Roswell Daily Record

Roswell Daily Record
July 8, 1947, issue, featuring a story announcing the Roswell Army Air Field "capture" of a "flying saucer" from a ranch near Roswell.
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Roswell Daily Record, Inc. (Beck Trust - Marjorie S Beck)
PublisherBarbara Beck
General manager
Saralei Fajardo
Founded1891 (1891)
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters
  • 2301 North Main Street
  • Roswell, New Mexico 88201
Sister newspapers
Santa Fe Reporter
ISSN2379-0237
OCLC number427420996
Websiterdrnews.com

The Roswell Daily Record is a local newspaper located in Roswell, New Mexico,[1] and has a circulation of less than 12,000. The paper is well known in the UFO community because it reported the alleged Roswell UFO crash in 1947.[2]

History

In March 1891, Joseph D. Lea founded the Roswell Record.[3] Lucius Dills was editor for several years. In January 1899, Lea and Dills sold the Record to Elmer O. Creighton and A.A. Burnett.[4] A few months later, Burnett exited the business.[5]

In September 1902, Charles E. Mason and his brother-in-law, Professor Harvey F.M. Bear, bought the paper from Creighton.[6] It was soon expanded from a weekly publication into a daily publication.[7] In April 1903, the paper's printers went on strike.[8] Two years later in February 1905, Bear died,[9] at which point his widow, Grace Thorpe Bear, incorporated a stock company and transferred ownership of the Record to the newly created enterprise.[10] In April 1905, former owner Creighton died.[11] George A. Puckett succeeded Bear as editor, and he died in December 1909.[12]

Mason eventually became editor. In February 1932, Arthur W. Cooley bought the Record. The other new minority owners were T.N. Gretzer and Thomas B. Shearman. Mason and Grace Thorpe Bear retained interests.[13] In 1937, Shearman took over as publisher,[7] and two years later in April 1940, Grace Thorpe Bear died.[14] In May 1949, the paper installed a new printing press,[15] and in September of that same year, the Record acquired and absorbed the Roswell Morning Dispatch.[16]

Shearman, who eventually acquired full ownership, was succeeded as publisher by his son-in-law, Robert Hallum Beck, in 1955.[7] Beck's father, Robert Beck, died in 1987,[17] and Shearman died a year later in 1988.[18] Around that time, R.H. Beck retired and was succeeded by his son Robert Cory Beck, who died in 2006.[19] Charles Fischer ran the paper until Barbara Beck, sister of R.C. Beck, took charge in 2015.[7] R.H. Beck died in 2018,[20] and his wife, Marjorie Shearman Beck, died in 2021.[21]

Decline and relaunch

In August 2020, the Daily Record eliminated its Saturday edition.[22] In November 2023, the paper announced it would reduce its print frequency from five to three issues a week and eliminate its Sunday comics section.[23] In October 2025, the Daily Record announced the paper would be printed by The Santa Fe New Mexican.[24] In May 2026, the Daily Record switched from carrier to postal delivery.[25]

In July 2026, the paper announced it would cease publication.[26] Two days later, however, Pat Davis and the other members of the ownership group operating the Santa Fe Reporter reached an agreement with Barbara Beck and Saralei Fajardo to purchase the Daily Record and relaunch it.[27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Roswell Daily Record (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-Current". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Roswell incident: how 'UFO sighting' sparked 70 years of conspiracy theories". The Week. June 26, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Notice". The Santa Fe New Mexican. March 11, 1891. p. 2.
  4. ↑ "Notice". Albuquerque Journal. January 13, 1899. p. 2.
  5. ↑ "Local". The Carlsbad Current. March 25, 1899. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "Roswell Record Sold". The Deming Headlight. September 6, 1902. p. 1.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Roswell Daily Record gets new publisher". The Taos News. September 3, 2015. pp. B009.
  8. ↑ "A Newspaper Strike". Las Vegas Daily Optic. April 30, 1903. p. 1.
  9. ↑ "Harvey F.M. Bear | Editor of Roswell Record Died of Ascending Paralysis". Albuquerque Weekly Citizen. February 4, 1905. p. 6.
  10. ↑ "Newspaper Reorganizes". The Santa Fe New Mexican. February 22, 1905. p. 7.
  11. ↑ "E.O. Creighton Dead. | A Former Roswell Editor Succumbs to Injuries Received Last Week". Carlsbad Current-Argus. April 14, 1905. p. 8.
  12. ↑ "George A. Puckett Is Dead". The Monitor-Press. Wellington, Kansas. December 15, 1909. p. 1.
  13. ↑ "Sale of Record was Announced Roswell Today". The Roswell Daily Record. February 29, 1932.
  14. ↑ "Aged Society Editor Of Roswell Record Died At Vegas Meet". Carlsbad Current-Argus. Associated Press. April 26, 1940. p. 1.
  15. ↑ "Roswell Record Orders New Press". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. Associated Press. May 28, 1949. p. 5.
  16. ↑ "Roswell Dallies Merge Saturday". The Albuquerque Tribune. Associated Press. September 29, 1949. p. 6.
  17. ↑ "Publishers' father dies after lllness". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. Associated Press. August 20, 1987. p. 14.
  18. ↑ "Deaths in the area | Shearman once published Hobbs paper". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. April 6, 1988. p. 10.
  19. ↑ "Roswell Paper's Publisher Dies | Sudden illness claims man who devoted decades to newspapers". Albuquerque Journal. Associated Press. December 19, 2006. p. 32.
  20. ↑ "Roswell Daily Record owner Robert Beck dies". Daily Times. Farmington, New Mexico. Associated Press. August 30, 2018. pp. A2.
  21. ↑ "Obiturary | Marjorie Shearman Beck". Roswell Daily Record. August 7, 2021. Archived from the original on April 18, 2026. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Daily Record to eliminate Saturday print edition". Roswell Daily Record. August 8, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Roswell newspaper reducing frequency". The Eastern New Mexico News. November 23, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2026.
  24. ↑ "EDITORIAL: Changes at the Roswell Daily Record". Roswell Daily Record. October 8, 2025. Retrieved July 14, 2026.
  25. ↑ "A path forward for your local newspaper". Roswell Daily Record. May 5, 2026. Retrieved July 14, 2026.
  26. ↑ Easterling, Mike (July 13, 2026). "'Roswell Daily Record' owners announce newspaper's shutdown". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved July 14, 2026.
  27. ↑ Easterling, Mike (July 15, 2026). "'Santa Fe Reporter' owner steps in to keep Roswell newspaper publishing". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved July 16, 2026.
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