The Boston Herald can trace its roots to 1846, when a new newspaper named The Herald first appeared. Since that edition, Boston has always had a newspaper with the name “Herald” on its masthead.
Now the Herald is beginning a new chapter in state-of-the-art offices in the city’s thriving Seaport District. The newsroom has been designed to capitalize on the multimedia nature of the news, positioning the Herald for our future on paper and online.
Today’s Boston Herald evolved from a number of different Boston newspapers along two principal lines: that of the Daily Advertiser and that of the old Boston Herald.
The Daily Advertiser
The Daily Advertiser was established in 1813 in Boston by Nathan Hale, a cousin of the famous patriot. Located near the Old State House, this newspaper served a wealthy Republican audience.
In 1840, the Daily Advertiser took over five older Boston newspapers, including the Independent Chronicle, which was founded in 1768. It continued to gain a higher profile and by the time the Great Fire of 1872 hit Newspaper Row (the area near today’s Government Center), the Advertiser was keeping Boston well-informed.
In 1884, the Daily Advertiser began printing the Afternoon Record.
Some years later, in 1904, William Randolph Hearst started a newspaper in Boston called The American. Hearst bought the Daily Advertiser in 1917 and then purchased the Afternoon Record in 1921. (The Record is notable in that it was the first New England newspaper to adopt a tabloid format.) Hearst was now a major media presence in Boston.
By 1938, the Daily Advertiser, Afternoon Record and American had changed their names to Daily Record, Evening American and Sunday Advertiser. In 1961, the Record merged with the American into an “all day newspaper” named the Record American. Three years later, in 1964, the Sunday Advertiser switched to a tabloid format.
The Record American and Sunday Advertiser would continue publication until 1972, when they merged with a line of newspapers stretching back to the old Boston Herald.
The old Boston Herald
Founded in 1846, the Boston Herald was the result of the collaboration of a group of Boston printers joined under the name of John A. French & Co. They published a single sheet, two-sided paper and sold it for 1 penny per copy. Its first editor, William O. Eaton, then only 22 years old, said, “The Herald will be independent in politics and religion; liberal, industrious, enterprising, critically concerned with literacy and dramatic matters, and diligent in its mission to report and analyze the news, local and global.”
In 1861, with the advent of the Civil War and an increased demand for news, the Sunday Herald was established.
In 1872, when the Great Fire swept Newspaper Row, Herald editors and reporters worked 48 sleepless hours amidst smoke and flames to deliver the news.
While the Boston Herald flourished and grew, so did the Boston Traveler, founded in 1825 as a bulletin for stagecoach listings. In 1912, the Herald purchased the Traveler, publishing morning and evening editions until 1967, when the Boston Herald effectively absorbed the Boston Traveler, becoming the Boston Herald Traveler.
Several years later, in 1972, the Herald Traveler was sold to the Hearst Corp. (owners of the Record American, descended from the Daily Advertiser), merging into the Record American/Herald Traveler. In January 1973, the unwieldy name was modified to Boston Herald American. The Boston Herald American became a tabloid newspaper in September 1981. In 1982, the Hearst Corp. sought a buyer for the Herald American.
The Herald American was the immediate predecessor of today’s Boston Herald.
The new Boston Herald
Today’s Boston Herald came into existence on Dec. 20, 1982, when Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., bought the tabloid from the Hearst Corp. and changed its name from the Herald American back to the Boston Herald.
For the next decade, the Herald continued to grow in size and circulation, expanding its commitment to cover local news, increasing its local sports coverage and strengthening its business and feature sections. This resulted in a strong increase in both advertising revenue and circulation.
In February 1994, Patrick Purcell, publisher of the Boston Herald and a News Corp. executive, purchased the Boston Herald from Murdoch’s News Corp. and established it as an independent newspaper.
In 2001, Herald Media acquired Community Newspaper Co., a group of four suburban dailies and numerous weekly, online and specialty publications. In 2006, Purcell sold CNC to Gatehouse Media.
Herald Media established its online division in 1995 with the introduction of jobfind.com, New England’s premier online recruitment site. Two years later, Herald Interactive launched BostonHerald.com and shortly thereafter posted homefind.com and carfind.com.
Herald Interactive prides itself on delivering quality products for its users and a cost-effective, creative marketing medium for its advertisers.
