The Public Record was a newspaper first published in Philadelphia on May 14, 1870; it was founded by William J. Swain, son of
William Moseley Swain, who had founded the
Public Ledger. At the time it was published at Clark's Hall at 3rd and Chestnut Streets. In 1877,
William M. Singerly acquired the small-circulation paper and renamed it the
Record, and lowered its price to one-cent. By 1894,
The New York Times praised it as "one of the best and most widely circulated newspapers in the United States." Despite the
dire economic state at the time, the
Record "held its own", and sold 57,000,000 copies in 1893. It was the first newspaper in Philadelphia to use the
Linotype machine. During the
Great Depression, the
Record became one of only two morning newspapers in the city after the
Public Ledger morning and Sunday editions were merged with
The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1933. In 1936, the
Record had a weekday circulation of 328,322 and Sunday circulation of 369,525. By comparison, it led the
Inquirer during the week, when the competitor sold 280,093 copies, but trailed on Sundays, when the
Inquirer sold 669,152 copies. That year,
Moses Annenberg bought the
Inquirer, and the rivalry between the publications significantly increased. The two papers, whose buildings were within sight of each other, engaged in a "duel of keep-the-lights-on", in which their employees attempted to log longer workdays than their competitors. Both newspapers during this time accused the other of attempts to steal stories. In the 1930s, as the competition stiffened between the
Record and its primary morning competitor, the
Inquirer, both increased their daily price to 3 cents (about $ in
inflation-adjusted terms). In the latter year, the
Record's weekday circulation had fallen to 204,000 and its Sunday edition to 362,783. During the late 1930s, the
Record, a
Democratic Party-aligned publication led by publisher
J. David Stern, was seen as a voice for the executives in both the
federal and
state governments. as a staff writer, Evans covered many topics including segregation in the armed services during
World War II. In 1947, the
Record went out of business and sold its assets to the
Philadelphia Bulletin after a drawn-out
strike. ==References==