This exhibit will analyze changes in the reporting of Murder within the Virginia Gazette using samples pulled from between the years 1901-1912. This data was gathered by searching for any and all use of the word “Murder” through the digitized and algorithmically transcribed copies of this paper archived by the Library of Congress through their Chronicling America website which acts as a searchable archive housing digital scans of a number of American newspapers.
The original Virginia Gazette was the first Newspaper to be routinely published and distributed within the United States. Though this incarnation of the Gazette bears no direct connection to the first, later editions of the paper would imply that this publication is a direct continuation, as the front page of copies published under their new series for numbering volumes would include the lines “Established 1736 by William Parks” and “First to Publish the Declaration of Independence”.
While the paper itself was based in Williamsburg Virginia, its local reporting did not reveal any murders in the City of Williamsburg, instead aggregating and reporting on murders in the counties surrounding the city. When not reporting exclusively local news, the paper served to collect stories of interest from across various cities and counties in the state of Virginia, as well as reporting on political stories and high-level crimes, such as murders, from other states. The paper also elected to publish, in cases of particularly great importance or strange detail, such as an alleged ritual murder in Germany, reports from and on crimes committed outside of the United States.
This incarnation of the Virginia Gazette, for the years analyzed, consists of a 6 column layout. The paper varied in length from year to year, often coming to either four or eight pages per issue, with one issue being published per week. Advertisements were not contained to their own pages, and were instead inserted between and alongside articles in order to minimize wasted space. Issues also often included a page dedicated to rather lengthy chapters of various crime focused fiction stories, typically focused on a fictional theft or murder, further renforcing the view that reflections on grisly and gruesome murders functioned as a pastime.