Call Number:

20

Repository:

Historical Society of Frankford

Extent:

12.0 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1970s-2007

Creator:

News Gleaner Publications

Abstract:

The Frankford News Gleaner was a community newspaper founded in 1882 by George W. Henry to serve the neighborhood of Frankford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The News Gleaner grew to serve greater Northeast Philadelphia and later became known as the Northeast News Gleaner. The paper was owned and operated by the Henry family until it was sold to the Journal Register Company in 2002. At the end of 2008, the paper ceased operations. The Northeast News Gleaner records, circa 1970s-2007, consist primarily of photographs used for publication in the Northeast News Gleaner. It also includes negatives; financial records, circa 1970s-2000s; and about 75 whole issues of the News Gleaner, circa 1970s-1980s. There is also a small portion of materials, circa 1990s-2000s, from Nicetown Life, a small local publication serving the Nicetown neighborhood of North Philadelphia.

The Frankford News Gleaner was founded in 1882 by George W. Henry. Operating out of a small shop on Frankford Avenue, the paper was little more than a penny press newspaper. The short articles in the paper, called "Gleanings," helped give the paper its early name, the Gleaner. The Gleaner held the third highest subscription rate as it entered the 1900s, behind the Frankford Dispatch and the Frankford Gazette.

In 1926, the Henry family purchased a Model E Duplex Press that could print and fold eight pages at a time at the rate of 3,000 per hour. The faster press enabled George Henry to distribute the newspaper for free. When the Great Depression occurred in the 1930s, higher demand for circulars and advertising fed the growth of the Gleaner. After the onset of World War II, the Gleaner began to struggle. However, the post-war boom stimulated the need for advertising, and the Gleaner recovered.

In 1955, the Gleaner purchased the Northeast News and Kensington News, after which the paper was called the Northeast News Gleaner. In the 1960s, the Frankford Dispatch and Frankford Gazette both ceased publication. (A later online news service called the Frankford Gazette was founded in 2007 and is still in operation as of 2015.) The circulation of the Gleaner expanded from Frankford into other areas of the Northeast, including Tacony, Mayfair, Holmesburg, and Bustleton. By 1982, the News Gleaner, as it came to be known, was publishing for four separate community markets.

In 2002, the Henry family sold the News Gleaner to the Journal Register Company, which also published the Northeast Breeze and the Olney Times. In December 2008, all three of these papers ceased operations.

This collection consists primarily of photographs used for publication in the Northeast News Gleaner. It also includes negatives; financial records, circa 1970s-2000s; and about 75 whole issues of the News Gleaner, circa 1970s-1980s. Some photographs are organized by topic such as sports or general news, other photographs are not sorted.

Also included in the collection is a small portion of materials, circa 1990s-2000s, from Nicetown Life, a small local publication serving the Nicetown neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The materials from Nicetown Life include a few whole issues of the paper, layout designs, advertisement sale records, and a couple of research files.