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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The New Dominion (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904

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About The New Dominion (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904

“Devoted to the interests of Monongalia County,” Morgantown, West Virginia newspaper the New Dominion ran weekly throughout the Gilded Age, from 1876-1904. Julian E. Fleming helmed the paper as its “proprietor and editor” during the entirety of this almost thirty-year span. Initially in partnership with W.L. Morgan, Fleming gained sole control of the New Dominion by 1879. The December 19, 1885 issue ran a retrospective history of newspapers published in Monongalia County from the beginning of the nineteenth-century, mentioning one William Jacobs as also having conceived the paper alongside Fleming.

Released every Saturday until October of 1897, when it switched to Wednesdays, the New Dominion was published in two, 26-issue volumes per year from its inception until October of 1882, at which point it opted for one 52-issue volume per year instead. To someone not aware of this quirk, later volume numbers of the paper can make it appear as if it had been running 10 years longer than it actually did. Regardless of the volume, the paper was consistently four-pages and did not increase its $1.50 per year subscription price at any point in its history.

Given the paper’s Democratic Party affiliation, it might come as little surprise that according to an 1895 biographical sketch, Fleming had a brief appointment to a “government store-keeper” position during Grover Cleveland’s first term. Perhaps more surprising is that Fleming resigned from said post. Indeed, contrary to Cleveland, Fleming would go on to support the “free silver,” a populist wing of the Democratic Party and William Jennings Bryan’s failed 1896 candidacy for President. As to be expected, the New Dominion often took swipes at its Republican rival, the Morgantown Weekly Post and its editor, Henry Morgan (descendent of Morgantown founder Zackquill Morgan), calling the Post a “narrow-gauge neighbor” and reprinting a piece referring to the Post‘s editors as “politically deranged.” Nevertheless, following Henry Morgan’s 1898 suicide, the New Dominion published a respectful salute to the editor of its rival newspaper.

In 1897, the Daily New Dominion began under the editorship of Justin M. Kunkle, whose name had appeared previously in the weekly as editor of the “Local” section as well as for being chairman of a “Free Silver Club” in Morgantown. The Daily differed from its parent paper in its focus on things like train and steamboat schedules and the more fine-grained, up-to-date goings-on in Morgantown one would expect from a more frequently published periodical. For instance, in early November 1902, the Daily devoted a considerable amount of ad space to a parish festival at a local Catholic Church. Yet each paper offered considerable commentary on West Virginia University, up to and including a special University Daily being issued by the publisher during West Virginia University’s commencement week each year. And despite the mutual animosity between the New Dominion and the Post, a series of mergers and spin-offs over the course of the twentieth century would see the two eventually combine to form today’s Dominion Post by 1973.

Provided By: West Virginia University

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The New Dominion (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904

Dates of Publication

  • 1876-1904

Created / Published

  • Morgantown, W. Va. : William J. Jacobs & Julian E. Fleming, 1876-

Headings

  • -  Morgantown (W. Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  West Virginia--Morgantown
  • -  United States--West Virginia--Monongalia--Morgantown

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Apr. 11, 1876)-
  • -  Ceased in 1904? Cf. Newspapers in microform, U.S., 1948-1983.
  • -  "Democratic." Cf. Ayer, 1904.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Issued also in a daily ed. entitled: Daily new dominion.
  • -  Morgantown news (DLC)sn 86092177 (OCoLC)13109273
  • -  New dominion-news (DLC)sn 86092183 (OCoLC)13109367

Medium

  • volumes ; 61 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86092182

OCLC Number

  • 13109348

ISSN Number

  • 2832-6970

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 New Dominion Morgantown, W. Va. -1904. (Morgantown, WV), Jan. 1 1876. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092182/.

APA citation style:

(1876, January 1) The New Dominion Morgantown, W. Va. -1904. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86092182/.

MLA citation style:

The New Dominion Morgantown, W. Va. -1904. (Morgantown, WV) 1 Jan. 1876. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86092182/.