Do you have information Herman Ridder founder Ridder publications New York

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Request for Question Clarification by tlspiegel-ga on 26 Aug 2002 23:33 PDT

Hi robol,

I was able to locate a timeline history (chronology) starting in 1892
when Herman Ridder buys New York "Staats-Zeitung", leading
German-language newspaper in the US - up until 2001 when
KnightRidder.com was renamed Knight-Ridder Digital.

It's a very thorough listing of holdings, history, and overview.

I was not able to find an acutal biography or bibliography on Herman
Ridder.

If you want, I'll be happy to post the link to these pages for you as
an answer.  Thanks and have a great day!

tlspiegel-ga

A web page devoted to the history of the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung
contains biographical information on Herman Ridder.  The text is not
well-edited, but my sense is that the basic information is correct,
even if all of the details might not be.  It's too long to quote in
full here, but you can find it at:

"History of a New York City Institution" (end of third paragraph
through beginning of fifth paragraph)
German Corner: New Yorker Staats-Zeitung
http://www.germancorner.com/NYStaatsZ/history.html

This page seems to indicate that Ridder was sold a tenth of the shares
of the New York Staats-Zeitung in 1890, and acquired complete
ownership in 1906.  The Knight-Ridder corporate web site, as well as
the timeline to which tlspiegel-ga referred, both indicate that Ridder
bought the Staats-Zeitung in 1892.  (Conceivably, Ridder could have
acquired his first shares in 1890, a majority in 1892, and the rest in
1906, but this is just my speculation.)

"History of Knight Ridder, Inc."
Knight Ridder
http://www.knightridder.com/index.html?about/corphistory.html

"Knight-Ridder"
Ketupa.net Media Profiles
http://www.ketupa.net/knight2.htm

The Staats-Zeitung web page also indicates that Ridder published a
German-language Catholic newspaper and an English-language Catholic
newspaper.  He actually published more than one English-language
Catholic newspaper: New York Catholic News and American Catholic News,
both of which also appeared under the name Catholic News.  As for the
German-language Catholic newspaper, it appears that it was published
from 1878-79.

"New York Catholic News"
Catholic Newspapers in Microform at Notre Dame
http://www.nd.edu/~archives/cathnews/253.htm

"American Catholic News"
Catholic Newspapers in Microform at Notre Dame
http://www.nd.edu/~archives/cathnews/6.htm

"Non-Current Catholic Newspapers" (entries for American Catholic News,
Catholic News, and New York Catholic News)
University Libraries of Notre Dame
http://www.nd.edu/~microtex/catholic.htm

"MNEW Newspapers Collection: Microfilm 1811-1988" (entry for
Katholisches Volksblatt)
Notre Dame Archives
http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/index/NEW004.htm

The Staats-Zeitung page also indicates that Ridder was active in
Democratic party politics.  Another source corroborates this fact by
stating that Ridder was a New York delegate to Democratic National
Convention in 1912.

"Index to Politicians: Richner to Rider"
The Political Graveyard
http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/richner-rider.html

- justaskscott-ga

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Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 27 Aug 2002 23:03 PDT

I forgot to mention the search terms I used on Google:

"herman ridder"
"hermann ridder" (some web sites mistakenly use the German form of
"Herman", with two n's)
ridder "staats zeitung"
"knight ridder"
"katholisches volksblatt"