[Ads-l] Antedating of "Big Apple" (In the Sense of Large City)

[Pete Morris]

How about this ?

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Associated_Advertising/w21IAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22big+apple%22&dq=%22big+apple%22&printsec=frontcover

<< ... population of the United States within daily commuting and
shopping distance of this heart of New York.

And here are a few facts about the  Redness and Richness of this
great big "Apple"

More than forty per cent . of the personal Income Tax for the United 
States
is paid by the people within this New York and Suburban Circle . >>


Google dated to 1917.  Caveats apply, but searching within the document
suggests it's somewhere close to that date.

https://books.google.co.uk/books/content?id=w21IAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA7&img=1&pgis=1&dq=1917&bul=1&sig=ACfU3U3elm7OBUA1RVfxpbkfK0n_28dCDg&edge=0

https://books.google.co.uk/books/content?id=w21IAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA63&img=1&pgis=1&dq=1917&bul=1&sig=ACfU3U1xhtL6pY-hznjB9uyTolKNleVZUg&edge=0



------ Original Message ------
>From "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 04/07/2026 14:06:52
Subject Antedating of "Big Apple" (In the Sense of Large City)

>The term "Big Apple," referring to the circuit of New York racetracks, has been researched extensively by Barry Popik.  He found the earliest such reference dated May 3, 1921, authored by sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald.  Popik was able to pinpoint Fitz Gerald's picking up the term from African American New Orleans stable hands in January 1920.  His work on "Big Apple" is among the most outstanding high points in the annals of historical lexicography.  Gerald Cohen has also made important contributions to the "Big Apple" research.
>
>The oldest uses of "Big Apple" meaning a big city were found by Ben Zimmer, Jesse Sheidlower, and myself.  In the black newspaper Chicago Defender, May 15, 1920, the reference was to Los Angeles.  The oldest use specifically meaning New York was dated September 16, 1922.  Both of these occurrences were written by "Ragtime Billy Tucker" of the Defender paper, and neither of them were about race tracks.  Barry Popik has tirelessly worked to publicize the role of the black stable hands and the accurate story of the rise of "Big Apple" as New York City's slogan.
>
>I have now found the following citation:
>
>1916 Freeman (Indianapolis) 16 September 5/5 (GenealogyBank)  Mr. Bennie Jones (Texas Teaser) joined us in Blue Earth, Minn., and is featuring the minstrel band.  Hello, Walter Robison, I am about to bring Bennie Jones back to the big apple.  Your old friend Irvie Richardson.
>
>The context of this cite is an article in the black Freeman newspaper, titled "Notes from P. G. Lowery's Band with Hagenbeck & Wallace Circus" and written by Wm. E. Fields (apparently a member of the band or circus).  Bennie Jones was a black comedian and singer in the Lowery band.  It seems that Fields was giving some kind of shout-out to Jones, quoting Richardson, who is described as "alto and 1st tenor."
>
>The "big apple" in Fields's article presumably refers to a place, probably a large city.  There is no clue in the article as to which city.  The Freeman paper in the GenealogyBank database gives detailed information about the whereabouts of the Lowery band in late 1916.  I have not found any evidence of that band appearing in New York around this time.  There is plentiful evidence that the band was in the Midwest and South around this time.  The Freeman indicated in its October 21, 1916 issue that Lowery's band was breaking up and Bennie Jones was becoming "stage manager for the Allen's Minstrels."
>
>I wonder whether the large city implied in 1916 was Chicago.  In mid-September there was mention of imminently bringing Bennie Jones "back to the big apple."  Articles in the Freeman soon after that have Jones's band being in smaller cities.  Then in the Freeman, Nov. 11, 1916, Jones was said to be in Chicago.  Perhaps that is where Irvie Richardson was about to bring Jones.
>
>Fred Shapiro
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