The Dartmouth - History

History

The Dartmouth was first published in Hanover, New Hampshire on August 27, 1799, by Moses Davis “on College Plain” under the name the Dartmouth Gazette. “Here range the world – explore the dense and rare; And view all nature in your elbow chair,” Davis wrote in the first issue of the Dartmouth Gazette. In his first column, Davis stressed the necessity of avoiding “personal reflections” while maintaining “impartiality in view.”

The first articles of the Dartmouth Gazette focused on local news, but also printed two pages of foreign and national news. The Gazette’s aim was to print news articles that were of practical use to readers, often covering information about local events, laws that would affect local residents, and imminently dangerous sicknesses. The first issue of the Dartmouth Gazette contains a poem and short story signed by “Icarus,” who was later found to be Daniel Webster. Issues of the Dartmouth Gazette demonstrate that the newspaper provided a record of local events relating both to the town and to the College. For example, "the second issue has a long and rather tediously written discussion of New Hampshire school laws, and a report of Dartmouth's Commencement activities from Wednesday, August 28, 1799." It is also clear that mischief consistent with undergraduate students was not eliminated from the Dartmouth Gazette entirely by the editing process. In covering a dysentery outbreak in the later months of 1800, one story read:

Died: At Bergen, Norway, Joseph Surrington, aged 159. He retained his sense to the last hour of his long life. He was several times married and left behind him a young widow. His eldest son was 103, and his youngest nine years old.

The Dartmouth Gazette changed its name to The Dartmouth as the newspaper was published more regularly with a greater emphasis on news of Dartmouth College, rather than news of a national import.

The name of the newspaper was changed “to be a faithful expression of the mind of the students, — to be, what its title imports, The Dartmouth, possessing such a local character and stamp of individuality as will render it acceptable to all who claim this Institution as their Alma Mater.” This changing focus on local and College news contrasts with the greater national and local focus of the newspaper in the first decades of the 1800s. Financially, The Dartmouth was self-sustaining through a subscription revenue model.

The Dartmouth’s printing press changed several times during the 19th century. In 1840, the editors noted, “We hope our convenience, which demanded a change of printers, will not compel us to do it at the expense of our typography.” The April 1840 issue of The Dartmouth stated bluntly, “his month has not been prolific in College news.” In this context, The Dartmouth’s original local and national news focus becomes clear.

The Dartmouth printed many editorials in its pages, which “tackled a variety of topics, mostly of an academic nature. The Dartmouth also contained a College News section with one or two-line items on professorial appointments, alumni news, and an editors note regarding correspondence.”

By 1842, The Dartmouth regularly ran to 40 pages and was printed eight times a year. Under the principle of “write for your readers,” the writing in The Dartmouth was “to be geared to the popular reader instead of the academic.”

Christopher R. Johnson ’94 completed a detailed thesis history of The Dartmouth, after receiving a grant from the Hewlett Foundation for The Dartmouth’s Historical Archives Project. According to Johnson, “From the editors’ note at the end of each issue comes something as typically mock vainglorious as this segment: ‘…s a consequence, The Dartmouth is making an illumination. Be careful you are not dazzled by its luminous pages.’”

The Dartmouth went through a substantial developmental phase in 1875 under the watchful eye of Samuel Merrill of the Class of 1876. Starting in September 1875, The Dartmouth began publishing regularly every Thursday morning. Merrill doubled the size of the newspaper and increased subscription terms to $2 a year. Also in 1875, advertisements appeared in The Dartmouth for the first time. At this time, The Dartmouth was the only college paper published weekly in New England, and was one of the three large college weeklies in the world.