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Newspaper The Guthrie Daily Leader (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996 Leader

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About The Guthrie Daily Leader (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996

In 1892, cowboy turned teacher, Roy Hoffman, established the Daily Leader in Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory. One year later, Hoffman added the town’s name to the title. The Guthrie Daily Leader quickly became the leading newspaper in the territory. Within two years, the paper boasted 4,098 daily subscriptions and adopted the motto, “Official Organ of Oklahoma Democracy.”

On March 23, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed a proclamation opening the Unassigned Lands in Indian Territory to non-Indian settlers. On April 22, 1889, approximately fifty thousand Land Run participants staked their claims on the prairie. Several towns, including Guthrie, appeared overnight. In 1890, Guthrie was designated as the territorial capital. The town had grown to over 5,000 residents and supported eight newspapers. Hoffman created the Democratic Daily Leader in response to the top- selling paper of the time, Frank Greer’s decidedly Republican Oklahoma State Capital.

In 1902, Leslie Niblack bought the Leader from Hoffman. Niblack had started at the Leader in 1893, having previously worked as a reporter for the Kentucky newspaper, Louisville Courier-Journal. By 1906, the Leader’s circulation had risen to 10,570, and the paper was a member of the Associated Press. That same year, the Guthrie Daily Leader beat out the Oklahoma State Capital to become the official organ of the 1906 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention held in Guthrie. Statehood was proclaimed in November of 1907. Guthrie served as the state capital until a rivalry between Oklahoma City and Guthrie culminated in June of 1910, when a majority of the people voted to move the state capital to Oklahoma City.

In 1911, the Leader absorbed the Oklahoma State Capital. Publication remained unchanged until Niblack sold his interests in 1927 to Lewis Haines Wentz and Raymond Fields. Wentz passed away in 1949, and in 1952, Phil McMullen of the Blackwell Journal-Tribune and two business partners from Wentz’s estate purchased the Leader. The Donrey Media Group purchased the paper in 1976 and published the Leader until November 1, 1996, when the Territorial Publishing Company consolidated it with the Logan County News to form the Guthrie News Leader. The News Leader is currently being published by American Hometown Publishing.

Provided By: Oklahoma Historical Society

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Guthrie Daily Leader (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996

Other Title

  • Leader

Dates of Publication

  • 1893-1996

Created / Published

  • Guthrie, Okla. : Roy Hoffman

Headings

  • -  Guthrie (Okla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Logan County (Okla.)--Newspapers
  • -  Oklahoma--Guthrie
  • -  Oklahoma--Logan County
  • -  United States--Oklahoma--Logan--Guthrie

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sun.)
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 235 (Sept. 3, 1893)-v. 103, no. 273 (Nov. 1, 1996).
  • -  Also issued on microfilm from Oklahoma Historical Society.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 103, no. 190 (July 9, 1996).
  • -  Logan County news (Crescent, Okla. (DLC)sn 86063924 (OCoLC)13663931
  • -  Guthrie news leader (DLC)sn 96006719 (OCoLC)36023096

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86063952

OCLC Number

  • 13748544

ISSN Number

  • 1090-3208

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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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 Guthrie Daily Leader Guthrie, Okla. -1996. (Guthrie, OK), Jan. 1 1893. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86063952/.

APA citation style:

(1893, January 1) The Guthrie Daily Leader Guthrie, Okla. -1996. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86063952/.

MLA citation style:

The Guthrie Daily Leader Guthrie, Okla. -1996. (Guthrie, OK) 1 Jan. 1893. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86063952/.