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Newspaper The People's Recorder (Columbia, S.C.) 1893-1925 Recorder

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About The People's Recorder (Columbia, S.C.) 1893-1925

The weekly Columbia People’s Recorder (1893-ca. 1925), published “for the elevation of our race, and [as] an exponent of Republican principles,” provided a voice for African Americans in South Carolina for over a quarter of a century. By most accounts, the People’s Recorder was a modestly successful enterprise. In 1899, The Negro in Business, a study conducted by Atlanta University, recognized it as the largest and most influential African American newspaper published out of Columbia. The paper appears to have even enjoyed some measure of support from whites. Few issues have survived, however, and many aspects of its history are obscure or simply lost.

Samuel Hayward Nix and the Reverend Clarence Fisher Holmes established the People’s Recorder in 1893. Samuel Nix also worked for a time as an instructor at Benedict College, an African American school, and Clarence Holmes managed a grocery called Our Store. They identified the paper as a successor to the Barnwell Recorder, of which no issues are known to exist. In 1900, their office was located at 1115 Taylor Street in Columbia. At around this same time, Nix and Holmes expanded their operations, maintaining offices in Orangeburg and Union, South Carolina. In 1902, the paper had a circulation of 2,853. Within the decade, Clarence Holmes moved the People’s Recorder to Orangeburg. There, he edited and published the People’s Recorder until his death in 1915. Robert E. Richardson took over ownership of the paper, and in the early 1920s, he moved it back to Columbia. Sometime in 1925, the People’s Recorder merged with another African American newspaper, the Southern Indicator, and became the Recorder-Indicator.

The People’s Recorder mixed local and national news with weekly sermons and exhortations to its readers to push for improvements in education and voting rights. In the late 1890s, the paper doubled as the official organ of the black fraternal organization, the Grand United Odd Fellows of South Carolina, reflecting its connections in the growing black business community. Indeed, its longevity may be attributed to the strength of the community and economic networks forged in the face of Jim Crow segregation.

Provided By: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The People's Recorder (Columbia, S.C.) 1893-1925

Other Title

  • Recorder

Dates of Publication

  • 1893-1925

Created / Published

  • Columbia, S.C. : Nix and Holmes

Headings

  • -  African Americans--South Carolina--Newspapers
  • -  Columbia (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Richland County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Union (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Union County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Orangeburg (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  Orangeburg County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  South Carolina
  • -  South Carolina--Columbia
  • -  South Carolina--Orangeburg
  • -  South Carolina--Orangeburg County
  • -  South Carolina--Richland County
  • -  South Carolina--Union
  • -  South Carolina--Union County
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Richland--Columbia
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Union--Union
  • -  United States--South Carolina--Orangeburg--Orangeburg

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1893; ceased in 1925? Cf. South Carolina newspapers.
  • -  Published simultaneously in Union, S.C., <1900> - <1902>
  • -  Published in Orangeburg, S.C., <1903> - 1921.
  • -  Microfilmed by the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 5, no. 27 (Mar. 19, 1898).
  • -  Southern indicator 2166-1758 (DLC)sn 83025803 (OCoLC)9810255
  • -  Recorder-indicator (DLC)sn 92065692 (OCoLC)27040906

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83025797

OCLC Number

  • 9804805

ISSN Number

  • 2166-1731

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 People's Recorder Columbia, S.C. 1893 to 1925. (Columbia, SC), Jan. 1 1893. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025797/.

APA citation style:

(1893, January 1) The People's Recorder Columbia, S.C. 1893 to 1925. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83025797/.

MLA citation style:

The People's Recorder Columbia, S.C. 1893 to 1925. (Columbia, SC) 1 Jan. 1893. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn83025797/.