| Type | Morning daily |
|---|---|
| Publisher | J. David Stern |
| Founded | 1877[1] |
| Political alignment | Democratic Party[2] |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1947[2] |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| OCLC number | 15262211 |
The Philadelphia Record was a daily newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1877 until 1947. The Record was founded in 1877 as a one-cent daily newspaper.[1][3] In 1894, The New York Times praised it as "one of the best and most widely circulated newspapers in the United States."[1] Despite the dire economic state at the time, the Record "held its own", and sold 57,000,000 copies in 1893.[1] At that time, it was the most widely read newspaper in the city and equaled the combined circulation of any two of its Philadelphian competitors. Its printing facilities were lauded as modern and both its foreign and domestic reporting as accurate and prompt.[1]
During the Great Depression, it became one of only two morning newspapers in the city after the Public Ledger morning and Sunday editions were merged with The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1933. In 1936, the Record, had a weekday circulation of 328,322 and Sunday circulation of 369,525. By comparison, it led the Inquirer during the week, when the competitor sold 280,093 copies, but trailed on Sundays, when the Inquirer sold 669,152 copies. That year, Moses Annenberg bought the Inquirer, and the rivalry between the publications significantly increased. The two papers, whose buildings were within sight of each other, engaged in a "duel of keep-the-lights-on", in which their employees attempted to log longer workdays than their competitors. Both newspapers during this time accused the other of attempts to steal stories.[2]
In the 1930s, as the competition stiffened between the Record and its primary morning competitor, the Inquirer, both increased their daily price to 3 cents (about $0.48 in inflation-adjusted terms).[2] From July 1936 to 1938, the Record's circulation fell by 40%.[4] In the latter year, the Record's weekday circulation had fallen to 204,000 and its Sunday edition to 362,783. During the late 1930s, the Record, a Democratic Party-aligned publication, was seen as a voice for the executives in both the federal and state governments.[2] In 1947, the Record went out of business and sold its assets to the Philadelphia Bulletin after a drawn-out strike.