Figure 1.--New York newsboys at the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City early in the morning before delivering their papers in the city. Notice the standard knee pants and long black stockings. This is when black stockings were almost invariable for boys of all classes.

One of the areas in which boys are most accociated with his newsboys. Here with rare exceptions only boys were involved. I am not sure just when boys began selling newspapers. We do note boys selling newspapers in American during the late 19th century. We know less about other countries. Selling newspapers was an important source of income for boys from low-income urban families. The boys were called Newsies. This continued until the Depression. I think jobs were so difficult to find during the Depression that men replaced newsboys. Child labor laws also became more strictly enforced. A shift occurred durin the Depression era. Rather than selling newspapers on street corners, boys began increasingly deliveering newspapers door to door. I am not sure about the chronology involved here. We note another shift which began in the 1980s with adults replacing boys with delivering newspapers. We note that immigrants are often involved.

Urban Activity

One of the areas in which boys are most accociated with his newsboys. This is certainly the case in America.

Gender

Here with rare exceptions only boys were involved.

Chronology

I am not sure just when boys began selling newspapers. We have photographic images dating from the 1890s. We are less sure about how newspapers were sold in the 19th century before that. Of course the pattern presumably varied from country to country. Eventually as child labor laws became more important and countries established mandatory school attendance laws, boys became less important in selling newspaopers on street corners after World War I. They began, however, to deliver poapers door to door by sunscription before and after school.

Countries

We have very limited infiormation on newsboys around the world. We have some information about newsboys in America. Here a rich archive of photographs is helpful in following trends. This is in part because they were the easiest type of worker to photograph. Many employers limited access to their factories. ewsboys could, however, be photographed freely on the street. We also have some information from England. Our information on other countries, however, is very limited. Hopefully our readers will help fill in the gaps in our information.

Created: 9:02 PM 12/24/2004
Last updated: 4:05 PM 12/28/2004