Murat Halstead Collection
Scope and Content
This collection features hundreds of clippings documenting Murat Halstead's contributions to newspaper reporting. Presumably from the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, the clippings appear to have run in a column titled "Mr. Halstead's Correspondence." Halstead's articles cover a variety of topics of interest during the 1890s. For example, Halstead reports on the death of First Lady Caroline Scott Harrison and the burial of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the administration of President Grover Cleveland. Election issues, politics, the state of democracy, and American involvement overseas in Hawaii and the Sandwich Islands are also discussed. Several articles mention the "Mugwumps," Republican political activists who supported Cleveland, a Democrat, during the 1884 presidential election because of the financial corruption associated with Republican candidate James G. Blaine, many of whom either became Democrats or supported reform efforts during the 1890s. Completing the collection are a few newspaper clippings about Halstead. One provides an account of a lunch honoring Halstead at the Queen City Club in Cincinnati, at which Halstead apparently offered some remarks. "Many things, terse and to the point, were said, while mingled with touches of humor were some strange and almost unconscious pathos, awakened by the old faces that looked upon him in the city of his home," the article reported. The occasion marked the first time Halstead had been reunited with his children and grandchildren in seven years, it continued. Another article reports of a dinner party in Halstead's honor that was also given at the Queen City Club. "Mr. Halstead spoke of the gratification which the compliment gave him," the article reported. "He told of his life-long acquaintance with the city and rich valley to the north. He was much moved, and his tender allusions to men and things were received with marked respect and a feeling of friendship for the distinguished guest, which there was no attempt to conceal." The collection concludes with a letter that Halstead mailed to Ivy Scott of Shandon (Paddy's Run) in Butler County, Ohio on June 5, 1894. In the letter, he tells her "how hopeless the task is of collecting my writings."
Dates
- Creation: 1893-1896
Language of Materials
The records are in English
Restrictions on Access
This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Walter Havighurst Special Collections, Miami University Libraries.
Restrictions on Use
Reproduction of materials in the collection is subject to the restrictions of copyright law. To use any materials not yet in the public domain, the researcher must obtain permission from the copyright holder.
Biography of Murat Halstead
A native of Butler County, Ohio, Murat Halstead (1829-1908) became a reporter with the Cincinnati Commercial in 1853. Within a year, he had become a partial owner of the newspaper; he was its editor by 1865. When the Commercial merged with the Cincinnati Gazette and became known as the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, Halstead served as its editor, criticizing political corruption and supporting the Republican party. Later in his career, Halstead moved to New York City, where he published stories in the Cosmopolitan Monthly, edited the Brooklyn Standard Union and published a memorial biography of President William McKinley. During his career, Halstead covered the political conventions of 1856 and 1860 and the hanging of John Brown near Harper's Ferry. As a war correspondent, Halstead covered Civil War battles and the German armies in the Franco-Prussian War. Politically, Halstead was among a group of Republican editors who supported Horace Greeley's nomination for president of the United States. During the 1884 presidential campaign, he telegraphed his editorials from New York to Cincinnati. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison nominated Halstead as minister to Germany, but the Senate rejected his nomination because of articles he had written attacking corrupt practices, such as the purchase of Senatorial seats. At the end of his career, Halstead wrote several biographies and contemporary histories, including Our Country in War and Relations with All Nations (1898), Full Official History of the War with Spain (1899), and Pictorial History of the Louisiana Purchase and the World's Fair at St. Louis (1904). Halstead married Mary Banks in 1857; together, they had twelve children.
Extent
1 linear feet
Abstract
This collection includes clippings of Murat Halstead's newspaper articles, presumably from the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, together with some newspaper articles about Halstead and one piece of correspondence from Halstead.
Statement of Arrangement
Series I. Series I: Newspaper Articles Sub-Series I: Titled Articles Written by Murat HalsteadSub-Series II: Untitled Articles Written by Murat HalsteadSub-Series III: Articles about Murat HalsteadSeries II. Correspondence
- Title
- Guide to the Murat Halstead Collection
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Betsy Butler
- Date
- 2015
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
Repository Details
Part of the Walter Havighurst Special Collections Finding Aids Repository