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Newspaper The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980 Topeka Sunday capital-journal / Topeka Saturday capital-journal

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About The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

The Topeka [Kansas] State Journal is a continuation of the Topeka Blade, a paper founded by Clarke Swayze in August 1, 1873. George W. Reed bought the Blade in 1879 and changed its name to the Daily Kansas State Journal. Between 1879 and 1885, the paper underwent many changes in ownership, editors, and publishers. In 1881, Samuel N. Wood was editor and the State Journal Company the publisher. In 1882, Reed, Allen, and Co. became its publisher and later in 1883 its owner. The following year, the State Journal Company took over the paper and changed its name to the Topeka State Journal. In April 1885, the Journal went into the hands of a receiver, but in June, it passed back to the State Journal Company. Finally, in 1885, Frank P. MacLennan purchased the Journal; he published and edited the paper until 1940 when it was bought by Oscar S. Stauffer.

Frank MacLennan had worked for many years near newspapers. As a boy he folded papers and was a carrier for the Springfield Advertiser in Missouri. He then worked at nearly every department at the Emporia Daily News. When MacLennan saw that the Topeka State Journal was up for auction, he went to Topeka and won the rights. MacLennan was not initially pleased with his purchase and tried to sell the paper a year after he bought it. However, he was not able to get the price he wanted, so MacLennan kept the Journal and made vast improvements to its offices and equipment.

The Topeka State Journal was a daily and weekly newspaper, putting out editions every day except Sunday and weekly editions every Thursday.  The first weekly editions were established with the Blade in 1874, a year after the paper was established.  The daily editions were eight while the weekly editions were 12 or 16 pages.  The Topeka State Journal was the Official State Paper and the Official Paper of the City of Topeka.

The Journal is listed as being “Independent Republican,” views supported by MacLennan’s editorials and actions.  Fearless and outspoken, MacLennan was a staunch supporter of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, then the candidate of the Progressive Party–at a time when most Republicans had returned to their traditional rate on deposits for all public funds instead of just for the school board fund.  Nine banks and two trust companies united against MacLennan and the Journal, in an effort to discredit them and to deny the city and county what MacLennan considered a just rate for separate funds.  MacLennan’s response was not to retract his position, but to rent a banking house and start the Kansas Reserve State Bank.

Provided By: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

Other Title

  • Topeka Sunday capital-journal
  • Topeka Saturday capital-journal

Dates of Publication

  • 1892-1980

Created / Published

  • Topeka, Kansas : F.P. MacLennan

Headings

  • -  Topeka (Kan.)--Newspapers
  • -  Shawnee County (Kan.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kansas--Shawnee County
  • -  Kansas--Topeka
  • -  United States--Kansas--Shawnee--Topeka

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily, Dec. 5, 1935-1980
  • -  Vol. XX, no. 218 (September 10, 1892)-v. 103, no. 171 (Aug. 21, 1980)
  • -  Published on Sunday with: Topeka daily capital, as: Topeka Sunday capital-journal, Sept. 7, 1958-Sept. 1, 1980; published on Saturday with: Topeka daily capital, as: Topeka Saturday capital-journal, May 7, 1977-Sept. 1, 1980.
  • -  Fiftieth anniversary edition published, Oct. 30, 1935.
  • -  Title from masthead, newspapers.com, viewed June 25, 2020
  • -  Also on microfilm: Micro Photo Division, Bell & Howell Co.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Weekly edition: Topeka State journal (Topeka, Kan. : Weekly), Sept. 15, 1892-.
  • -  Merged with: The Topeka daily capital, to form: Topeka capital-journal (Topeka, Kan. : Morning ed.), and: Topeka capital-journal (Topeka, Kan. : Evening ed.).
  • -  Topeka daily capital 2640-8368 (DLC)sn 82015487 (OCoLC)8817493
  • -  Topeka capital-journal (Topeka, Kan. : Morning ed.) 1067-1994 (DLC)sn 82014720 (OCoLC)8787195
  • -  Topeka capital-journal (Topeka, Kan. : Evening ed.) (DLC)sn 85067244 (OCoLC)12833181

Medium

  • 84 volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn82016014

OCLC Number

  • 9124974

ISSN Number

  • 2377-7117

Preceding Titles

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 Topeka State Journal Topeka, Kansas -1980. (Topeka, KS), Jan. 1 1892. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82016014/.

APA citation style:

(1892, January 1) The Topeka State Journal Topeka, Kansas -1980. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn82016014/.

MLA citation style:

The Topeka State Journal Topeka, Kansas -1980. (Topeka, KS) 1 Jan. 1892. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn82016014/.