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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Indiana Daily Times (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922

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About Indiana Daily Times (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922

The Indianapolis Times began publication as the Sun in 1888, and according to Ayer’s Newspaper Directory it was then the “only one-cent paper in Indiana.” Fred L. Purdy served as its first editor and owned a minority stake in its publishing; J. S. Sweeney owned the majority stake. The paper ran as a daily until 1899, with its circulation growing to 12,823 by 1898. In 1899, it was renamed the Indianapolis Sun and continued to be published as a daily. During this time, it maintained a professional partnership with the Scripps-McRae wire service out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1910, the paper was purchased by Indiana newspaper magnate Rudolph G. Leeds, who also served as an editor for the Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram. From 1913-1914, the paper was sold to G.H. Larke and W.D. Boyce. The paper became the Evening Sun, and its circulation grew to 34,453. On July 20, 1914, Boyce and new co-owner J. W. Banbury renamed the Evening Sun the Indiana Daily Times. By 1915, its circulation was 46,384.

In 1922, Scripps-Howard publishing purchased the Times, renaming it Indianapolis Times—the title it would keep until it ceased publication in 1965. Roy W. Howard served as the Scripps-Howard President from 1922-1964, overseeing not only the Times but United Press International worldwide wire service. Alongside in-house journalism by Times staff, many articles published during this period came from the Scripps-Howard wire service, Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Over the next forty years, the Indianapolis Times became known for its “crusading” journalism. In 1927, it published numerous articles exposing the collusion and corruption between the Indiana state government, governor Ed Jackson, and the Ku Klux Klan. In particular, it exposed the direct corruption between Jackson and Klan leader D. C. Stephenson. According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, the Times earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for “exposing political corruption in Indiana, prosecuting the guilty and bringing about a more wholesome state of affairs in civil government.”

During the 1930s, the Times advocated for children’s needs, raising money for charities that supplied coats and other clothing items to children hit hard by the Great Depression. During the recession of 1961-62, the Times helped 4,000 Indiana residents find jobs through its publication of free employment ads. Alongside its coverage of the Klan, the Times also covered multiple scandals, from corruption in the state’s highway fund and voter fraud in congressional districts to falsely reported Indianapolis crime statistics. During the 1960s, the paper advocated for better lunches in public schools through the use of the federal school surplus program.

Despite successful journalism and philanthropy, the Times lacked the resources and circulation to compete Indianapolis’s two competing papers, the News and Star. On October 11, 1965, the Indianapolis Times ran its final issue and suspended publication. Its final daily circulation totaled 89,374, with Sunday circulation of 101,000.

Provided By: Indiana State Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Indiana Daily Times (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922

Dates of Publication

  • 1914-1922

Created / Published

  • Indianapolis [Ind.] : J.W. Banbury, 1914-1922.

Headings

  • -  Indianapolis (Ind.)--Newspapers
  • -  Marion County (Ind.)--Newspapers
  • -  Indiana--Indianapolis
  • -  Indiana--Marion County
  • -  United States--Indiana--Marion--Indianapolis

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sunday)
  • -  Vol. 27, no. 60 (July 20, 1914)-v. 35, no. 38 (June 24, 1922).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Indianapolis times (Indianapolis, Ind. : 1922) 2694-1872 (DLC)sn 82015313 (OCoLC)8807860

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85047611

OCLC Number

  • 9139227

ISSN Number

  • 2694-1805

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.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

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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:

Indiana Daily Times Indianapolis Ind. -1922. (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 1 1914. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85047611/.

APA citation style:

(1914, January 1) Indiana Daily Times Indianapolis Ind. -1922. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85047611/.

MLA citation style:

Indiana Daily Times Indianapolis Ind. -1922. (Indianapolis, IN) 1 Jan. 1914. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn85047611/.