The ''Newark Evening News'' was an American newspaper published in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.New Jersey's journalistic history. At its apex, ''The News'' was widely regarded as the newspaper of record in New Jersey. It had bureaus in Montclair,

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

Metuchen Metuchen ( ) is a suburban Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan River, Raritan Valley reg ...

, Morristown, Plainfield, Kearny, and Belmar. There were also bureaus in the

New Jersey State House The New Jersey State House is located in Trenton and is the capitol building for the U.S. state of New Jersey. Built in 1792, it is the third-oldest state house in continuous legislative use in the United States; only the Maryland State Capit ...

in Trenton and in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

History

''The News'' was founded in 1883 by Wallace Scudder. The newspaper was operated by the Scudder family for 86 of its 88 years. The grandson of Wallace Scudder,

Richard Scudder Richard Betts Scudder (May 13, 1913 – July 11, 2012) was an American newspaper pioneer, newspaper publisher, journalist, and co-founder of the MediaNews Group, the second largest newspaper company in the United States. He served as MediaNews' cha ...

, worked as the newspaper's publisher from 1952 until 1972. For years, the paper thrived as a daily and Sunday paper. It had five editorial writers, an editorial cartoonist, a military writer, and an aviation writer. The paper even had a Sunday magazine. However, a great deal of the paper's focus was on politics. In 1970, the paper was sold to

Media General Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch' ...

. In February 1971, the newsroom, which had never been organized, voted to go out on strike and walked out in May 1971. The strike lasted almost a full year — not settling until April 1972. It faced increasing competition from the ''

Newark Star-Ledger Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-th ...

'', and for its final four months, the daily editions of the ''Newark Evening News'' were printed on ''Star-Ledger'' presses. That was because the paper's new owners had sold the presses, along with the Sunday News edition, to the ''Star-Ledger''. The paper folded on August 31, 1972.

Historic research

Since its demise, the

Newark Public Library The Newark Public Library (NPL) is a public library system in Newark, New Jersey. The library system offers numerous programs and events to its diverse population. With eight different locations, the Newark Public Library serves as a Statewide Re ...

acquired the paper's records. The Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center at Newark Public Library owns the News's indices and clippings files, as well as a full run of microfilm. They have digitized the paper up through 1922.

Distinguished ''Newark Evening News'' alumni

John T. Cunningham John T. Cunningham (June 26, 1915 – June 7, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and historian who published numerous works related to the history of his native state, New Jersey. Long known as "New Jersey’s popular historian", his '' ...

, prolific and wide-ranging writer on the history of New Jersey. * Lloyd M. Felmly, Editor of the Newark Evening News and a friend of public health. There is an award set up in his honor. Lloyd M. Felmly Award: Established in 1976, the annual award is presented to an individual for outstanding contribution in the media to the cause of public health in New Jersey. *

Howard Roger Garis Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

, reporter, who created the

Uncle Wiggily Uncle Wiggily Longears is the main character of a series of children's stories by American author Howard R. Garis. He began writing the stories for the ''Newark News'' in 1910. Garis penned an Uncle Wiggily story every day (except Sundays) for mo ...

character as a ''News'' reporter. His Uncle Wiggily books later sold in the millions, and the Wiggily character appeared daily in the ''News'' for nearly four decades. He also wrote the first 32 volumes in the

Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...

, series, written under the pen name

Victor Appleton Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books. The following series have been published under the Victor Appleton and Victor Applet ...

. * Lilian McNamara (Garis). The first female reporter on the ''News'', she later married fellow ''News'' reporter, Howard Garis. She helped launch the ''

Bobbsey Twins The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was, for 75 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate's longest-running series of American children's novels, written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. The first of 72 books was published in 1904, t ...

'' series and wrote some of the early volumes. *

George P. Oslin George P. Oslin (1899 — October 24, 1996) was an American reporter, executive at Western Union and author on the history of telecommunication. Oslin graduated from Mercer University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, ...

, leading reporter. He later became Public Relations head of

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...

, and in 1933 invented the

singing telegram A singing telegram is a message that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams, but tend to be humorous. Sometimes the artist is in costume or formal clothing. Western Union, the Am ...

. *

Lute Pease Lucius Curtis "Lute" Pease Jr. (March 27, 1869 – August 16, 1963), was an American editorial cartoonist and journalist. He was cartoonist for the ''Newark Evening News'' from 1914 to 1954, and received the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Car ...

, ''News'' editorial cartoonist and winner of the 1949

Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning The Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary is one of the fourteen Pulitzer Prizes that is annually awarded for journalism in the United States. It is the successor to the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning awarded from 1922 t ...

for " Who, Me?" * Richard Reeves, writer for the ''News'' from 1963 to 1965. Later he spent one year at the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' and then ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as Chief Political Correspondent. His best-selling books included ''President Kennedy: Profile of Power'' (1993), and ''President Nixon: Alone in the White House'' (2001). He is currently a syndicated columnist and lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. * Andrew E. Svenson worked for the ''News'' from 1932 until 1948. After leaving the newspaper, he joined the

Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...

, where he became a partner in 1961. Svenson shared the major writing chores with

Harriet Adams Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (December 12, 1892 – March 27, 1982) was an American juvenile book packager, children's novelist, and publisher who was responsible for some 200 books over her literary career. She wrote the plot outlines for many boo ...

. Under a variety of pseudonyms, many shared with other authors, Svenson wrote books for the

Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

, and Honey Bunch series. * Arthur Sylvester headed the ''News'' bureau in Washington, D.C.. In 1960, he joined the

Kennedy administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 p ...

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs The Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, or ATSD (PA), is the principal staff advisor and assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense for public information, internal information, community relations, ...

. * Cecil Dorrian was one of two accredited female war correspondents during WWI and wrote for the News

References

{{Reflist * *Mackin, Tom (August 30, 1981)
"The Newark News: In Memoriam"
''

''. Defunct newspapers published in New Jersey Publications established in 1872 Publications disestablished in 1973 Evening newspapers Daily newspapers published in the United States 1872 establishments in New Jersey