The 
Lewis Songer Masthead Collection

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Examples from the collection.

Most of the mastheads in the collection are quite similar in format.  They emphasize the title of the newspaper and then list the data they feel it's important to include.  This is often the names of the publisher and editor, the date of establishment, circulation data and prices, along with a postal registration statement and the ubiquitous disclaimer regarding errors that might appear.  Other items which might be included are lengthier lists of staff members, contact information, awards received, press association affiliations, and daily publication information listing the date, volume and issue numbers.

Some newspapers are especially creative with the design of their mastheads and some of the more visually interesting are shown in these pages, grouped by type of publication. Where possible the current web site of the newspaper, or the agency that created it, are linked to.

Click on the type to move to a specific section of the collection: General  Business/Labor Educational  Ethnic  Military Religious

General 
These include mastheads with particularly interesting graphics, long or intricate publication histories, or just ones that caught my eye or raised a question.

Carson City, Nevada-- Territorial Enterprise
This newspaper uses the history of the region, as well as its own publication history to illustrate its masthead.  It also published some of Mark Twain's earliest writings.

  Nevada--Independent 
Ceased publication 1958?

    

Oregon--The St. Helens Sentinel-Mist.  
Did the image of the mountain change after the eruption?
Contact Information

 

Washington--Seattle Times
Note the revised font for the newspaper's title.  It is very common for these to become less ornate with the passage of time.  It's also interesting to see the inclusion of the list of publishers in the second example.  The Seattle Times appears to be very much a "family" paper.

Here are several examples of papers with interesting publication histories:

Kansas--Wichita Eagle  & the Beacon
Note the appropriate logos for the earlier independent publications.  The Wichita Eagle was founded on April 12, 1871, by Col. Marshall Murdock. On Oct. 18, 1872, the first edition of The Wichita Beacon appeared. In 1960 the Eagle bought the Beacon. In 1973, Ridder Publications bought both newspapers. It merged them into the morning Wichita Eagle-Beacon in 1980. In September 1989, the Eagle-Beacon was renamed The Wichita Eagle.
Iowa--The Muscatine Journal and News-Tribune
This Iowa paper has a quite involved history, combining three different newspapers by the time this issue was published.

Pennsylvania--Daily American combined with four other papers.  
Note the environmental awareness--soy ink on recycled paper.

 

Florida--Manateean
An entertaining example using the shape of the newspaper's namesake as part of the title.
This was published at least until 1987.

 

Iowa--O'Brien County Bell
Indiana--Vincennes Sun-Commercial: Legend has it that Abraham Lincoln helped print the March 6, 1830, edition of the newspaper.

 

West Virginia--The Advertiser
Many newspapers in the collection use their own buildings as a logo.  A good example is The Advertiser.  The newspaper was absorbed by the Herald-Dispatch in 1979 but the building remains the same.

Masthead examples:  General  Business/Labor Educational  Ethnic  Military Religious

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Last updated: 19 August 2013