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Newspaper The Weekly Kansas Chief (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918 Kansas chief

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About The Weekly Kansas Chief (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918

The White Cloud Kansas Chief (1857-72) and its successor, The Weekly Kansas Chief (1872-1918), were made notable by their founder and editor, Sol (Solomon) Miller, a pioneer of Kansas newspaper publishing. Founded in a time when most newspapers lasted a few years at most, Miller published the Chief for nearly forty years. Shortly after arriving in White Cloud, Kansas Territory, Miller issued the first edition of the White Cloud Kansas Chief on June 4, 1857. The four-page newspaper was published every Thursday. Doniphan County, located in the northeastern corner of the state, was no stranger to the controversy over slavery then engulfing the nation. The Chief‘s Free-State Republican stance was clearly stated in its simple motto, “The Constitution and the Union.”

Miller was the epitome of the frontier editor–outspoken, sometimes humorous, and often vitriolic. The first newspaper in Doniphan County was proslavery and Democratic–the Kansas Constitutionalist, edited by Thomas J. Key. On September 10, 1857, Miller culminated an editorial exchange with Key: “We did not exactly tell the truth about him. We said his name was Thomas Jefferson Key. We beg Thomas Jefferson’s pardon—it should have been Thomas Jack-ass Key! (No insult intended to jack-asses generally.)….Thomas J. Key occupies a position which makes him public property—or rather, a public nuisance—and we intend to take a long pole, with a hook and spike in one end of it, and haul him about and turn him over and hold up his rotten filthy carcass to the gaze of the public, until it makes all decent men gag and turn in disgust!” Rival newspaper editors and politicians of any party were often the target of Miller’s abuse. Miller himself served several terms in the Kansas State Senate and one in the Kansas House, although later he made light of his legislative accomplishments.

Looking back on the development of the White Cloud Kansas Chief, Miller wrote, “In those times, Kansas was full of aspiring towns, each destined to become a metropolis, and every town, at the very start, must have a newspaper….We have been told that had we located in some large city or political center, the Chief might have become some great paper. They forget that when we came to Kansas, every town expected to become a mighty city.” To promote interest in White Cloud, Miller would frequently distribute copies of the Chief, locally and nationally, free of charge.

In 1872, Miller moved the White Cloud Kansas Chief to Troy, the seat and commercial center of Doniphan County, seeking greater support and advertisements. He changed the paper’s name to The Weekly Kansas Chief. The four-page newspaper appeared every Thursday; beginning in June 1880, its motto read, “Talk for Home, Fight for Home, Patronize Home.” In 1875, the The Weekly Kansas Chief absorbed the Doniphan County Republican”, which had been established in 1868. Miller died in 1897. In 1918, The Weekly Kansas Chief was succeeded by the Kansas Chief, which remains an active newspaper.

Provided By: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Weekly Kansas Chief (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918

Other Title

  • Kansas chief

Dates of Publication

  • 1872-1918

Created / Published

  • Troy, Kan. : Sol Miller, 1872-1918.

Headings

  • -  Troy (Kan.)--Newspapers
  • -  Doniphan County (Kan.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kansas--Doniphan County
  • -  Kansas--Troy
  • -  United States--Kansas--Doniphan--Troy

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 16, no. 3 (July 11, 1872)-v. 42, no. 52 (May 18, 1899) ; 43rd year, no. 1 (May 25, 1899)-62nd year, no. 26 (Nov. 14, 1918).
  • -  "Republican."
  • -  Editor: Sol Miller, <1861>.
  • -  Apr. 6, 1916 issue has supplement called: Illustrated Doniphan County.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Kansas chief (DLC)sn 84029528 (OCoLC)11086868

Medium

  • 46 volumes : illustrations ; 54-66 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper 7880
  • AN

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn82015484

OCLC Number

  • 8817733

ISSN Number

  • 2158-2580

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Weekly Kansas Chief Troy, Kan. -1918. (Troy, KS), Jan. 1 1872. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn82015484/.

APA citation style:

(1872, January 1) The Weekly Kansas Chief Troy, Kan. -1918. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn82015484/.

MLA citation style:

The Weekly Kansas Chief Troy, Kan. -1918. (Troy, KS) 1 Jan. 1872. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn82015484/.