The ''Weekly Register'' (also called the ''Niles Weekly Register'' and ''Niles' Register'') was a national magazine published in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
by
Hezekiah Niles
Hezekiah Niles (October 10, 1777 – April 2, 1839), was an American editor and publisher of the Baltimore-based national weekly news magazine '' Weekly Register'', also known as ''Niles' Weekly Register'' or ''Niles' Register''. The most widely ...
from 1811 to 1848. The most widely circulated magazine of its time, the ''Register'' was the nation's first weekly newsmagazine and "exerted a powerful influence on the early national discourse."
Niles was Baltimore's most prominent citizen at the time.
As of the time of publication of volume 36, the magazine was headquartered at "Water Street, east of South Street."
History
Niles apprenticed as a printer in Philadelphia, eventually moving to Wilmington to start a magazine. His partner in that venture, however, ran off with the money, leaving him destitute. He moved on, establishing first a newspaper and then the ''Register'' in Baltimore. The magazine's content included coverage of the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
, among other offerings.
After the ''Register'' had been in publication eight years, Niles decided in 1818 to offer an index for all twelve volumes published in that period. He hired young writer and critic,
John Neal
John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...
to read all twelve volumes, noting the location of salient topics throughout each article.
Neal worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for more than four months on the project, which he called "about the dreariest and heaviest drudgery mortal man was ever tried with," and that Niles claimed was "the most laborious work of the kind that ever appeared in any country."
For producing the 254-page index, Niles paid Neal $200 plus a $100 bound copy of the volumes he indexed.
The magazine ceased publication in 1848.
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Notes
References
External links
* {{Commons category-inline, Weekly Register
Cumulative search index at the Maryland State Archives
Digital repository at HathiTrust
1811 establishments in Maryland
Magazines published in Baltimore
Publications established in 1811
Publications disestablished in 1848