The Washington Weekly Post Archive
- Washington, District of Columbia
- 1895–1900
About
The Washington Weekly Post was first published on August 8, 1878, roughly a year after the establishment of its parent newspaper, the daily Washington Post. This 5-page weekly was printed on Tuesdays and amassed features from the daily edition for a national audience. It eventually surpassed the daily in sales with a circulation of 35,000 by 1885. Like the daily, the Weekly Post was under the editorial direction of publisher Stilson Hutchins and printed from the Washington Post building at 914 Pennsylvania Avenue. The pages digitized here, however, represent a later era of the paper after its purchase by Frank Hatton and Beriah Wilkins in 1889. In its early years, the paper was 26 x 39 inches and cost $7.50 annually, but it eventually settled into a 16 x 24 inch format with an annual subscription of $1.00.
The Washington Weekly Post was first published on August 8, 1878, roughly a year after the establishment of its parent newspaper, the daily Washington Post. This 5-page weekly was printed on Tuesdays and amassed features from the daily edition for a national audience. It eventually surpassed the daily in sales with a circulation of 35,000 by 1885. Like the daily, the Weekly Post was under the editorial direction of publisher Stilson Hutchins and printed from the Washington Post building at 914 Pennsylvania Avenue. The pages digitized here, however, represent a later era of the paper after its purchase by Frank Hatton and Beriah Wilkins in 1889. In its early years, the paper was 26 x 39 inches and cost $7.50 annually, but it eventually settled into a 16 x 24 inch format with an annual subscription of $1.00.
As a national paper, the Weekly Post focused mainly on foreign affairs and major domestic politics. The pages often emphasized its owners' conservative views with editorials on such issues as states' rights, diplomacy, and foreign imperialism. The selection digitized here contains much coverage and opinion on newly acquired American lands in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, the Boer War in South Africa, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and domestic news in national politics. Beyond the front page, the weekly also frequently included a page on local news from Virginia and the Carolinas, and a round-up of recent happenings in the U.S Congress. Occasionally, it would include more special-interest pages on fashion and beauty, weather and market reports, travel writing, and fiction.
The fate of the Weekly Post is unknown and no libraries are known to have issues past the ones available here. The Tuesday weekly did have to share its title as the Washington Post's weekly edition with the Sunday Post, established in 1880. The Sunday edition, the first of its kind in Washington, grew from eight pages in 1885 to 36 pages in 1904 and its similar content and audience may have contributed to the Weekly Post's decline.
Archive Info
- 528
- Washington, District of Columbia
- 1895–1900
Source Information
The Washington Weekly Post, 1895–1900 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2024. Last updated: March 8, 2024