The Pocahontas Times is a weekly newspaper out of Marlinton, West Virginia.[2] It is owned by The Pocahontas Times Inc., and has a circulation of 4,629.[3]

Pocahontas Times
TypeWeekly newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)The Pocahontas Times, Inc.
Founded1882
Headquarters206 Eighth Street, Marlinton, Pocahontas County, WV 24954
Circulation4,629 (as of 2016)[1]
ISSN0738-8373
OCLC number9694614
Websitepocahontastimes.com
Former offices in Marlinton

History

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Founded in 1882 in Huntersville by Reverend William T. Price, the paper was initially meant to keep his sons busy and provide extra income to pay for their college education.[4] The paper moved to Marlinton in 1892.[5]

The paper is most famous for the writings of its long-time editor and publisher Cal Price. Price, who bought out his brother's share of the paper in 1906, ran the paper until his death in 1957. Politically engaged, his editorials often fell towards the conservative side of the spectrum: he was, for example, an ardent supporter of Governor Ephraim Morgan's anti-Union America First Day.[6] But in his 51 years as editor his reputation, both regionally and nationally, was built on his widely syndicated[7] column "Field Notes" which focused on stories of local wildlife, and advanced the cause of conservation.[8] Due to both his literary and political efforts, West Virginia named a state forest after him while he was still living,[9] a fact of which Price said he was "sinfully proud."[8]

After Price's death in 1957, the paper was run by his daughter Jane Price Sharp for many years.[10] Elected president of the West Virginia Press Association,[11] she became known nationally for her continued use of handset type,[12] which the paper used into the 1980s.[13] Her father, she said, had bought a linotype machine in 1901 but hadn't taken to it, and had sent it back; they had continued with hand set type since that time, although by the late 1970s they had to produce everything but the front page in offset type as that was how ads were supplied.[14]

In an ironic turn of events, the paper—the last to use handset type—became the earliest in West Virginia to adopt desktop publishing, after a 1985 flood destroyed their printing plant.[15]

Jane Sharp died in 2017, at the age of 95.[16]

The paper is seen as an authoritative source of coverage for the county, and was sourced for national AP story as recently as 2017.[17]

See also

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Resources

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References

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  1. ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
  2. ^ "Newspapers Currently Received in the West Virginia Archives and History Library" (PDF). West Virginia Division of Culture and History. State of West Virginia. December 2016.
  3. ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
  4. ^ "The Pocahontas Times Just Keeps Rolling On". Santa Cruz Sentinel. 24 October 1973. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  5. ^ Price, William Thomas (1901). Historical Sketches of Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Price brothers. p. 620. newspaper.
  6. ^ Hennen, John C. (2015-01-13). The Americanization of West Virginia: Creating a Modern Industrial State, 1916-1925. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813158761.
  7. ^ "Editor of Pocahontas Times at News Meet". Bluefield Daily Telegraph. 1 September 1936. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Pocahontas County: Cal Price's Times". Beckley Post-Herald. 29 May 1958. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  9. ^ Robinson, Ed (2007-11-05). Historic Inns of Southern West Virginia. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781439619384.
  10. ^ "Marlinton Editor Is Saluted". Beckley Post-Herald The Raleigh Register. 11 March 1967. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Jane Price Sharp Heads Press Unit". Beckley Post-Herald The Raleigh Register. 29 October 1966. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Chronicling the Ebb and Flow". The Los Angeles Times. 14 November 1978. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  13. ^ "North Dakotan Runs One-Woman Paper". Great Falls Tribune. 27 November 1983. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Hand set type still used by Pocahontas Times". The Daily Tribune. 8 February 1979. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  15. ^ Forbes, Harold Malcolm. "Newspapers". e-WV.
  16. ^ "Pocahontas Times mourns loss of Jane Price Sharp". WV Press. West Virginia Press Association.
  17. ^ "Report: Mom had body in truck". Tampa Bay Times. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2018.