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The 1890s: Journalism innovation from the very start

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The Beginning

On its very first day, Stanford had a newspaper. Since then, journalism has continued to thrive on campus.

 

Featured Milestones

Stanford Opens

President Jordan addresses the crowd at Opening Day, Oct 1, 1891, as Leland and Jane Stanford sit beneath portrait of Leland Jr. under the large archway.

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First Publications

The opening on October 1891 saw the start of the monthly Palo Alto, whose prospectus noted it was likely “the only college paper ever started simultaneously with the opening of a great university.” The first student body meeting in October 1891 generated a committee on the formation of a university paper, which led to the release of the bi-weekly Sequoia in December 1891. In 1892 a student newspaper entitled the Daily Palo Alto was founded, which eventually became the Stanford Daily in 1926. By 1893, students writing for the Daily could get credit for their published work as part of English 8 (advanced composition).

The First Twenty-Five Years

To learn more about Stanford’s early years, Orrin L. Elliott, the first Registrar of Stanford, wrote a book chronicling the start of the university: “Stanford University: The First Twenty-Five Years.” Pages 200 to 206 discuss the roots of Stanford’s student publications.

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