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The Sun Archive

  • New York, New York
  • 18591920

About

The New York Sun debuted on September 3, 1833, becoming the first successful penny daily, popular with the city’s less affluent, working classes. Its publisher, Benjamin H. Day, emphasized local events, police court reports, and sports in his four-page morning newspaper. Advertisements, notably help-wanted ads, were plentiful. By 1834, the Sun had the largest circulation in the United States. Its rising popularity was attributed to its readers’ passion for the Sun's sensational and sometimes fabricated stories and the paper’s exaggerated coverage of sundry scandals. Its success was also the result of the efforts of the city’s ubiquitous newsboys, who the innovative Day had hired to hawk the paper. The Sun added a Saturday edition in 1836.  A number of weekly and semiweekly titles were also published, such as the Weekly Sun (1851-69), which shares the same masthead as the Sun with "Weekly" appearing in the title ornament.

Archive Info

  • 202,734
  • New York, New York
  • 18591920

Source Information

The Sun, 1859–1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2024. Last updated: March 1, 2023

Recent Article Clippings

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The Sun
New York, New York
 • Page 18
Clipped 
Death Notice for George B Cowan
4 Oct 1891
The Sun, New York, NY
Clipped 
Man Shoots Self in Cemetery

Man Shoots Self in Cemetery

The Sun
New York, New York
 • Page 9
Clipped 

The Sun
New York, New York
 • Page 1
Clipped 

The Sun
New York, New York
 • Page 1
Clipped 

The Sun
New York, New York
 • Page 5
Clipped 

Archive Info

  • 202,734
  • New York, New York
  • 18591920

Source Information

The Sun, 1859–1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2024. Last updated: March 1, 2023