retrieved 2 August 2009 was an American-born cartoonist who became a major figure in ...
.
Among the recurring features were the political cartoon
A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...
s of Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
He was a critic of Democratic Party (United States), Democratic U ...
, who was recruited in 1862 and worked with the ''Weekly'' for more than 20 years. Nast was a feared caricaturist, and is often called the father of American political cartooning. He was the first to use an elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party. He also drew the legendary character of Santa Claus
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
; his version became strongly associated with the figure, who was popularized as part of Christmas customs in the late nineteenth century.
Civil War coverage
''Harper's Weekly'' was the most widely read journal in the United States throughout the period of the Civil War. So as not to upset its wide readership in the South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, ''Harper's'' took a moderate editorial position on the issue of slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
prior to the outbreak of the war. Publications that supported abolition referred to it as "Harper's Weakly". The ''Weekly'' had supported the Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...
presidential campaign against Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, but as the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
broke out, it fully supported Lincoln and the Union. A July 1863 article on the escaped slave Gordon
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordon, ...
included a photograph of his back, severely scarred from whippings; this provided many readers in the North their first visual evidence of the brutality of slavery. The photograph inspired many free blacks in the North to enlist.
Some of the most important articles and illustrations of the time were ''Harper's'' reporting on the war. Besides renderings by Homer and Nast, the magazine also published illustrations by Theodore R. Davis, Henry Mosler
Henry Mosler (June 6, 1841 – April 21, 1920) was a German-born painter who documented American life, including colonial themes, Civil War illustrations, and portraits of men and women of society.
Early life
He was born in Tropplowitz, Siles ...
, and the brothers Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by AntonÃn Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
and William Waud
William Waud (wɔ:d) (1832 – November 10, 1878) was an England, English-born architect and illustrator, notable for the sketches he made as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War.
Career
William Waud, trained as an architect in ...
.
In 1863, George William Curtis
George William Curtis (February 24, 1824 – August 31, 1892) was an American writer and public speaker born in Providence, Rhode Island. An early Republican, he spoke in favor of African-American equality and civil rights both before and after ...
, one of the founders of the Republican Party, became the political editor of the magazine, and remained in that capacity until his death in 1892. His editorials advocated civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
reform, low tariff
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s, and adherence to the gold standard
A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...
.
"President maker"
After the war, ''Harper's Weekly'' more openly supported the Republican Party in its editorial positions, and contributed to the election of Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
in 1868 and 1872. It supported the Radical Republican
The Radical Republicans (later also known as " Stalwarts") were a faction within the Republican Party, originating from the party's founding in 1854, some 6 years before the Civil War, until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reco ...
position on Reconstruction. In the 1870s, the cartoonist Thomas Nast began an aggressive campaign in the journal against the corrupt New York political leader William "Boss" Tweed. Nast turned down a $500,000 bribe to end his attack. Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud.
Nast and ''Harper's'' also played an important part in securing Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 19th president of the United States from 1877 to 1881, after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor ...
' 1876 presidential election. Later on Hayes remarked that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid ehad". After the election, Nast's role in the magazine diminished considerably. Since the late 1860s, Nast and George W. Curtis had frequently differed on political matters and particularly on the role of cartoons in political discourse. Curtis believed that mockery by caricature should be reserved for Democrats, and did not approve of Nast's cartoons assailing Republicans such as Carl Schurz
Carl Schurz (; March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He immigrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the new ...
and Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
, who opposed policies of the Grant administration. ''Harper's'' publisher Fletcher Harper strongly supported Nast in his disputes with Curtis. In 1877, Harper died, and his nephews, Joseph W. Harper Jr. and John Henry Harper, assumed control of the magazine. They were more sympathetic to Curtis' arguments for rejecting cartoons that contradicted his editorial positions.
In 1884, however, Curtis and Nast agreed that they could not support the Republican candidate James G. Blaine, whose association with corruption was anathema to them. Instead they supported the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
. Nast's cartoons helped Cleveland become the first Democrat to be elected president since 1856. In the words of the artist's grandson, Thomas Nast St Hill, "it was generally conceded that Nast's support won Cleveland the small margin by which he was elected. In his last national political campaign, Nast had, in fact, 'made a president.
Nast's final contribution to ''Harper's Weekly'' was his Christmas illustration in December 1886. Journalist Henry Watterson
Henry Watterson (February 16, 1840 – December 22, 1921), the son of a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, became a prominent journalist in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as a Confederate soldier, author and partial term U.S. Congressman. A Demo ...
said that "in quitting ''Harper's Weekly'', Nast lost his forum: in losing him, ''Harper's Weekly'' lost its political importance." Nast's biographer Fiona Deans Halloran says "the former is true to a certain extent, the latter unlikely. Readers may have missed Nast's cartoons, but ''Harper's Weekly'' remained influential."
Early 1900s
After 1900, ''Harper's Weekly'' devoted more print to political and social issues, and featured articles by some of the more prominent political figures of the time, such as Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
. ''Harper's'' editor George Harvey was an early supporter of Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
's candidacy, proposing him for the Presidency at a Lotos Club
The Lotos Club was founded in 1870 as a gentlemen's club in New York City; it has since also admitted women as members. Its founders were primarily a young group of writers and critics. Mark Twain, an early member, called it the "Ace of Clubs". ...
dinner in 1906. After that dinner, Harvey would make sure that he "emblazoned each issue of ''Harper's Weekly'' with the words 'For President—Woodrow Wilson.
''Harper's Weekly'' published its final issue on May 13, 1916. It was absorbed by ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', which in turn merged with '' The Outlook'' in 1928.
1970s
In the mid-1970s ''Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' used the ''Harper's Weekly'' title for a spinoff publication, again published in New York. Published biweekly for most of its run, the revived ''Harper's Weekly'' depended on contributions from readers for much of its content.
Publications
On January 14, 1893, ''Harper's Weekly'' became the first American magazine to publish a Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
story—"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was first published in ''The Strand Magazine'' in the United Kingdom in January 1893, and in ''Harper's Weekly'' ...
".[Panek 1990]
p. 53
See also
* Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
Notes
References
* DeBrava, Valerie (2001). "The Offending Hand of War in ''Harper's Weekly,"'' ''American Periodicals,'' vol. 11, pp. 49-64
In JSTOR
*
* Halloran, Fiona Deans (2012). ''Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons''. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press. .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Prettyman, Gib (2001). ''"Harper's Weekly'' and the Spectacle of Industrialization," ''American Periodicals,'' vol. 11, pp. 24–28
In JSTOR
*
External links
* Online Books Page
Weekly''
digitized issues, various dates
Virginia Civil War Archive
– online images including those illustrations in ''Harper's Weekly'' during 1861–1865 that relate specifically to the Commonwealth of Virginia and its part in the Civil War.
* Hathi Trust
''Harper's Weekly''
{{Authority control
1857 establishments in New York (state)
1916 disestablishments in New York (state)
American Civil War magazines
Defunct political magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1857
Magazines disestablished in 1916
Magazines published in New York City
New York (state) in the American Civil War
Weekly magazines published in the United States