About The New Haven union. (New Haven, Conn.) 1895-192?
New Haven, Conn. (1895-192?)

New Haven Union

The New Haven Union family of newspapers was born out of an 1870 printers' strike in New Haven, Connecticut. The strike attracted national attention after officers of the New Haven Typographical Union Number 47 were arrested for conspiracy, and a mass meeting of trades unions was held on the New Haven Green, attended by Alexander Troup, a journalist and officer of the National Typographical Union. From this meeting came the idea of starting an independent labor party in Connecticut, and to support it, a labor newspaper, which would be edited by Alexander Troup.

The first issue of the Sunday Morning Union was published on July 23, 1871. Although the labor party never came to fruition, the Union grew to be one of the largest circulated daily newspapers in New Haven, under the leadership of Alexander Troup and his wife Augusta Lewis Troup. Augusta Troup was a suffragist, journalist, and labor activist, who founded the first trade union for women in New York City, the Women's Typographical Union Local No. 1. She was also the first woman to hold office in the all-male International Typographical Union.

Initially, the Sunday Morning Union was published on Sundays, to the consternation of local clergy. The Troups then switched the publication date to Saturday, and from 1871 to 1873, the Saturday Evening Union was published. Weekly editions were published until 1901. The first daily edition, the Daily Evening Union, was published from 1873 to 1875. The daily newspaper was published as the New Haven Union from 1876 to 1893, the Evening Union from 1893 to 1895, and finally the New Haven Union from 1895 to 1927. From around 1895 until 1911, the daily Union had the largest annual circulation of any newspaper in New Haven, ranging from 13,000 to 18,000, declining after 1911.

The Union billed itself as the "People's Paper," and it mirrored the political and social beliefs of its founders, covering women's suffrage, union organization, and labor struggles. In its political views, the Union was fiercely Democratic. Alexander Troup was active in local Democratic politics, and friends with lawyer and politician William Jennings Bryan, who was frequently a subject of positive coverage on the pages of the Union. Frequent editorial commentary also championed the rights of the working class.

As befitting Augusta Troup's work as a suffragist, Union was solidly pro-woman's suffrage. News of suffrage activities in Connecticut and the United States were frequently featured on the pages of the Union, as well as news of international suffrage activities. Editorials argued in favor of suffrage, including one published on December 7, 1908, and written by "A. L. T."—likely Augusta Lewis Troup herself—that excoriated President Theodore Roosevelt for his comment that suffrage was not important, stating "The President believes 'that men and women should stand on an equality of right,' but does not believe 'that equality of right means identity of function.' Correctly translated, that means that women can bear all the burdens without any of the rights of citizenship."

After Alexander Troup's death in 1908, the Troups' son Philip served as editor until 1914, followed by his brother Alexander Troup, who was editor and publisher from 1916 to 1922. Philip returned as editor and publisher of the paper in 1923. In April 1927, the Union was purchased by the New Haven Times-Leader. At the time of the sale, Philip Troup issued a statement, quoted in the April 22, 1927, issue of the Hartford Courant, thanking employees "for your loyalty to me, to the Troup family and to this newspaper, which has been our property and in a very real sense your property since its founding by my father and mother fifty-six years ago."

Provided by: Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT