Seattle Union Record

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = Seattle Union Record

| logo =

| image = File:Seattle Union Record.jpg

| caption = Front page of the February 3, 1919 issue

| type = Union newspaper

| format =

| owners =

| founder =

| publisher = Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity

| editor = Harry Ault

| ceased publication = 1928

| headquarters =

| circulation = up to 80,000

| oclc =

| website =

}}

The Seattle Union Record was a union-owned newspaper edited by Harry Ault.{{cite journal|last=Ngai|first=Mae|authorlink=Mae Ngai|year=1999|title=The Architecture of Race in American Immigration Law: A Reexamination of the Immigration Act of 1924|journal=The Journal of American History|publisher=Organization of American Historians|volume=86|issue=1|pages=67–92|jstor=2567407|doi=10.2307/2567407|s2cid=162371987 }} The paper was published weekly from February 20, 1900 to April 2, 1918 and was published daily from April 24, 1918 until it discontinued publication in 1928.{{cite web|url=https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Union_Record_1900-1928.htm|title=Seattle Union Record|last=Salinas-Aguila|first=Natasha|work=Labor Press Project|publisher=University of Washington|accessdate=6 November 2012}} In its own words, the newspaper was "Published for Principle and Not for Profit".{{cite news|title=Front page|url=http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/images3/unionstrikecalledfull.jpg|date=February 3, 1919|work=Seattle Union Record|accessdate=6 November 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045391/|title=About Seattle union record. (Seattle) 1918-1928 - Chronicling America (The Library of Congress)|work=Chronicling America|publisher=Library of Congress|accessdate=6 November 2012}}

History

Harry Ault was instrumental in the temporary success of the Union Record.{{cite web|url=http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=2859|title=Seattle Union Record|last=Reider|first=Ross|date=December 3, 2000|publisher=Historylink.org|accessdate=7 November 2012}} Prior to working as the editor of the Union Record Ault worked for various other newspaper organizations. As a child, he worked as a newsboy selling the Kentucky Post. At 11 he started the Amateur's Friend and was selling the Weekly People the next year. He would later publish The Young Socialist and at age 19 became the editor of The Socialist. Nine years later, in 1912, he began to work as the editor of the Union Record which had a circulation of 3,000.

The Union Record went daily on the afternoon of April 24, 1918, launching with a daily circulation 40,000 — a number equal to about 90% of the trade unionists in the city of Seattle;[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1918-06-01/ed-1/seq-1.pdf "Seattle Unions Have Daily Labor Paper,"] The Labor World [Duluth, MN], vol. 25, no. 42 (June 1, 1918), pg. 1. this made it the country's first daily labor newspaper.{{cite book|author=Richard C. Berner|title="Seattle 1921-1940: From Boom to Bust|publisher=Charles Press|location=Seattle|date=1992|page=12|series=Seattle in the 20th Century|volume=2|isbn=096298891-X}} The paper obtained wire service from United Press International, posting $100,000 security with the firm in the form of bonds to guarantee the costs occurring through telegraphic news reporting. Economical production was made possible by the company's ownership of three fast web printing presses.

From its humble origins with a print run of 3,000 copies, circulation of the Union Record would ultimately peak at the 80,000 mark.

The paper would play a large role in organizing and supporting the Seattle General Strike of 1919.

The name was revived in November 2000 as the name of an online newspaper run by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild when journalists from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times went on strike.{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/media-july-dec00-seattle_11-21|title=Striking in Seattle|work=PBS|date=November 21, 2000|accessdate=November 21, 2019}}{{Cite web|last=Murphy|first=Kim|date=2000-12-24|title=Newspaper Guild Turns to Cyberspace in Seattle|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-24-mn-4266-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028142925/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-dec-24-mn-4266-story.html|archive-date=2020-10-28|access-date=2020-10-28|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} It ceased publication in January 2001.{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2001/01/strikes-over-and-so-is-union/|title=Strike's Over, and So Is Union|last=Frishberg|first=Manny|work=Wired.com|date=January 10, 2001|accessdate=November 21, 2019}}{{cite news|url=http://www.unionrecord.com/final/display.php?ID=1945|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010407200335/http://www.unionrecord.com/final/display.php?ID=1945|url-status=dead|archive-date=2001-04-07|title=The making of the Union Record|last=Taylor|first=Chuck|work=Seattle Union Record|date=January 10, 2001|accessdate=January 26, 2024}}

Seattle Union Record

History

Footnotes

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