The Irish Standard was an

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

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 ...

that was published in

Minneapolis 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 ...

between 1885 and 1920.

History

The newspaper was first founded on November 7, 1885, as the ''Northwestern Standard'', an

newspaper was published in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by printers William Kilday, Benjamin McNally, and William Malone. The paper was sold on April 10, 1886, to editor Edward O’Brien, who renamed it the ''Irish Standard''. For the next 34 years, the Standard became an important source of information on Irish life and culture. Given its broad readership among the many Irish Immigrants, the ''Irish Standard'' started focusing primarily on national and international topics, with smaller sections devoted to local Minnesota news. The paper had an eight-page, seven-column weekly format. The main concern of the paper was the

Irish Home Rule movement The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1870 to the e ...

, and had anti-British views. On March 15, 1913, the Northern Printing and Publishing Company purchased the ''Irish Standard'' and John H. Sherlock became the editor. Sherlock retained the format, and the paper’s continued to focus on Irish-British relations during World War I. ''The Irish Standard'' offered a more nuanced vision alternative reporting to the propagandistic war news at the time.{{Cite book, last1=French, first1=John, title=Irish-American Identity, Memory, and Americanism During the Eras of the Civil War and First World War, last2=French, first2=John A., date=2012, citeseerx=10.1.1.692.8584 Notable were the numerous criticisms of president

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 ...

for his toleration of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

violation by the British but not by the Germans. The Irish Standard also criticized Wilson’s attacks on “ hyphenated-Americans” which caused uproar in Irish communities. However, the ''Standard'' endorsed the war after peace talks with Germany broke down. The wide historical and political knowledge of the editors gave ''Irish Standard'' far more detailed coverage of international affairs than most other contemporary newspapers. In 1918, the ''Irish Standard'' anticipated the end of the First World War almost to the month. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the ''Irish Standard'' resumed its criticisms of British policies toward Ireland, reporting on the defeat of the

Irish Parliamentary Party The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish national ...

and

Home Rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

in 1918. The

Irish war of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

is covered extensively through the last issue of the paper, on June 19, 1920.

References

Newspapers established in 1885 Newspapers published in Minnesota

External Links

MN Historical Society

Library of Congress

WorldCat