This collection contains both the personal papers of James E. Scripps and the records of the thirty-year trust he created shortly before his death in 1906. This collection is divided into four series: Biographical Materials, Business Records, George H. Scripps Probate Records, and James E. Scripps Trust Records. The bulk of this collection concerns the running of the Evening News Association. The records of the Evening News Association, the James E. Scripps Corporation, and the James E. Scripps Trust, with related litigation materials, attest to the complexity of this Detroit newspaper operation. Two European journals in the Biographical Materials series belong to Scripps' wife, Harriet Josephine Scripps. The journals contain information about the Scripps family, including relations with James Scripps' sister, Ellen Browning Scripps, who was a journalist and a philanthropist, and the founding donor of the Scripps College.
James Edmund Scripps, Detroit newspaper publisher, was born March 19, 1835 in England, to James Mogg Scripps, a bookbinder, and his second wife, Ellen Mary (Sandus) Scripps. In 1844, the family came to the United States and settled on a farm near Rushville, Illinois. There James worked on the family farm and attended the district school.
In 1857, Scripps left Rushville for Chicago. There he attended Digby V. Bell Commercial School and received his diploma in twelve weeks. Vowing to be successful in business, Scripps's first job was in a lumberyard for a salary of $400 a year. When this establishment failed in September 1857, Scripps secured a position as a reporter for the Democratic Press, published by his cousin, John Locke Scripps. Financial troubles at the paper resulted in employment cutbacks, and J.E. Scripps lost his position. He then worked temporarily directing Canadian sheep pelts to Chicago markets. In 1859, after a brief return to Rushville, Scripps became commercial editor of the Detroit Daily Advertiser. Two years later, Scripps became part owner of this paper, and, in 1862, when the Advertiser merged with the Detroit Tribune, he became business manager and later managing editor. In the same year, Scripps married Harriet Josephine Messinger.
Throughout his first decade in the newspaper business, Scripps contemplated marketing a small, inexpensive, but well-written newspaper containing a minimum of advertising. On August 23, 1873, Scripps founded just such a paper, The Evening News. Although the paper originally lost money, it began to pay for itself after six months in operation. By 1875, all losses had been replenished and a profit of $6,000 was recorded. On August 23, 18T6, The Evening News was incorporated as the Evening News Association. James E. Scripps held the majority interest. Other incorporators included his brother George, his half-brother Edward Wyllis Scripps, his sister Ellen Browning Scripps and a cousin, John S. Sweeney.
The Evening News continued to grow, and by 1877, the paper employed 640 persons. Five years later the paper reported a circulation figure exceeded only by ten other papers in the country. Foreign cable service, shared with the New York Post, the Chicago News, and a few other papers, began in The Evening News on May 5, 1885.
The success of The Evening News encouraged James, George, and Edward to start newspapers in Cleveland, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Those papers controlled by members of the Scripps family became known as the Scripps' League. In 1877, James E. Scripps made an agreement with his two brothers over control of the papers, and spent two years abroad for health reasons. After his return in 1889, growing disagreements over managerial, financial, and editorial concerns led James E. Scripps to withdraw The Evening News. By this time, George B. Booth, Scripps's son-in-law and eventual successor, had joined the staff of the Evening News Association.
As the success of the Evening News Association continued, James E. Scripps considered reducing the price of The Evening News to one cent. To test the existence of a market for a paper of this price, Scripps created his own competition by starting the Detroit Times, which sold for one cent, in August 1890. The success of this paper revealed a hospitable market. Accordingly, Scripps lowered the price of The Evening News to one cent on October 1, 1892. The Detroit Times merged into The Evening News in the sane year.
In October 1893, the Sunday News and Sunday Tribune were combined under the name the Sunday News-Tribune, later renamed the Detroit News-Tribune. At this point, the Evening News Association was printing The Evening News, the Detroit Tribune, and the Sunday News-Tribune.
After the death of George H. Scripps in 1900, James E. Scripps and Edward W. Scripps struggled in bitter litigation for control of the Evening News Association. The issue was to determine the residence of George H. Scripps, who left a will, which named William A. Scripps and Edward W. Scripps as executors, and was admitted to probate in Cleveland. James E. Scripps claimed that Detroit had been the home of his brother George, and that, therefore, the will should have been offered for probate there. James also wished to have the will declared invalid in order to prevent the transfer of the shares of George H. Scripps in the Evening News Association to Edward Whyllis Scripps. If such a transfer occurred, Edward would have been the second largest stockholder and might have eventually gained a controlling interest. The result of this conflict was that James E. Scripps relinquished all ties with the Scripps' enterprises in exchange for complete control of the Evening News Association.
Shortly thereafter, James E. Scripps established a thirty-year trust to ensure that control of the Evening News Association remained with his immediate family. Upon his death in 1906, the trust was administered by William E. Scripps, his son, and George G. Booth and Edgar B. Whitcomb, his sons-in-law.
