"There is a natural history of the newspaper;
the development of the American journalistic tradition over 275 years is
related to the political, social, and economic progress of our people....
Not all are large and famous, but all have a story to tell of a moment in
the life of the United States."
- Edwin Emery,
Story of
America as Reported by Its Newspapers From 1690 to 1965
The
Farrar Collection of
Historical Newspapers
is a rich archive of some 1,500 original historical newspapers. These
newspapers, recently donated to Washington and Lee University by an alumnus
who spent decades acquiring them, come primarily from colonial, Early Republic
and Victorian-era America, but also from England and France. The
American Revolution and Civil War are especially well represented, from both
sides of these conflicts.
Frederic B. Farrar,
a W&L graduate of 1941, also plans to donate a portfolio of newspapers giving
election-day results from every presidential race in U.S. history – from
Washington’s first election to George W. Bush’s re-election. Additional
donations, including 18th century English periodicals, will
continue to be made by Farrar.
The collection is
housed in W&L’s
Special Collections, located on the Lower Level 1 of James G. Leyburn Library in Lexington, Va. The collection is available for students
and other researchers Monday-Friday 8:30 – 4:30 p.m. during the academic year
and 1 – 4:30 p.m. during the summer. The phone number is (540) 458-8663.
This website is
dedicated to offering background on the collection, the collector, and an
online catalogue of the collection. Only those materials that are already at
the University are in the online catalogue, which will be updated each time a
donation is made. Support from the
Clark R.
Mollenhoff Award and Leyburn Library
has made this project possible.
Farrar
Collection
of
Historical
Newspapers