FYI: New York Clipper (not digitized yet; no money for it?)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

The New York Clipper (later, just The Clipper) began in the mid-1800s as a
sporting and entertainment publication. It provided pre-Sporting Life and
pre-Sporting News coverage to many sports, particularly baseball. Later,  the
publication dropped its sports coverage and covered just the entertainment
circuit. The Clipper folded into Variety in the 1920s.
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I suggested to the LA84 Sports Foundation to digitize The  Clipper and
received this response:
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Thank you for the  suggestion.  We are aware of the New York Clipper's value
and  importance.  We own microfilm copies.  Unfortunately we  do not have the
Clipper on our list of items to digitize.  One key factor as you would guess
is financing the such a project (and locating the originals).  The  Baseball
Hall of Fame and LA84 Foundation are working together to complete  the The
Sporting Life digital project (the Hall of Fames owns the  originals and I believe
both we, they and SABR are involved with financing the  project).
BTW, our new name is LA84 Foundation (as of June  2007).  You can find the
digital archives at _www.la84foundation.org_ (http://www.la84foundation.org/)
Regards,
Shirley Ito
Librarian
_library at la84foundation.org_ (mailto:library at la84foundation.org)
323-730-4646
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_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Clipper_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Clipper)

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The New York Clipper,  also known as The  Clipper, was a weekly
_entertainment_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment)  _newspaper_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper)  published in _New York City_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City)  from _1853_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1853)  to
_1924_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924) . It covered many topics,  including
_circuses_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus) , _dance_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance) , _music_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music) , the
_outdoors_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outdoors) , _sports_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports) , and _theatre_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre) . It had a
circulation of  about 25,000._[1]_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Clipper#_note-0)  The  publishers also produced the yearly New York  Clipper
Annual. In 1924, The  Clipper was absorbed into the entertainment journal
_Variety_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(magazine)) .
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_Frank  Queen_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Queen&action=edit)  began publishing the New York  Clipper in 1853, making it the first
American paper devoted entirely  to entertainment; the paper eventually shortened
its name to The Clipper. The paper was one of the  earliest publications in
the United States to regularly cover  sports, and it played an important role
in popularizing _baseball_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball)  in the
country. In  addition to more popular sporting events, the New York Clipper also
wrote about _billiards_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billiards) , _bowling_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling) , even _chess_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess) . It began covering _American football_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football)  in  1880. In 1894, however, The  Clipper dropped its
sports coverage and devoted itself entirely to  theatre.
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In addition to  entertainment, The Clipper  regularly published short
satirical pieces written in exaggerated _dialects_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect)  such as _African  American English_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_English_Vernacular)  or the speech of the New York _Bowery b'hoys_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B'hoy_and_g'hal) . For example, this letter is
from a fictitious _Irish_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_people)  _travel
writer_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_writer)  named  "Shamus McFudd":
...
After me an Tim had seen the illiphant, an  exhamined his trunk to see how
many klane shurts he had, we wint to see a grate big snake, wid a body the size
iv a whale, an a tail that wud wind 3 times around Pat Clansey's cow stable.
Och! sich a monster I niver want to clap me ises on  agin. His mouth was so big
that he cud take me an  Tim at wan swaller widout  openin it at all; and when
his 2 jaws cum together,  the Whole house wud shake as it is had a fit iv the
 ager. They feed him on broiled pavin stones, an whin he takes dhrink, feth
he laves the river so dhry  that all the ships ran aground. The divil a wurd iv
a lie I'm telling ye._[2]_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Clipper#_note-1)
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The Clipper was the paper of record for the  circus business from its
founding until about 1902 when the Billboard overtook it in coverage. For  most of
its life the paper carried a circus section and contained both  classified and
display advertising for circuses. It remains the single best news  source for
the circus in the second half of the 19th century, and is essential  to circus
historians. It had its competitors for circus news including the  Sporting and
Theatrical Journal,  the New York Mercury, and the  Dramatic News, all of
which  covered circuses to a greater or lesser degree. The Clipper is also an
important source for  minstrel shows and popular theater.
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Today, the _New York Public  Library_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library)  and the _Library of Congress_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress)   possess nearly complete collections of the newspaper.
Many other research  libraries have _microfilm_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microfilm)   copies.




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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org