- Arunah Shepherdson Abell
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Arunah Shepherdson Abell Born August 10, 1806
East Providence, Rhode IslandDied April 19, 1888 (aged 81)
Baltimore, MarylandOccupation Newspaper Publisher Known for Founder of the Baltimore Sun Arunah Shepherdson Abell (August 10, 1806 – April 19, 1888) was an American publisher and philanthropist. Born in Rhode Island, Abell learned the newspaper business as an apprentice at the Providence Patriot. After stints with newspapers in New York City and Boston, he co-founded the Philadelphia Public Ledger and later founded the Baltimore Sun on his own. Abell and later his heirs would continue as publisher of the Sun until 1910. He is noted as an innovator in the newspaper business, especially in his use of a pony express from New Orleans, being the first newsman to make use of the telegraph to transmit news, and his use of the cylinder printing press invented by Richard March Hoe.
Biography
Born in East Providence, Rhode Island on August 10, 1806, Abell worked as a clerk in a shipping business before he became an apprentice at the Providence Patriot in 1822.[1] He then served as a journeyman printer in Boston and New York City.[2] In New York, he met two other young newspapermen, Azariah H. Simmons and William M. Swaim. Together, they decided to go into business themselves and establish a penny paper.[1] At the time, the majority of newspapers were associated with a political party or with business interests.[3] For example, the newspaper that Abell had worked on in Baltimore was associated with the Democratic Party, and Abell had even been offered a political appointment as a result of his work for it.[1] Penny papers were a relatively new phenomenon at the time. Originating in England, they provided an opportunity for the working class to afford newspapers, since the papers that had existed previously were expensive.[3] New York had a number of penny papers, so Abell, Simmons, and Swaim founded their paper in Philadelphia instead, opening the Public Ledger in 1836.[1][2]
The following year, Abell convinced his partners to back him financially in the establishment of a penny paper in Baltimore, which at the time had a number of papers that cost a more expensive six-penny rate. They agreed with the understanding that he would personally oversee the new venture.[1] His first four page tabloid sized issue of the Sun was published on May 17, 1837.[4] While it was an independent newspaper, the Sun leaned towards the ideals of Jacksonian democracy that were championed by Andrew Jackson. Reflecting those ideals, each issue used the phrase 'Light for All' as its motto.[5] The newspaper quickly became a success; within in a year it had double the circulation of its closest competitor. Abell's personal life also reached a milestone in 1838, when he married a widow named Mary Fox Campbell.[1] By 1850, business was good enough that Abell was able to commission a new cast iron building for the paper, designed by architect James Bogardus.[3] Throughout the 19th century, Baltimore had a number of newspapers. Many of them were overtly partisan, such as the pro-Republican Baltimore American. Abell's Sun, however, despite its origins as a penny paper, had by the late 19th century developed into the newspaper of Baltimore's upper class.[5] By 1864, Abell was sole proprietor of the Sun and had sold his share in the Public Ledger.[1]
Abell was a trend-setter in several areas of publishing. In his efforts to get news as quickly as possible, he made use of pony express, coaches, trains, ships, and even carrier pigeons.[3] He established a new pony express route from New Orleans during the Mexican-American War, was the first newspaperman to use telegraphy to transmit news when he used it to transmit the President John Tyler's message of May 11, 1846, and was the first to buy a Hoe cylinder press.[1][2] The carrier pigeons were part of a network that Abell established with another newspaper publisher in New York, and were able to carry messages between that city, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and from incoming ships. This network was ended when telegraphy became more widely available. Foreign news arrived in Abell's newsroom by a convoluted route. Arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia by ship from Europe, it traveled overland by pony to Annapolis, by steamship to Portland, Maine, and then by rail to Baltimore. This journey of nearly one thousand miles took just over two days. In latter years, Abell was a supporter of telegraph pioneer Samuel Morse and helped finance telegraph lines into Baltimore.[1]
Abell remained owner of the Sun until his death, and his three sons retained control of it until 1910.[2] It left family control as a result of a financial restructuring of the A.S. Abell company.[5]
Legacy and recognition
The Sun continues to be a prominent Baltimore newspaper. As founder of the paper, Abell himself has at times been the target of posthumous criticism by opponents of the paper, as when state Senator Henry Herbert Balch denounced Abell during a filibuster of legislation authorizing the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1949.[5] Abell is memorialized in the name of Baltimore's Abell building,built by architect George Frederick, which as of 2009 houses apartments.[6] During World War II, one of the Liberty ships was named the SS Arunah S. Abell in his honor.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hall, Clayton Colman, ed. (1912). Baltimore, Its History and People, Vol. 2. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=5D_mOXxyqh0C&dq=arunah+abell&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ a b c d Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., Webster's American Biographies. (Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 1984) p. 5
- ^ a b c d Cast-iron architecture in America: the significance of James Bogardus. W.W. Norton and Company. 1998. ISBN 0393730158. http://books.google.com/books?id=HwRRD6WBnOMC&dq=arunah+abell&source=gbs_navlinks_s.
- ^ "About the Baltimore Sun". http://www.baltimoresun.com/about/bal-about-sun,0,7001763.htmlstory. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ a b c d Brugger, Robert J. (1988). Maryland: A Middle Temperament. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 080183399.
- ^ "Engineer's Guide to Baltimore: Abell Building". http://www.ce.jhu.edu/baltimorestructures/index.php?location=Abell%20Building. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Liberty Ships, Master List of Names: A". http://www.fiu.edu/~thompsop/liberty/liberty_listA.html. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
Categories:- 1806 births
- 1888 deaths
- People from East Providence, Rhode Island
- The Baltimore Sun people
- People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- People from Baltimore, Maryland
- American publishers (people)
- American philanthropists
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