The New York Aurora

The New York Aurora
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatFour-page
Owner(s)Anson Herrick
John F. Ropes
EditorThomas Low Nichols (1841–1842)
Walt Whitman (1842)
Thomas Dunn English (1844)
Founded1841
Ceased publication
1844[1]
Political alignment
Independent/Democratic;[2] nativist[3]
HeadquartersNew York City
CountryUnited States
Circulation5,000[4]
PriceTwo cents
OCLC number09321526

The New York Aurora was a short-lived 19th-century daily newspaper in New York City. It continued the Union and was itself continued in 1844 by the Daily Plebeian.[1]

History

Founded in 1841, the newspaper claimed to be politically independent but also "democratic, in the strongest sense of the word".[5] The four-page, two-penny daily newspaper was owned by Anson Herrick and John F. Ropes and had a circulation of about 5,000.[6] Its first editor was Thomas Low Nichols, who left by February 1842 after printing a libelous article.[7]

Walt Whitman began contributing to the Aurora in February 1842; his first works in the publication are likely the series "Walks in Broadway".[8] He was named the paper's editor on March 28, 1842.[9] In his editorials, Whitman was open in expressing his personal opinions and beliefs and wrote about New York attractions and personalities, local theater and opera, and various happenings around the city.[10] The Brooklyn Eagle praised the new editor as offering "marked change for the better" but noted "a dash of egotism" in him.[10] In fact, owners Anson and Herrick accused Whitman of writing biased articles, including some that criticized Bishop John Hughes as "serpent tongued" and a "hypocritical scoundrel".[11] Their quarrels led to Whitman leaving the Aurora in May 1842.[12] Scholar Jason Stacy has described Whitman's articles for the Aurora as embracing "the tone of a knowing political observer and man-about-town" and as marked by his "struggl[ing] with the nativist sentiments brought out by the Maclay Bill controversy."[13] Many of Whitman's editorial for the paper have been edited and republished by the Walt Whitman Archive.[14]

By December 1844, editorship of the Aurora had passed to Thomas Dunn English, with the paper continuing its Democratic politics under Herrick and Ropes.[15]

References

  1. 1 2 "New York County (NY) newspapers on microfilm and paper at all NYS locations". New York State Library. Retrieved 2026-07-18. New York aurora. Published 1842-1844 : Daily. OCLC 09321526
  2. ↑ Erkilla, Betsy. Whitman the Political Poet. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989: 27. ISBN 0-19-505438-5
  3. ↑ Stacy, Jason (2017). Cohen, Matt; Folsom, Ed; Price, Kenneth M. (eds.). "The New York Aurora". The Walt Whitman Archive. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  4. ↑ Oliver, Charles M. Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2006: 318. ISBN 0-8160-5768-0
  5. ↑ Erkilla, Betsy. Whitman the Political Poet. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989: 27. ISBN 0-19-505438-5
  6. ↑ Oliver, Charles M. Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2006: 318. ISBN 0-8160-5768-0
  7. ↑ Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995: 92. ISBN 0-679-76709-6
  8. ↑ Krieg, Joann P. A Whitman Chronology. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1998: 12. ISBN 0-87745-647-X
  9. ↑ Stacy, Jason. Walt Whitman's Multitudes: Labor Reform and Persona in Whitman's Journalism and the First 'Leaves of Grass', 1840–1855. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2008: 6. ISBN 978-1-4331-0383-4
  10. 1 2 Greenspan, Ezra. Walt Whitman and the American Reader. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990: 48. ISBN 0-521-38469-9
  11. ↑ Oliver, Charles M. Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2006: 319. ISBN 0-8160-5768-0
  12. ↑ Krieg, Joann P. A Whitman Chronology. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1998: 13. ISBN 0-87745-647-X
  13. ↑ Stacy, Jason (2017). Cohen, Matt; Folsom, Ed; Price, Kenneth M. (eds.). "The New York Aurora". The Walt Whitman Archive. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  14. ↑ Cohen, Matt; Folsom, Ed; Price, Kenneth M. (eds.). "Journalism Search Results: keyword "New York Aurora"". The Walt Whitman Archive. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  15. ↑ Katz, Wendy Jean. "Aurora (New York Aurora)". Katz's Unofficial Index to Antebellum New York City Newspapers. Retrieved 2026-07-18.

Bibliography

  • McMullen, Kevin, Stefan Schöberlein, and Jason Stacy. "Walt Whitman at the Aurora: A Model for Journalistic Attribution." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 37 (Summer/Fall 2019): 107–115. doi:10.13008/0737-0679.2362
  • Whitman, Walt. Walt Whitman of the New York Aurora, Editor at Twenty-Two. Edited by Joseph Jay Rubin and Charles H. Brown. State College, PA: Bald Eagle Press, 1950.
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