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Newspaper The Bourbon News (Millersburg, Ky.) 1881-1883

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About The Bourbon News (Millersburg, Ky.) 1881-1883

The Bourbon News began publication in 1881 in Millersburg, Kentucky under the ownership of Confederate veteran and former farmer Bruce Champ. No issue of the paper’s Millersburg incarnation survives. Champ soon moved the paper’s operations to Paris, the Bourbon County seat, resuming publication on March 7, 1882 with an issue enumerated as volume one and number one; editors invariably counted anniversaries from 1881, however. On August 3, 1883, Champ renamed the paper the Semi-Weekly Bourbon News, only to change back to the Bourbon News on July 14, 1895.

Bruce Champ’s death in 1892 saw control of the paper pass to Walter Champ, his son, and to Bruce Miller, a nephew. Miller would later serve a long tenure as editor and, later, owner of the Kentuckian-Citizen. In 1900, the Bourbon News was edited and published by Walter and his brother, W. Swift Champ. Walter’s death that same year left Swift as sole owner and editor. Save for a brief lease to George D. Mitchell in 1902, Swift Champ remained as owner and editor until his death in 1923.

Initially a simple, eight-page country publication – in contrast to the county’s older and more widely-known Kentuckian-Citizen – by the turn of the century the Bourbon News had developed an independent, populist tone offering an eclectic mix of state, national, and international news, serials, anecdotes, and topical items. Its extensive coverage of social affairs, the Kentucky horse industry, and the tobacco business reflected both the county’s economic interests and its cultural passions.

Throughout the early 1900s the Bourbon News navigated a complicated and difficult Kentucky political landscape noted for its sharp and sometimes violent conflicts between Kentucky’s Democrats and Republicans, as well as for its significant divisions within the dominant Democratic Party. Bourbon County’s Democrats were deeply divided by issues and the political personalities attached to them, most notably the liberal and “wet” camp of James O’Brien and the conservative and “dry” camp of John T. Hinton. Swift Champ offered qualified support to O’Brien during his tenure as mayor of Paris; he also extolled country papers like his own as bulwarks against Kentucky’s Democratic machine politics.

By 1910, the paper had 3,000 subscribers, ranking it among the largest circulations in the Bluegrass region. The paper continued publishing until 1941.

Provided By: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Bourbon News (Millersburg, Ky.) 1881-1883

Dates of Publication

  • 1881-1883

Created / Published

  • Millersburg, Ky. : Champ & Roby, 1881-1883.

Headings

  • -  Millersburg (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Paris (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Bourbon County (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kentucky--Millersburg
  • -  Kentucky--Bourbon County
  • -  Kentucky--Paris
  • -  United States--Kentucky--Bourbon--Paris
  • -  United States--Kentucky--Bourbon--Millersburg

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 12, 1881)- ; vol. I, no. 1 (March 7, 1882)-vol. II, no. 149 (July 31, 1883)
  • -  Published in Millersburg, Ky., Jan. 12, 1881-; in Paris, Ky, thereafter.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Semi-weekly Bourbon news 2157-5061 (DLC)sn 86069872 (OCoLC)13528428

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86069871

OCLC Number

  • 13528351

ISSN Number

  • 2157-5746

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

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 Bourbon News Millersburg, Ky. -1883. (Paris, KY), Jan. 1 1881. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069871/.

APA citation style:

(1881, January 1) The Bourbon News Millersburg, Ky. -1883. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069871/.

MLA citation style:

The Bourbon News Millersburg, Ky. -1883. (Paris, KY) 1 Jan. 1881. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069871/.