“Fully Conscious of Their Power”: Nineteenth-Century Michigan Editors Search for Journalistic Professionalism

Abstract

Recent studies suggest some nineteenth-century editors had an elite professional identity, while others progressed further, actively attempting to professionalize with codes of ethics and university education. Michigan Press Association proceedings were examined from the nineteenth century to better understand concepts of journalistic personal identity. Findings show the Michigan Press Association, while existing in a remote section of the United States at the time, was sophisticated in its operation and aims and valued being seen as professionals in the mold of doctors, lawyers, and clergy. This reveals nineteenth-century journalism professional interest was more widespread than has been previously realized.

Notes

1 Simon Newton Dexter North, History and Present Condition of the Newspaper and Periodical Press of the United States: With a Catalogue of the Publications of the Census Year (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1884), 383.

2 These changes were congruent with the penny press era. D. T. Mindich, Just the Facts: How “Objectivity” Came to Define American Journalism (New York: NYU Press, 2000).

3 Hazel Dicken-Garcia, Journalistic Standards in Nineteenth Century America (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989), 233.

4 For some classic texts on professionalization in America which discuss these elements, see Magali Sarfatti Larson, The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977); Daniel Calhoun, Professional Lives in America (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965); Philip Elliott, The Sociology of the Professions (New York: Herder and Herder, 1973); M. Carr-Sauders and P. A. Wilson, The Professions (London: Frank Cass & Co., 2nd ed., 1964); J. A. Jackson, Professions and Professionalization (Cambridge: University Press, 1970).

5 Stephen A. Banning, “Not Quite Professional: Bohemian and Elite Newspaper Clubs in Nineteenth-century Chicago,” Journalism History 40, no. 1 (2014): 2–13.

6 Stephen A. Banning, “The Professionalization of Journalism: A Nineteenth-century Beginning,” Journalism History 24, no. 4 (1998–1999): 157–60; Frank E. Fee Jr., “Breaking Bread, Not Bones: Printers’ Festivals and Professionalism in Antebellum America,” American Journalism 30, no. 3 (2013): 308–35; John T. McNay, “Breaking the Copper Collar: Press Freedom, Professionalization and the History of Montana Journalism,” American Journalism 25, no. 1 (2008): 99–123; Will Mari, “Enduring Values: The Continuity of a Professional Ethos as Seen in Journalism Textbooks Published in the First Half of the Twentieth Century” (presentation, American Journalism History Association, Raleigh, NC, October 2012).

7 Banning, “Not Quite Professional,” 31.

8 “The Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, March 16, 1882; “Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, March 8, 1883; “The Editors,” Detroit Free Press, July 8, 1885; “Press Associations,” Detroit Free Press, May 21, 1885.

9 Banning, “Not Quite Professional,” 31.

10 Howard Vollmer and Donald T. Mills, Professionalization (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966), 1.

11 Robert Gordon Latham, Samuel Johnson’s a Dictionary of the English Language, vol. 2, part 1 (London: Longman’s Green, 1876), 624.

12 Friedson, Professional Powers: A Study of the Institutionalization of Formal Knowledge (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1986), 3; Robert Dingwall and Philip Lewis, The Sociology of the Professions: Lawyers, Doctors, and Others (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983), 21; Abraham Flexner, “Is Social Work a Profession?” School and Society 1 (1915): 901–11; Gerald L. Geison, Professions and Professional Ideologies in America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 3–4; Everett Cherrington Hughes, Men and Their Work (Glencoe: Free Press, 1958), 134; Harold Wilensky, “The Professionalization of Everyone?” American Journal of Sociology 70 (1964): 137–58; William J. Goode, “The Theoretical Limits of Professionalization,” in The Professions and Their Prospects, edited by Eliot Friedson (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1973), 59–73; George Ritzer, Man and His Work: Conflict and Change (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972), 4; Larson, Rise of Professionalism, xiii.

13 Banning, “Not Quite Professional,” 11.

14 Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting Held at Lansing, March 15, 1882 ([s.n.]: 1882), 14; Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting Held at Traverse City, July 7th, 1885 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1885), 19. Pond was editor of the Ann Arbor Michigan Argus and also a former state senator. History of Washtenaw County, Michigan, vol. 1 (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman & Company, 1881), 558.

15 “Historical Sketch of the Michigan Press Association,” in Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting Held at Lansing, March 15, 1882 [and also 1881] (Greenville, MI: Independent Steam Printing House, 1882), 14.

16 “Michigan,” Chicago Daily Tribune, January 25, 1868.

17 “Facts and Figures,” Plymouth (IN) Democrat, June 30, 1870; “Annual Meeting of the Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, June 15, 1870.

18 “Michigan,” Detroit Free Press, July 20, 1871; “The Editor’s Guests,” State and the Union (Ashland, OH), August 23, 1871; “The Editor’s Guests,” Knoxville (TN) Weekly Chronicle, November 19, 1871; “The Editor’s Guests,” Knoxville (TN) Weekly Chronicle, November 21, 1871.

19 “Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, September 14, 1872.

20 “State Press Association,” Hillsdale (MI) Standard, June 24, 1873; “Home News,” Manitowoc (WI) Tribune, June 26, 1873; “The Rural Press,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 18, 1873; [No Title], Wheeling (WV) Daily Register, June 25, 1873; [No Title], Democratic Advocate (Westminster, MD), July 5, 1873; “Personal,” Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, WI), June 29, 1873; [No Title], Lake County Star (Chase, MI), June 9, 1873; “News Items,” Fayette County Herald (Washington, OH), June 26, 1873; “Annual Meetings of Editors,” Madison Wisconsin State Journal, June 20, 1873; “Personal,” Decatur (IN) Eagle, June 27, 1873; “Postage on Exchanges and County Newspapers,” Hillsdale (MI) Standard, December 16, 1873; “Personal,” Decatur (IN) Eagle, June 27, 1873; “Not Going to Take the Trip,” Detroit Free Press, July 27, 1873; “The New Postal Law,” Detroit Free Press, June 19, 1873.

21 “Michigan Publishers,” Chicago Daily Tribune,” February 18, 1874; “General News,” Milan (TN) Exchange, August 20, 1874.

22 “The Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, February 9, 1876; “The Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, February 10, 1876; “Michigan Press Association,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 12, 1876; “A Wise Move,” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI), February 19, 1876.

23 “Regular Meeting,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the First Regular Meeting after Its Re-Organization (Lansing, MI: Lansing Journal Steam Printing House, 1879), 8–9.

24 George A. Prescott, comp., Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual for the Years 1907–1908 (Lansing, MI: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers, 1907), 150; Laying the Corner-stone of the New State Capitol at Lansing, Michigan (Lansing, MI: W.S. George & Co., Printers and Binders, 1873), 117; Fred. E. Farnsworth, comp., Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Michigan Club with a Verbatim Report of the Speeches at the Banquet on Washington’s Birthday 1889 (Detroit: Winn & Hammond, Printers and Binders, 1890), 7.

25 Ibid., 8.

26 Ibid., 16. Applegate's wife took over the publishing duties later in the century. See also Lenawee County Directories (Adrian, MI: J.R. McEldowney & Sons, 1897), 891; Charles Richard Tuttle, General History of the State of Michigan (Detroit: Detroit Free Press Company, 1873), 701.

27 George Sanford was the owner of the Lansing Journal, a newspaper said to have the greatest advertising revenue in Central Michigan. College educated in Ann Arbor, Sanford was born in New York. Samuel W. Durant, History of Ingham and Eaton Counties Michigan (Philadelphia: D.W. Ensign & Co., 1880), 160; Pioneer Collections: Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, vol. 6 (Lansing, MI: W.S. George & Co., State Printers & Binders, 1884), 78; William Seale, Michigan’s Capitol: Construction and Restoration (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 34.

28 Ibid., 25.

29 Ibid., 20. One newspaper article mentioned the meeting briefly in passing: “Home Starlight,” Lake County Star (Chase, MI), December 11, 1879.

30 J. M. Shepard, “A Bill Relative to the Prosecutions of Libel,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Fourteenth Annual Meeting Held at Lansing, January 11, 1881 (Greenville, MI: Independent Steam Printing House, 1882), 6.

31 One newspaper announced the upcoming meeting: “Michigan News,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), January 7, 1881.

32 James E. Scripps, “How to Make Our Association Permanent and How to Develop Its Usefulness,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Fifteenth Annual Meeting Held at Lansing, March 15, 1882 ([s.n.]: 1882), 5.

33 “The Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, March 16, 1882.

34 “State News,” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI), March 11, 1882; “The Weeks News,” Lake County Star (Chase, MI), March 23, 1882; “Local News,” Owosso (MI) Times, March 10, 1882.

35 In a booklet printed by the Michigan Press Association in 1883 containing the full address, Stone’s first name was spelled variously as Mellville and Melville. The booklet also contained a list of current members and a copy of the association constitution. “Sixteenth Annual Meeting,” Michigan Press Association at the Sixteenth Annual Meeting Held at Detroit, March 29–30, 1883 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1883). Melville Stone was a prominent figure in the Press Club of Chicago. For more information, see Stephen A. Banning, “Not Quite Professional,” 6; Melville Elijah Stone, Fifty Years a Journalist (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, Page, 1921), 141.

36 Ibid., 9.

37 Ibid., 11.

38 Ibid., 11, 12.

39 Ibid., 9.

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid, 12.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

44 Ibid., 11.

45 It is worth noting that a future Michigan Press Association speaker Samuel Cooks would differ in the definition of journalism.

46 “Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, March 8, 1883.

47 “Saturday, April 7, 1883,” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI) April 7, 1883. Other newspaper articles that did not mention the speeches include: [No Title], Owosso (MI) Times, March 23, 1883; “Local Department,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), March 9, 1883.

48 “Worth Going the Rounds,” Boston Weekly Globe, May 1, 1883.

49 A. G. Boynton, “The Law of Libel,” Michigan Press Association at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting Held at Bay City, June 24–25, 1884 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1884), 8.

50 Ainger’s newspaper, the Charlotte Republican, had a reported circulation of just over one thousand. S. M. Pettengill, Pettengill’s Newspaper Directory and Advertisers’ Hand-book for 1978 ([s.n.]: S. M. Pettengill & Company, 1878), 137; George Presbury Rowell, Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory, vol. 15 (New York: Geo. P. Rowell & Co., 1883), 137.

51 D. B. Ainger, “The County Editor as a Business Man,” Press Association at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting Held at Bay City, June 24–25, 1884 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1884), 9.

52 Ibid., 10.

53 A. J. Aldrich was owner and editor of the Republican from 1873 to 1893. Henry P. Collin, A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Branch County, Michigan (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), 141.

54 A. J. Aldrich, “The Relation of the Newspaper to Politics,” Press Association at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting Held at Bay City, June 24–25, 1884 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1884), 10.

55 History of Monroe County, Michigan (New York: Munsell & Co., 1890), 492.

56 Milo Dwight Hamilton, “Practical Points in Publishing,” Michigan Press Association at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting Held at Bay City, June 24–25, 1884 (Nashville: News Steam Print: 1884), 13.

57 “Minor State Items,” Weekly Expositor (Brockway Centre, MI), July 3, 1884; “Minor State Items,” Weekly Expositor (Brockway Centre, MI), April 3, 1884; “The City.” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI) October 23, 1884.

58 “The City,” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI), October 23, 1884. Other articles on the 1884 meeting include: “A Specimen Democratic Gain,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), July 31, 1884; “State Press Excursion,” Northern Tribune (Cheboygan, MI), July 3, 1884.

59 “Slings and Arrows,” Boston Daily Globe, June 11, 1884.

60 It may not be coincidence that the Northwestern Michigan Press Association was founded in 1879, the same year that the Michigan Press Association reorganized with members mostly from the southern part of the state. The fact that the reorganization and founding took place at the same time suggests that the northern editors may have split from the original Michigan Press Association. The original schism, if that is what happened, probably arose from the regional differences between north and south Michigan. South Michigan had major cities such as the Battle Creek, Lansing, and Detroit. Those cities had a railroad that connected them to Chicago and New York. The northern area was much less sophisticated, many people having closer business relations with Canadians rather than Americans.

61 “Tuesday Forenoon Session,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting Held at Traverse City, July 7, 1885, 8.

62 Ibid., 9.

63 Ibid., 10.

64 Samuel F. Cook, “The Press as an Educator,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting Held at Traverse City, July 7, 1885 (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1885), 15.

65 Ibid., 16.

66 A. J. Aldrich, “The Mission of the Country Newspaper,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1885), 12.

67 Ibid.

68 Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting (Nashville: News Steam Print, 1885), 16.

69 Ibid.

70 “Nineteenth Annual Meeting,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Nineteenth Annual Meeting Held at Coldwater, June 1 and 2, 1886 (Ovid, MI: Union Print, 1886), 5; A. J. Aldrich, “A. J. Aldrich,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Nineteenth Annual Meeting Held at Coldwater, June 1 and 2, 1886 (Ovid, MI: Union Print, 1886), 7.

71 A. J. Aldrich, “A. J. Aldrich,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Nineteenth Annual Meeting Held at Coldwater, June 1 and 2, 1886 (Ovid, MI: Union Print, 1886), 8.

72 Ibid.

73 “Michigan Press Association,” Alma (MI) Record, June 11, 1886.

74 David Ross Locke was a part owner of the Toledo Blade. David Ross Locke, The Moral History of America’s Life-struggle (Boston: I. N. Richardson, 1874), 16; David Ross Locke, Divers Views Opionions and Prophecies of Yoors Trooly Petroleum V. Nasby [sic] (Cincinnati: R. W. Carroll, 1867), 5.

75 Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Nineteenth Annual Meeting Held at Coldwater, June 1 and 2, 1886, 9.

76 Ibid., 10.

77 Ibid., 17.

78 “Michigan Press Association,” Alma (MI) Record, June 11, 1886.

79 “Brevities,” Marshall (MI) Daily Chronicle, June 3, 1886.

80 “Western,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), June 10, 1886; “Western,” Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, MI), June 10, 1886; “Congratulations,” Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, MI), June 17, 1886.

81 “Michigan Press Association,” Detroit Free Press, May 14, 1886; “Local News,” Owosso (MI) Times, June 18, 1886; “Additional Local,” Alma (MI) Record, April 15, 1887; [No Title] True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), April 27, 1887; [No Title], Lake County Star (Chase, MI), May 13, 1886; “Local Department,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), February 11, 1886; “Local Items,” Crawford, Avalanche (Grayling, MI), June 3, 1886; “State Siftings,” Weekly Expositor (Brockway Centre, MI), January 14, 1886; “The State,” Lake County Star (Chase, MI), June 10, 1886; [No Title], Owosso (MI) Times, May 14, 1886; “Pencil Pushers Picnic,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), June 10, 1886. “Local Department,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), May 13, 1886. “Local Items,” Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, MI), June 3, 1886. [No Title], Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, MI), June 10, 1886.

82 “Michigan Press Association,” Alma (MI) Record, June 11, 1886.

83 “Michigan Press Association,” Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), July 27, 1887.

84 “Michigan Press Association,” Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), July 26, 1887.

85 [No Title], Owosso (MI) Times, August 5, 1887.

86 “Local Expositions,” Weekly Expositor (Brockway Centre, MI), August 4, 1887. Another newspaper in retrospect talked of a bill discussed at the association that had been vetoed by the governor. “Additional Local,” Alma (MI) Record, April 15, 1887. See also the following for brief mentions of the meeting in session: “Local Department,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), July 27, 1887; “Local News,” Owosso (MI) Times, July 29, 1887; [No Title], Owosso (MI) Times, March 4, 1887.

87 Four hundred individuals attended the 1888 convention at a time when there were over seven hundred members. Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Twenty-first Annual Meeting (Pontiac, MI: Bill Poster Publishing House, 1888), 8.

88 Ibid., 15, 16, 17.

89 Ibid., 17.

90 Perry F. Powers, “City and Country Journalism,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Twenty-first Annual Meeting (Pontiac, MI: Bill Poster Publishing House, 1888), 18, 19, 23, 24. Powers was editor of the Cadillac News and Press.

91 Ibid., 24.

92 J. C. Bontecou, “What a Just Libel Law Should Be,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Twenty-first Annual Meeting (Pontiac, MI: Bill Poster Publishing House, 1888), 27. Bontecou was editor of the Petoskey Record.

93 Junius E. Beal, “College Graduates vs. Practical Printers as Editors,” Proceedings of the Michigan Press Association at the Twenty-first Annual Meeting (Pontiac, MI: Bill Poster Publishing House, 1888), 35, 36.

94 Ibid., 33.

95 Ibid., 35, 36.

96 Ibid., 35.

97 Ibid., 36. Junius E. Beal graduated from the University of Michigan and later was appointed to the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Samuel Willard Beakes, Past and Present of Washtenaw County Michigan (Chicago: S.J. Clarke, 1906), 621; Orlando Worth Stephenson, Ann Arbor the First Hundred Years (Ann Arbor: Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, 1927), 335.

98 “The Citizen’s Petition and the Mayor’s Call for a Public Meeting,” Detroit Free Press, April 8, 1888; “Detroit Ready for Its Journalistic Guests,” Detroit Free Press, May 24, 1888; “Will Borrow Carriages,” Detroit Free Press, May 25, 1888; “They Own the City,” Detroit Free Press, May 30, 1888; “Editors Stay One Day More Than They Intended,” Detroit Free Press, June 2, 1888; “Words of Praise,” Detroit Free Press, June 11, 1888.

99 “Saturday, May 19, 1888.” Diamond Drill (Crystal Falls, MI), May 19, 1888.

100 “Our Vacation,” Alma (MI) Record, June 8, 1888. Additional articles which mentioned the meeting, but not the speeches, include: “Local Items,” Crawford Avalanche (Grayling, MI), May 24, 1888; “Local News,” Owosso (MI) Times, June 1, 1888; “Local News,” Owosso (MI) Times, December 21, 1888; [No Title], True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), June 6, 1888; “Michigan Affairs,” True Northerner (Paw Paw, MI), September 12, 1888.

101 “The Law of Libel,” Daily Commonwealth (Topeka, KS), June 27, 1888.