The Santa Fe New Mexican

The Santa Fe New Mexican
Latin: veritas magna est et praevalebit
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)The New Mexican, Inc.
Founder(s)E.T. Davies
W.E. Jones
PublisherPatrick Dorsey
PresidentRobin McKinney Martin
EditorBill Church
Founded1849
LanguageEnglish, Spanish (infrequently), Spanglish (infrequently)
Headquarters150 Washington Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
United States
Circulation23,000
ISSN2474-4360
Websitesantafenewmexican.com

The Santa Fe New Mexican or simply The New Mexican is a daily newspaper published in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dubbed "the West's oldest newspaper," its first issue was printed on November 28, 1849.[1]

The New Mexican is printed on a KBA Comet press housed at a production building officially completed on November 1, 2004. The plant is located at One New Mexican Plaza in Santa Fe. The facility prints other papers including the Albuquerque Journal,[2] and The New York Times.[3] The paper also publishes Pasatiempo is a weekly magazine covering arts, entertainment and culture.[4]

History

On November 28, 1849, E.T. Davies and W.E. Jones published the first edition of The New Mexican. A year later Ceran St. Vrain was listed as publisher.[5] In 1863, Dr. Charles Lieb relaunched the paper, printed in both English and Spanish.[6] He was soon succeeded by Charles P. Clever, followed by William H. Manderfield.[7] In 1864, Thomas S. Tucker became a co-owner.[8] In 1868, the paper was expanded from a weekly into a daily.[9]

In 1881, E.B. Purcell bought the paper from Manderfield and Tucker.[10] He discontinued it two years later.[11][12] A week later W.H. Bailhache, owner of the Albuquerque Review, relocated his paper to Santa Fe and relaunched it as The New Mexican Review.[13] After a month, Charles B. Hayward acquired the business switched the paper from a morning to an evening publication.[14] He soon renamed it back to The New Mexican and in 1885 sold it to T.W. Collier.[15] George Cross was hired as editor.[16] In 1888, a fire damaged the paper's office and destroyed early issues of the paper.[17]

In 1897, Cross retired and Col. Max Frost succeeded him.[18] In 1909, Frost retired due to illness and was succeed by his assistant editor Paul A.F. Walter.[19] He died later that year.[20] Walter, along with Solomon Luna and Holm O. Bursum, owned stock in the business.[5] In 1912, New York millionaire Bronson M. Cutting bought The New Mexican and hired former governor Miguel Antonio Otero as managing editor.[21] After his death in 1935 from an airplane crash,[22] his newspaper was willed to his secretary Jesus M. Baca.[23] The paper was acquired by Oscar S. Stauffer in 1937,[24] Frank C. Rand, Jr. in 1940,[25] and Robert M. McKinney in 1948.[26]

McKinney merged his company with Gannett in 1976. The contract stipulated McKinney retained editorial and managerial control of The New Mexican.[27] In 1978, he sued Gannett for breach of contract, seeking $20 million, the paper returned, or both.[28] In 1989, McKinney bought back the paper in exchange for his 800,000 in Gannett stock worth $33.5 million.[29] In 2001, McKinney died.[30] His daughter Robin McKinney Martin inherited the business.[31] In 2011, the company acquired the Santa Fe Thrifty Nickel.[32] In 2014, Martin was inducted into the New Mexico Press Association’s Hall of Fame.[31] In 2015, The New Mexican was named "Daily Newspaper of the Year" (circulation under 30,000 category) by the Local Media Association, a national organization of television, newspaper and radio companies.[33]

Notable staff

  • Tony Hillerman, served as executive editor in the early 1950s and was a New York Times bestselling author.[34]

See also

Works related to The Santa Fe New Mexican at Wikisource

References

  1. ^ La Farge, Oliver (1959). Santa Fe : the autobiography of a southwestern town. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma. p. v.
  2. ^ Simpkins, Jerry (October 20, 2020). "Santa Fe New Mexican Assumes Printing of the Albuquerque Journal". E&P. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Van Syckle, Katie (August 5, 2018). "How You Got Your Paper Today". The New York Times. p. A2. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  4. ^ "Pasatiempo Santa Fe 2009 Recipient, Major Contributor to the Arts". Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts. Archived from the original on July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  5. ^ a b "A History of The Santa Fe New Mexican". The Santa Fe New Mexican. September 12, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2026.
  6. ^ "The New Mexican". The Inquirer. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. January 27, 1863. p. 3.
  7. ^ "New Mexico". The Leavenworth Bulletin. Leavenworth, Kansas. November 24, 1863. p. 4.
  8. ^ "Notice". Weekly New Mexican. Santa Fe, New Mexico. June 3, 1864. p. 2.
  9. ^ "The Daily New Mexican". The Santa Fe New Mexican. July 9, 1868. p. 1.
  10. ^ "Notice". The Topeka Daily Capital. Topeka, Kansas. December 25, 1881. p. 4.
  11. ^ Purcell, E.B. (May 27, 1883). "To Our Patrons". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. 2.
  12. ^ "Gone Dead". The Weekly Commonwealth. Topeka, Kansas. May 31, 1883. p. 1.
  13. ^ Bailhache, W.H. (June 9, 1883). "To The Public". The New Mexican Review. Santa Fe, New Mexico. p. 4.
  14. ^ "A New Departure". The Santa Fe New Mexican. August 5, 1883. p. 2.
  15. ^ Hayward, C.B. (November 12, 1885). "Announcement". The New Mexican Review. Santa Fe, New Mexico. p. 1.
  16. ^ "Notice". The Morning Journal. Albuquerque, New Mexico. November 13, 1885. p. 2.
  17. ^ "Disasters Fire | Post Office, Catron's Hall, the New Mexican and Other Properties Burned". The Santa Fe Herald. July 21, 1888. p. 4.
  18. ^ "How They View It | Well Pleased and Very Complimentary". The Santa Fe New Mexican. February 1, 1897. p. 2.
  19. ^ "Re-Organization of Santa Fe New Mexican". Albuquerque Journal. January 22, 1909. p. 4.
  20. ^ "Col. Frost Is Dead". The Roswell Daily Record. October 14, 1909. p. 1.
  21. ^ "Santa Fe Mexican Changes Ownership". The Tucumcari News and Tucumcari Times. Tucumcari, New Mexico. July 5, 1912. p. 1.
  22. ^ "Bronson Cutting Killed In Plane Crash Monday". Alamogordo Daily News. May 9, 1935. p. 1.
  23. ^ "Santa Fe New Mexican And $150,000 Is Left To Jesus M. Baca". The Santa Fe New Mexican. June 25, 1935. p. 1.
  24. ^ "Santa Fe New Mexican Sold to Kansas Publisher". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Associated Press. May 30, 1937. p. 4.
  25. ^ "Santa Fe New Mexican Sold to Frank Rand Jr., Head of The Examiner". Albuquerque Journal. Associated Press. May 30, 1940. p. 2.
  26. ^ "Santa Fe New Mexican Sold". Carlsbad Current-Argus. Associated Press. December 1, 1948. p. 1.
  27. ^ "New Mexico newspaper joins Gannett's chain". The San Bernardino County Sun. San Bernardino, California. Associated Press. February 28, 1976. p. 15.
  28. ^ "Former owner sues The Mexican, Gannett Company". The Santa Fe New Mexican. September 3, 1978. p. 1.
  29. ^ Clancy, Anne (December 15, 1989). "Paper Back in N.M. Hands | Gannett Sells New Mexican to McKinney Family". Albuquerque Journal. p. 1.
  30. ^ Lee, Jennifer 8 (June 28, 2001). "Robert McKinney, 90, Editor Who Regained Paper's Control". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  31. ^ a b Haywood, Phaedra (September 27, 2014). "'New Mexican' owner Robin Martin inducted into Hall of Fame; paper nabs top award". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved March 8, 2026.
  32. ^ "In brief | 'New Mexican' acquires the 'Thrifty Nickel'". The Santa Fe New Mexican. May 21, 2011. pp. A006.
  33. ^ "'The New Mexican' wins national Newspaper of the Year award". The Santa Fe New Mexican. December 9, 2015. Archived from the original on August 12, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  34. ^ "Tony Hillerman: An Open Book". New Mexico Magazine. September 15, 2015. Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.