Northern Constitution

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{italic title}}

{{Short description|Northern Irish newspaper}}{{Infobox newspaper

| name = Northern Constitution

| type = Weekly newspaper

| owners = Alpha Media Group Ltd.

| foundation = 1875

| headquarters = 23 Main Street,
Limavady
BT49 0EP
United Kingdom

| website = {{url|northernconstitution.co.uk/}}

}}

The Northern Constitution is a weekly newspaper in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.{{cite web |title = About |url= http://limavady.northernconstitution.co.uk/about/ |publisher = Northern Constitution

|website = northernconstitution.co.uk |date= 2016 |access-date= 22 December 2016}} It was founded in 1875 under the title Coleraine Constitution and Northern Counties Advertiser, and was renamed to its current title in 1908.{{cite web

|url = http://www.nli.ie/en/NewspapersDetails.aspx?IndexNo=237

|title = Coleraine Constitution and Northern Counties Advertiser

|publisher = National Library of Ireland

|website = www.nli.ie

|date= 2000

|access-date= 7 January 2017}}

It is notable for featuring a weekly column entitled Songs of the People, from 17 November 1923 until 9 December 1939, which had been sponsored by the paper's assistant editor at the time, Bob Bacon, who became its editor from 1927 until 1952.{{cite book |editor1-last= Moulden |editor1-first= John |year=1979 |title= Songs of the People: Selections from the Sam Henry collection, Part 1. |location=Belfast |publisher= Blackstaff Press |isbn= 0-85640-132-3}}{{rp|6,10}} Bacon had seen the value of publishing a regular series on folk songs after witnessing the enthusiastic efforts of Sam Henry, who became the newspaper's Song Editor from the column's inception until 28 July 1928 and again—after a long illness—from 22 October 1932 until the end of the series, on 9 December 1939.{{cite book |editor1-last= Huntington |editor1-first= Gale |editor2-last= Herrmann |editor2-first= Lani |editor3-last= Moulden |editor3-first= John |year=1990 |title= Sam Henry's Songs of the People |location=Athens, GA and London |publisher= The University of Georgia Press |isbn= 0-8203-1258-4}}{{rp|xxx}} During his tenure, Henry published just under 690 songs of high quality.{{rp|xxviii}}