AP at 175, Part 2: Evolution, 1861-1900
The Associated Press (AP) celebrates its 175th birthday in May 2021. To mark this milestone, the AP Corporate Archives has assembled a concise visual history of the organization, offered here in an eight-part monthly blog, “AP at 175.” This is the second of eight installments.
Valerie S. Komor
Director, AP Corporate Archives
Part 2: Evolution, 1861-1900
When Abraham Lincoln assumed the presidency on March 4, 1861, Lawrence A. Gobright (1816-88) had been a Washington, D.C. journalist for nearly 30 years and the AP’s “chief correspondent” there for six. As we learn in his memoir, Gobright enjoyed remarkably easy access to the president during the Civil War, even calling on him unannounced at the White House to “learn the latest news.” The relationship was useful to both men. During the war, Lincoln needed to reach a broad audience and AP made that possible.
It is likely that Gobright hired a young Harrisburg stenographer, Joseph Ignatius Gilbert (1842-1924), to take down the president’s remarks at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Nov. 19, 1863, and we know from the president’s secretary, John G. Nicolay, that Lincoln relied on the AP account when making his fair copies on his return to the White House.
The war left its mark on AP governance, as it did on society at large. A group of northern Midwest papers formed the Western Associated Press at a meeting in Indianapolis on Nov. 25, 1862. This body, headquartered in Chicago, ran the AP jointly with New York until 1893. In May 1900, under Chicago Daily News publisher Melville E. Stone, it moved to New York City and incorporated under New York state law as the Associated Press.