"a neat and newsy little sheet"
by John B. Green III
New Bernians have cheered or cursed many types of newspapers over the last 270 years or so. Most have been general circulation, commercial papers, which appeared daily, semi-weekly, or weekly. A few have stood out because of their names or format - Daily Nut Shell, Daily Delta, or the weekly Hornet's Nest. Some were notable because of their content, such as A. R. Raven's The Locomotive, which, though it carried some news, was largely a humor and literary paper. Newspapers like the New Bern Democrat or the Campaign Anti-Radical were overtly political.
New Bern has also had a few special purpose newspapers, as well as papers which fit into particular subsets of journalism, such as the amateur Little But Loud which we profiled in our last post. The special purpose newspapers include school papers and papers published by civic and fraternal organizations. There were also papers which were tied to a particular event or occasion. New Bern's The Whale, which was published in 1891 and 1892, was just such a event-dedicated paper.
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| The Whale, Vol.2 No. 3 [24 February 1892], New Bern, NC |
The East Carolina Fish, Oyster, Game and Industrial Exhibit was held in New Bern annually between 1888 and 1900. It served to showcase the products of the town and surrounding area as well as provide events and programs of educational and entertainment value. The fifth annual exhibition held in late February 1892 was typical and provided six days and nights of exhibits, horse races, balloon ascensions, band concerts, and theatrical programs guaranteed to hold the attention of residents and visitors alike. The guide to all that the fair had to offer was the exhibition's own newspaper, The Whale.
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| New Bern fairgrounds, west side of George Street between Pine and Cypress streets, February 1897. Photo from the collection of George Holland, as published in the New Bern Mirror, 11 December 1964. |
The New Bern Daily Journal set up a complete print shop as a exhibit in the Industrial Building. Visitors could watch the printer perform all the operations of producing The Whale and then receive a free copy of the paper. The Whale measured eight by eleven inches and consisted of four pages of three columns each.
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| The Daily Journal, New Bern, NC, 28 February 1891, p.1 |
The Whale's brief career lasted only two years, appearing during the 1891 and 1892 fairs. It was replaced by a similar paper called The Fair Observer for the 1893 and later exhibitions.
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| The Daily Journal, New Bern, NC, 30 January 1892, p.1 |
Below are details of the three front-page columns of The Whale, Volume 2, Number 3 [February 24, 1892] that should give the reader an idea of the wonders that greeted the visitors to the Fifth Annual Exhibition of the East Carolina Fish, Oyster, Game and Industrial Association.
