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Chronicling America
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Newspaper Claiborne Guardian (Homer, La.) 1877-188?

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About Claiborne Guardian (Homer, La.) 1877-188?

In 1877, Adolphus McCranie (1831-1878) and James Hardyman Simmons (1832-1907) purchased William Jasper Blackburn’s Homer Iliad, a controversial north Louisiana newspaper that had spoken out against secession in 1860-61 and worked to obstruct the Confederate cause during the Civil War. Reorganizing the paper as the Claiborne Guardian, McCranie and Simmons leased it to Benjamin D. Harrison (1824-1889), founder in 1851 of Claiborne Parish’s first newspaper, the Claiborne Advocate. Drayton B. Hayes (ca. 1848-1885), a lawyer, served as Harrison’s editor from 1877 to 1882, when he was succeeded by attorney John Edwin Hulse (1854-1908). The paper was sold to D. W. Harris in 1886. In October 1888, it was renamed the Homer Guardian upon coming under the ownership and editorship of Charles W. Seals (1861-1929) and John R. Phipps (ca. 1849-1916).

Founded in the wake of the highly contentious presidential election of 1876, the Claiborne Guardian was a Democratic newspaper that covered many of the leading political issues of the post-Reconstruction era. Immigration to north Louisiana was a frequent topic of discussion, as was migration out of the region, particularly the so-called Exodus of 1879, in which large numbers of African Americans left Louisiana in search of a better life in Kansas. Other subjects discussed included the construction of roads and railroads, the organization of farmers’ unions, and the need to diversify agriculture (in the 1870s cotton was still Claiborne Parish’s chief industry, but lumbering and timber processing were becoming increasingly important). Reports on the advancement of rural education were combined with news on the activities of two local educational institutions, Homer Male College and Homer Female College, founded separately in the 1850s and combined into a single college in 1885. Also available is news of churches, clubs, and societies, and brief reports from small towns throughout Claiborne Parish, including Haynesville, Lisbon, Dykesville, Langston, and Arizona (site of a large cotton factory). News from south Arkansas and northeast Texas was occasionally reported as well. As the official organ of Claiborne Parish, the Claiborne Guardian published the minutes of the parish police jury, the governing body of the parish. It also carried the proceedings of the Homer town council.

Associate editor Oscar P. Ogilvie (1864-1927) purchased John Phipps’ share of the business in 1889 and became full owner in June 1890, whereupon he consolidated the paper with the late Benjamin Harrison’s Louisiana Weekly Journal to form the Guardian-Journal.

Provided By: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Claiborne Guardian (Homer, La.) 1877-188?

Dates of Publication

  • 1877-188?

Created / Published

  • Homer, La. : B.D. Harrison, 1877-

Headings

  • -  Homer (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Claiborne Parish (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Louisiana--Claiborne Parish
  • -  Louisiana--Homer
  • -  United States--Louisiana--Claiborne--Homer

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 22, 1877)-
  • -  Ceased in 188?
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Homer guardian (DLC)sn 88064119 (OCoLC)17500175

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88064118

OCLC Number

  • 17500191

ISSN Number

  • 2163-6346

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:

Claiborne Guardian Homer, La. -188?. (Homer, LA), Jan. 1 1877. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88064118/.

APA citation style:

(1877, January 1) Claiborne Guardian Homer, La. -188?. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88064118/.

MLA citation style:

Claiborne Guardian Homer, La. -188?. (Homer, LA) 1 Jan. 1877. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88064118/.