Niles' Weekly Register and The Baltimore Evening Post


Hezekiah Niles, (October 10, 1777 – April 2, 1839) was an American editor and publisher of the Baltimore-based national weekly news magazine, Niles' Weekly Register (aka Niles' Register) and the Weekly Register.

Niles was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to a Quaker family, although his father quit the church to fight in the American Revolutionary War. In 1777, the family fled from Wilmington, Delaware, ahead of the British army to the home of James Jefferis on the east side of the Brandywine Creek near Jefferis' Ford. Niles later asserted in the Weekly Register that a Hessian mercenary threatened to bayonet his mother while pregnant with him.

The family returned to Wilmington and after the war his father rejoined the Quakers. At 17, Niles apprenticed with a Philadelphia printer for three years. He then worked in Wilmington for several years, attempting to establish a printing business that went bankrupt in 1801. In 1805 he published a short-lived literary magazine called the Apollo. Later in 1805, he moved to Baltimore, where until 1811 he edited a daily broadsheet, the Baltimore Evening Post, associated with the Democratic-Republican Party. In 1811, he issued the prospectus for the Weekly Register and had 1,500 subscribers before the first issue had been published.

Niles edited and published the Weekly Register until 1836, making it into one of the most widely-circulated magazines in the United States and himself into one of the most influential journalists of his day. Devoted primarily to politics, Niles' Weekly Register is considered an important source for the history of the period.

Later in life, Niles was afflicted by a paralytic condition and retired to Wilmington, Delaware, where he died in 1839.


Note:

The Baltimore Evening Post began publication June 10, 1805 [v. 1, no. 67] and ceased June 22, 1811 [v. 13, no. 78]. It was published daily, except Sunday. Other editions include the Baltimore Evening Post (Country edition) (Baltimore: 1805: triweekly). The newspaper continues the Baltimore Evening Post: Mercantile Daily Advertiser (Baltimore: 1805) and was continued by the Sun (Baltimore: 1811: daily). (Baltimore: J. Cook & Co.). 

The Enoch Pratt Library has:

1805 to 1811 Baltimore Evening Post 6/10/1805 - 3/1806; 9/29-12/29/1808;1/21-6/22/1811 Daily, no Sunday Incomplete 7
1805 to 1805 Baltimore Evening Post and Mercantile Advertiser 3/25/1805 - 6/10/1805 Daily, no Sunday Incomplete 7

The American Antiquarian Society has the most complete run of originals:

Baltimore evening post.
Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland
Bourne, George, 1780-1845, publisher.
Niles, Hezekiah, 1777-1839, publisher.
Wilson, Thomas, 1768-1828?, publisher.
J. Cook & Co., publisher.
Niles & Frailey, publisher.
Daily
 
Call number: NewsD MD
AAS holdings -- # of issues: 424 Earliest issue held: 1805-08-19 Latest issue held: 1810-08-22
 
Call number: NewsD MD Balt Post
AAS holdings -- # of issues: 1 Earliest issue held: 1806-08-12 Latest issue held: 1806-08-12

Baltimore evening post.
Baltimore, Baltimore County, Maryland
Bourne, George, 1780-1845, publisher.
Niles, Hezekiah, 1777-1839, publisher.
Wilson, Thomas, 1768-1828?, publisher.
J. Cook & Co., publisher.
Niles & Frailey, publisher.
Issued three times a week
 
Call number: NewsD Dani Coll Vol. 1
AAS holdings -- # of issues: 1 Earliest issue held: 1810-06-12 Latest issue held: 1810-06-12
 
Call number: NewsD MD
AAS holdings -- # of issues: 92 Earliest issue held: 1806-02-20 Latest issue held: 1811-05-11


All volumes of Niles' Weekly Register are copied from http://archive.org and are searchable pdfs.



Months covered
File Name Size Last Modified
Index to Niles Register, 1811-1817
 File:generalindextofi00john.pdf 33140 KB 9/18/2013 6:39:33 AM
1811/09-1812/03
File:nilesweeklyregis01balt.pdf 62193 KB 6/2/2012 7:24:22 AM
1812/03-1812/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis02balt.pdf 59959 KB 6/2/2012 7:23:28 AM
1812/09-1813/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis03balt.pdf 70002 KB 6/2/2012 7:26:10 AM
1813/03-1813/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis04balt.pdf 61434 KB 6/2/2012 7:25:58 AM
1813/09-1814/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis05balt.pdf 88530 KB 6/2/2012 7:27:12 AM
1814/03-1814/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis06balt.pdf 61651 KB 6/2/2012 7:24:34 AM
1814/09-1815/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis07balt.pdf 80269 KB 6/2/2012 7:25:48 AM
1815/03-1815/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis08balt.pdf 87689 KB 6/2/2012 7:29:18 AM
1815/09-1816/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis09balt.pdf 88385 KB 9/17/2013 11:18:56 PM
1816/03-1816/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis10balt.pdf 55780 KB 9/17/2013 11:19:09 PM
1816/09-1817/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis11balt.pdf 54544 KB 9/17/2013 11:19:23 PM
1817/03-1817/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis12balt.pdf 52298 KB 9/17/2013 11:19:33 PM
1817/09-1818/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis13balt.pdf 56291 KB 9/17/2013 11:19:56 PM
1818/03-1818/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis14balt.pdf 55378 KB 9/17/2013 11:20:53 PM
1818/09-1819/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis15balt.pdf 88329 KB 9/17/2013 11:22:26 PM
1819/03-1819/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis16balt.pdf 80524 KB 9/17/2013 11:22:28 PM
1819/09-1820/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis17balt.pdf 60061 KB 9/17/2013 11:22:11 PM
1820/03-1820/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis18balt.pdf 59933 KB 9/17/2013 11:22:58 PM
1820/09-1821/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis19balt.pdf 57139 KB 9/17/2013 11:25:52 PM
1821/03-1821/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis20balt.pdf 49607 KB 9/17/2013 11:24:00 PM
1821/09-1822/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis21balt.pdf 50284 KB 9/17/2013 11:23:59 PM
1822/03-1822/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis22balt.pdf 50518 KB 9/17/2013 11:28:28 PM
1822/09-1823/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis23balt.pdf 73668 KB 9/17/2013 11:30:26 PM
1823/03-1823/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis24balt.pdf 48056 KB 9/17/2013 11:29:24 PM
1823/09-1824/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis25balt.pdf 49509 KB 9/17/2013 11:30:00 PM
1824/03-1824/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis26balt.pdf 56063 KB 9/17/2013 11:30:50 PM
1824/09-1825/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis27balt.pdf 52478 KB 9/17/2013 11:31:14 PM
1825/03-1825/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis28nile.pdf 50658 KB 9/17/2013 11:32:45 PM
1825/09-1826/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis29nile.pdf 53107 KB 9/17/2013 11:33:03 PM
1826/03-1826/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis30nile.pdf 56776 KB 9/17/2013 11:34:02 PM
1826/09-1827/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis31nile.pdf 59095 KB 9/17/2013 11:34:42 PM
1827/03-1827/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis32nileuoft.pdf 71563 KB 9/17/2013 11:36:04 PM
1827/09-1828/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis33nileuoft.pdf 75240 KB 9/17/2013 11:36:54 PM
1828/03-1828/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis34nile.pdf 62407 KB 9/17/2013 11:37:18 PM
1828/09-1829/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis35nileuoft.pdf 52725 KB 9/17/2013 11:37:15 PM
1829/03-1829/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis36nile.pdf 57098 KB 9/17/2013 11:38:01 PM
1829/09-1830/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis37nileuoft.pdf 64934 KB 9/17/2013 11:38:40 PM
1830/03-1830/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis38nile.pdf 87315 KB 9/17/2013 11:40:02 PM
1830/09-1831/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis39nile.pdf 64860 KB 9/17/2013 11:39:49 PM
1831/03-1831/09
 File:nilesweeklyregis40balt.pdf 59312 KB 9/17/2013 11:40:08 PM
1831/09-1832/03
 File:nilesweeklyregis41balt.pdf 60961 KB 9/17/2013 11:41:53 PM