The ''New Orleans Item-Tribune'', sometimes rendered in press accounts as the ''New Orleans Item and Tribune'', was an American

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, 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 p ...

published in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, in various forms from 1871 to 1958.

Early history

The newspaper, referred to in 1941 as "the south's oldest afternoon daily paper", was first published in 1875 as ''The New Orleans Item'', an afternoon paper. Subscriptions were six dollars a year, and the paper claimed to have the largest circulation in New Orleans, describing itself as "Impartial, Able, Newsy, and Bright." In 1924, it spawned a morning sister, the ''Morning Tribune''. The papers published a single Sunday edition, the ''Item-Tribune'', beginning December 21, 1924. It expanded its name to become the ''Sunday Item-Tribune'' on February 10, 1935.

Comic-book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist

Jack Sparling John Edmond Sparling (June 21, 1916 – February 15, 1997), was a Canadian comics artist. Biography Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sparling moved to the United States as a child. He received his early arts training at the Arts and Crafts Club in New ...

worked briefly as a gag cartoonist for the paper circa the late 1930s.Jack Sparling
at the Lambiek Comiclopedia

''Item-Tribune'' years

In 1936, the two papers' broadsheet format was changed to tabloid size, and on January 13, 1941, the papers merged as the daily and Sunday ''Item-Tribune''. The term was already in use before this, with ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine, for example, referring to the two papers in this combined form in 1926. The ''Tribune'' ceased publication on January 11, 1941, though the ''Sunday Item-Tribune'' did not change its name. On June 27, 1941, the newspaper's longtime publisher and president, Colonel James M. Thomson, announced the paper's sale to Ralph Nicholson, vice president, treasurer and general manager of the '' Tampa Times'', with Thomson to serve as president of the Item Co., Inc., the newly formed entity that purchased the paper. In 1949, David Stern III, author of the ''

Francis the Talking Mule Francis the Talking Mule was a mule character who gained popularity during the 1950s as the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. The character originated in the 1946 novel ''Francis'' by former U.S. Army Captain David S ...

'' books that later became a

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

, and the son of prominent Philadelphia publisher J. David Stern, purchased the paper for $2 million. He ran the paper until its 1958 merger. The paper, which is preserved by the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

and

The Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

from its June 11, 1902, issue through its last, September 14, 1958, was published daily until dropping the Saturday edition beginning December 17, 1950.

Merger with ''Daily States''

In 1958, the ''Item-Tribune'' merged with the ''Daily States'' (founded in 1880) to form the New Orleans ''Daily States-Item''. In 1962, publisher and businessman Samuel I. Newhouse bought the morning ''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'' as well as the afternoon ''States-Item'', which continued to be published separately until they were merged and combined in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Orleans Item-Tribune Defunct newspapers published in Louisiana Newspapers published in New Orleans Publications established in 1875 Publications disestablished in 1958 1875 establishments in Louisiana 1958 disestablishments in Louisiana