The Mears Newz facts for kids
The Mears Newz was a special newspaper from the 1900s. It was printed in a small town called Mears, Michigan. At first, it was known as The Mears News.
Contents
The Story of The Mears Newz
How It Started
A man named Swift Lathers started and ran The Mears Newz. He was very good at English because his mother was an English teacher. Swift Lathers used to work for a big newspaper in Detroit. He didn't like it when others changed his writing. So, he decided to start his own newspaper where he could write exactly what he wanted.
In 1909, Swift Lathers moved to Mears. He felt it was his job to share news about his new hometown. He lived a simple life to keep his newspaper going. He wrote every story himself. He even printed the papers using a special printing press that he worked with his foot! Then, he would deliver the newspapers himself to people nearby.
The Smallest Newspaper
Swift Lathers printed his newspaper from his home. It became known as The Smallest Newspaper in the World. It was printed on paper smaller than regular paper. Each paper was about five by seven inches, like a postcard, and had four pages.
The newspaper came out every Friday from 1914 to 1970. People in 38 different states paid to get it! Around 1917 or 1918, a reader suggested changing the name. So, The Mears News became The Mears Newz to make it sound more exciting.
How Many People Read It?
At its busiest time in the 1940s, over 2,000 people around the world read The Mears Newz. Swift Lathers once had more than 2,700 readers. But he decided to make the list smaller. He stopped sending the paper to people whose names started with letters before 'D' or after 'S'. This helped him manage everything by himself.
What Was Inside?
Swift Lathers always shared his honest thoughts in the newspaper. People loved his straightforward style of writing. Sometimes, he would print a long paragraph of advertisements. He also included poetry in his newspaper.
The Price of the Paper
The newspaper cost 50 cents for a whole year. It was $1 for six months. When he first started, a local business person said his paper wouldn't last. They offered him only 25 cents. Swift Lathers was a bit insulted. So, he set the price at 50 cents a year. The price never changed for all 56 years the newspaper was printed!
The Golden Fair
The Mears News first came out on July 24, 1914. In that first issue, Swift Lathers suggested ideas for the first Golden Fair. This fair was for Golden Township in Oceana County, Michigan. It was the only fair of its kind in the county. Some believe it was the first township fair in all of Michigan!
The fair brought school children together for fun competitions and awards. They even crowned a "king" and "queen" for the township. The fair stopped for 16 years after 1918. But on October 5, 1934, The Mears Newz announced, "The Golden Fair is ripe in the Land of Mears." The newspaper kept reporting on the fair every year until it stopped printing in 1970.
The Front Page
The words at the top of the front page changed in the 1930s. At first, it said, A Magazine of Mirth Founded A.D. 1914 By Swift Lathers. Later, it changed to the more famous line: The Smallest Newspaper in the World. This line stayed on the paper until it stopped in 1970.
The front cover of the newspaper often had a special saying. It usually said that something was "ripe in the Land of Mears." This was Swift Lathers' unique way of talking about local events.
Here are some examples of what the front page might say:
- Cherry Pickers are ripe in the Land of Mears. (July 30, 1920)
- Garden Scratchers are ripe in the Land of Mears. (May 18, 1922)
- Goldenrod is ripe in the Land of Mears. (August 18, 1922)
- Just Dust is ripe in the Land of Mears. (July 13, 1923)
- Bridal Bouquets are ripe in the Land of Mears. (April 10, 1953)
- High Flying Kites are ripe in the Land of Mears. (March 20, 1970)
Newspaper Examples
Here are some pages from The Mears News and The Mears Newz:
The Mears News September 10, 1915:
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page 1 -
page 2 -
page 3 -
page 4
The Mears News August 13, 1915:
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page 1 -
page 2 -
page 3 -
page 4
The Mears Newz August 18, 1922:
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page 1 -
page 2 -
page 3 -
page 4
Here are some pictures showing the small size of The Mears News compared to other items:
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page 1 with a USPS postcard
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pages 2 & 3 with a postcard
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USPS postcard over page 2
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page 4 with a USPS postcard
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Mears Newz pages 2 & 3
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Mears Newz by #2 pencils
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Mears Newz by a thumbdrive
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Mears Newz by laptop PCs
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Images for kids
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Lathers' poem "The Harvest Moon"
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Swift Lathers' 1914 foot-operated press
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Lathers' 1916 hand-set foot-operated printing press for publishing Mears Newz
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The Mears News of August 7, 1914
