Top of page

Notice
In observance of the Federal holiday on Monday, February 16, the Jefferson Building Great Hall and exhibitions will be open from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. to guests with timed-entry passes. Reading rooms will be closed to researchers.
Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Hummer (Houston, Miss.) 1914-19??

View All Front Pages

About The Hummer (Houston, Miss.) 1914-19??

Located in north Mississippi, Chickasaw County was established in 1836 from land ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw through the 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc. Cotton was the primary cash crop of the county, but corn, wheat, oats, peas, potatoes, sorghum, and rice were also produced; livestock included hogs, cattle, and sheep. The many indigenous hardwoods led to a thriving lumber industry. Houlka, originally a Chickasaw village, was the oldest town in the county; Houston, 10 miles south and incorporated in 1837, was the county seat.

When the weekly Democratic Hummer (1914-18??) began in May 1914, Rad Harrill Reed, its colorful editor/proprietor, printed the paper in Memphis because he could not afford a press and mailed copies to subscribers each Thursday. In the March 12, 1915 issue, Reed explained that the paper had been “. . . published under the name of the Houlka Hummer but business demands that it be moved to the county seat–Houston.” The paper’s publication day changed almost yearly, and the page count also varied from four to ten. Originally, the Hummer‘s motto was “Boost and Help the Other Fellow.” When Calvin Baxter McAbee progressed from co-editor to editor and business manager in 1916, the Hummer” motto became “The Paper that Gives the News without Bias; Everything, Every Time.” Sometime after September 1917, the newspaper moved from Houston back to Houlka. The last year the Hummer was listed in N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual & Directory was 1919.

Most of the non-local news in the Hummer was about the “Great War,” as World War I (1914-18), was known. After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the Hummer carried reports on local efforts. For example, an article in the September 21, 1917 issue described Red Cross distribution of “comfort bags” to county soldiers headed for Europe. Columns also covered state and local politics, particularly Governors Earl Brewer (1912-16) and Theodore G. Bilbo (1916-20). The Hummer included farm news, such as how to raise pigs, sheep, and horses and the status of the boll weevil infestation, and serialized dramas like “The Exploits of Elaine.” Much space was given to county and local news, including the importance of good county roads, board of supervisors and city alderman proceedings, high school news and sports results, and notices about local organizations such as the United Confederate Veterans. The paper announced the establishment of a corn club for youth, a precursor to the 4-H club that started in nearby Holmes County, Mississippi. Separate columns covered Houston and Houlka social news. The most unique content in the Hummer was alliterative captions and descriptions of places; for example, a piece entitled “Majestic Mississippi,” which consisted entirely of words starting with the letter “m,” appeared in the March 12, 1915 issue.

Provided By: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Hummer (Houston, Miss.) 1914-19??

Dates of Publication

  • 1914-19??

Created / Published

  • Houston, Miss. : [s.n.]

Headings

  • -  Houston (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Houlka (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Mississippi--Houlka
  • -  Mississippi--Houston
  • -  United States--Mississippi--Chickasaw--Houlka
  • -  United States--Mississippi--Chickasaw--Houston

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in May 1914.
  • -  Published in Houston, Mar. 1915-1917; in Houlka, Miss. thereafter.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 2, no. 14 (Aug. 27, 1915).

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87065205

OCLC Number

  • 15273591

ISSN Number

  • 2469-6390

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.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Hummer Houston, Miss. -19??. (Houlka, MS), Jan. 1 1914. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87065205/.

APA citation style:

(1914, January 1) The Hummer Houston, Miss. -19??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87065205/.

MLA citation style:

The Hummer Houston, Miss. -19??. (Houlka, MS) 1 Jan. 1914. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn87065205/.