The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 13
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Texan of z86o
Austin, which had a practical monopoly of public printing. The
Civilian office at Galveston was the best equipped plant in the
state but the State Gazette and the Southern Intelligencer, both in
Austin, competed in bidding for the public printing contracts.
Government documents were the most numerous class of publica-
tion. The Baptists issued over one hundred titles in the fifteen
year period; the Freemasons were third in number of titles issued.
Most of the printing was done on hand presses. The Galveston
News had a power press in 1852, but it was a Hoe cylinder press
operated by "equine and colored" power. The Civilian had a
steam press by 1857, the Galveston News by 1859, and the San
Antonio Herald secured a steam engine in 186o and combined
operating its printing press and a grist mill. When big volume
printing was necessary, the Texas presses were not adequate. Han-
ford's Texas State Register for 1856 was printed in New York.
Richardson's Texas Almanac for 1861, both editions, was set in
type in Galveston but had to be stereotyped in New York.27
The 186o Census shows that the number of newspapers and
periodicals in Texas had increased from thirty-four, with a circula-
tion of 6,737 in 1850, to a total of seventy-one in 186o. These in-
cluded three daily papers, three tri-weekly, and sixty-five weekly
papers, the last with a circulation of 90o,615. In addition, there
were nine weekly and three monthly literary magazines and four
religious publications.28 Winkler's imprint list totals 2o5 for the
year 186o. The list shows that Texans belonged-other than to the
church, the Democratic party, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, and
Sons of Temperance-to such organizations as the Agricultural,
Horticultural, and Mechanical Society of Collin County, the Cat
Springs Agricultural Society, the Dallas County Agricultural and
Mechanical Association, or the Smith County Agricultural and
Mechanical Society. For entertainment, the Texan might attend
dramatic productions or a program by the Swiss Bell Ringers at
Buaas' Hall in Austin, go to a cotillion party at the Menger Hotel
in San Antonio, or participate in a barbecue at Belton if he
planned to support Breckinridge and Lane. Because of the tense
political situation in 186o, many of the imprints of that year
27E. W. Winkler, Check List of Texas Imprints, i846-z86o (Austin, 1949).
28U. S. Census, z86o, IV, 32.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/31/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.