Milwaukee Herold Archive

The Herold, renamed the Milwaukee Herold in 1890, was a German-language newspaper first issued in 1861 by William Werner Coleman and Bernhard Domschcke, who had both been born in Germany. Coleman came to Milwaukee in 1850 at age 15 and worked in the printing and banking industries before becoming a publisher. Domschcke, who arrived in Milwaukee in 1854, published a variety of newspapers, including the Corsar (1854-1855), Milwaukee Journal (1856), the weekly Atlas (1856-1861) and the daily Atlas (1858-1861), before he joined forces with Coleman to start the Republican Herold, which would eventually become the most widely circulated German-language political paper in the Midwest. Except for a number of years during the Civil War when the newspaper was published weekly, the Herold was a daily publication. Circulation climbed rapidly and was especially fostered by an outstanding Sunday edition and excellent telegraphic reporting of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

Other editors included Carl Palme (1869-1879), William Coleman's son Edgar W. Coleman (1888-1896), and Otto Luedicke (1896-1898). In 1898, the Milwaukee Herold was merged with Der Seebote into the Milwaukee Herold und Seebote, which was published until 1912.

Starting in 1883, the Herold and the Milwaukee Herold included supplements for their young readers. The Kinder-Post (Children Post) and the Jugend-Post (Youth Post) offered entertainment through poetry, stories, fairy tales, illustrations, and riddles, as well as more obvious educational articles covering topics such as nature or politics. The children's and youth newspaper also printed letters from young readers from across the country.