The Illustrated American

The Illustrated American
Walt Whitman on cover of the April 19, 1890 issue
EditorMaurice M. Minton (1890–94); C.F. Nirdlinger (1894–96); Francis Bellamy (1897–98); Roland Burke Hennessey (1898–1900)[1]
FrequencyWeekly
PublisherLorillard Spencer (1890–97)
Total circulation
(1892)		40,000
FoundedFebruary 22, 1890
Final issue1900?
CountryUnited States
Based inNew York City
LanguageEnglish

The Illustrated American was a weekly American periodical published from 1890 until 1900. It primarily covered current events (with illustrations), but also contained other miscellaneous content and some fiction.[2][1]

The publication has been described as the first photographic weekly news magazine in the United States. It was first published on February 22, 1890, out of offices located in New York City, selling for 25 cents an issue, or 10 dollars per year.[3][4][5] The price dropped to a more competitive 10 cents per issue after 1892.[6]

Publisher Lorillard Spencer[7] fronted the money for the new publication, and was its owner until 1897,[8] when it was sold to a group led by Amédée Baillot de Guerville, who in turn sold the publication to Patterson and Roland Burke Hennessey. The publication's circulation reached 40,000 by 1892, but declined after Spencer sold it, and it last appeared in 1900.[1]

Francis Bellamy, author of the American Pledge of Allegiance, was among its editors.

  1. ^ a b c Mott, Frank Luther. A History of American Magazines: 1885-1905, p. 58 (1957) ("Another important weekly of the nineties was the Illustrated American...")
  2. ^ The Illustrated American, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Retrieved 18 April 2018
  3. ^ Harris, Christopher R. The illustrated American: “A revelation of the heretofore untried possibilities of pictorial literature”, in Visual Communication Quarterly (Vol. 9, Issue 4, 1999, pp. 4-7)
  4. ^ November Magazines and Reviews, The Churchman (November 1, 1890, p. 569)
  5. ^ (January 1890). News and Notes, The Writer, p. 21 ("It is promised that the illustrations shall be of the best (as they should be, considering that the price is to be ten dollars a year), and that each number shall contain a colored supplement.")
  6. ^ Monteiro, Georbe. "The Illustrated American and Stephen Crane's Contemporary Reputation", Serif (Dec. 1969), 6:49-54
  7. ^ (15 March 1912) LORILLARD SPENCER IS DEAD.; Prominent In Society and Clubs Here and in Newport, The New York Times (Spencer was the father of Lorillard S. Spencer and married to Caroline Berryman Spencer)
  8. ^ Bearor, Karen. "The Illustrated American and the Lakota Ghost Dance", in American Periodicals, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2011), pp. 143-163