About Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger. [volume] (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1880-1901
Lincoln, Nebraska (1880-1901)

Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger, Grand Island Anzeiger und Herold, Grand Island Anzeiger, and Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold.

The Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger, or "Nebraska State Advertiser," was a German-language newspaper founded in Lincoln in 1880. While its earliest issues were Republican in sentiment, it later prided itself on taking an independent viewpoint. As with many of the state's German-language newspapers, the editors of the Staats-Anzeiger urged German nationals to settle in Nebraska, where land was abundant and inexpensive. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, more Germans came to Nebraska than any other national group.

The publishers of the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger, August Esser and Henry Schaal, were originally from Germany and had previous newspaper experience in Nebraska and Illinois, respectively. Esser had been an associate editor and a traveling agent, while Schaal had been a "compositor" or typesetter. One contemporary source described the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger as "a neat, well-conducted paper, devoted to the interests of the locality and [which] gives all the important domestic and foreign intelligence." At its height, the 18" x 24" newspaper had a circulation of 2,765 subscribers paying $2 per week.

The Grand Island Anzeiger, a similar German language paper, ran from 1889-1893, and was succeeded by the Grand Island Anzeiger und Herold.

In 1901, the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger merged with the Grand Island Anzeiger und Herold, or "Grand Island Advertiser and Herald," to form the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold. Published in Grand Island, Nebraska, by the Anzeiger-Herald [sic] Publishing Company, the paper continued to be Independent in perspective. Weekly issues of the Staats-Anzeiger und Herold could be purchased for $1.75. During this time, the newspaper published a literary supplement under the name of Sonntagsblatt, or "Sunday Leaf."

In 1919, Nebraska passed a law forbidding, under penalty, the teaching in any private, denominational, parochial, or public school, of any modern language, other than English, to any child who had not attained and successfully passed the eighth grade. The target for this legislation was in large part the German language, due to widespread anti-German sentiment during World War I. In 1923, in Meyer vs. the State of Nebraska, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state law, saying it violated due process clause of the 14th Amendment. By this time, however, the chilling effect of Nebraska's restriction on the teaching of foreign languages extended to the press, with the number of German-language newspapers in the state plummeting. Some, such as the Nebraska Staats-Anzeiger und Herold, simply dropped German in favor of English. By June 1918, the paper had stopped publishing in German altogether. Subsequent titles, such as the Grand Island Herald, issued by A-H Publishing Company, were published exclusively in English.

Provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE