Harper's Weekly, Journal of Civilization, 1858

Title

Harper's Weekly, Journal of Civilization, 1858

Description

One piece of the weekly that stood out to me as I read along, was the ad addressed to the companies and business owners in other words aristocracy. To me it was strange to see space taken up to advertise the weekly’s offerings because in today’s society that spaced used would have simply been payed to own/occupy the space (There is no need to advertise it). The ad in the city reading also mentions the cost per line (50 cents). In this case, it is important to notice the difference between 50 cents in the 1800s and now. Today, the same advertisement would be suggesting that the cost per line could be anywhere from $15-$90. This shows a huge cultural difference from New York then and now because it shows how little citizens in the lower and middle classes actually had.
Following up with this idea, the weekly also demonstrated in great detail the finances of the country in 1800s as we would today. Next to the advertisements for the weekly was a weekly financial update. And what that section generally covers is similar to items papers today would attempt to publish. For example, “On Thursday and Friday wheat was actively sought, chiefly on speculation…” New York today probably would ignore the sales of wheat however, it would not ignore the finances the country is spending and making. Although, today New York financial readings would generally focus more on modern topics you could see that the structure of the financial section from the 1800s is closely related to topics we stress today. Many times in the financial section of the newspaper one would see a variety of costs that the US is spending abroad. Whether its oil trade or military expenses, the variety of foreign expenses is not ignored. In the Weekly, it demonstrates the import costs that occurred that week. To refer back to how crucial agriculture was in the market, the weekly’s section of finance includes costs of trade for food items such as coffee, cotton, sugars, etc.

Creator

Harper's Weekly

Source

Harper. "Journal of Civilization." 11 Sept. 1858: 591 [CORRECT CITATION NEEDED]

Publisher

Harper's Weekly

Date

9/17/2015

Contributor

Carlos Moradel

Coverage

September 11, 1858

Collection

Citation

Harper's Weekly, “Harper's Weekly, Journal of Civilization, 1858,” Three Decades of NYC, accessed December 27, 2024, https://loyolanotredamelib.org/en203/items/show/18.