Texas Observer Co.

From its first issue in 1954, the Texas Observer newspaper aimed to provide progressive viewpoints and to address topics that readers would not find in mainstream Texas newspapers.

From the description of Texas Observer Records, 1952-1990. (University of Texas Libraries). WorldCat record id: 63680979

From its first issue in 1954, the Texas Observer newspaper aims to provide progressive viewpoints and to address topics that readers would not find in mainstream Texas newspapers. With solid roots in several local and regional Texas newspapers, going as far back as 1901 with the Austin Forum, the Texas Observer grew directly out of a merger of Austin’s State Observer and the Marshall-based East Texas Democrat . The State Observer publisher, Paul Holcomb, and the East Texas Democrat publisher, Franklin Jones hired Ronnie Dugger to edit the new publication.

Mrs. Frankie Carter Randolph, a prominent Houston Democrat, infused the Observer with financial capital in 1957, a move that gave the paper stability and allowed Dugger to devote his attentions to editing and publishing the newspaper. Dugger remained general manager and editor for six years before assuming a contributing editor role while Willie Morris became general manager.

Continuing her financial assistance into the 1960s, Randolph sought to reduce production costs. Dugger returned to his position as publisher in 1963, and the paper reduced its frequency of publication from weekly to biweekly. Following Dugger and Morris as editors were Greg Olds, Kaye Northcott, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, Geoffrey Rips, and Lou Dubose, among others. Each carried forward with the editorial policies of the previous editors, particularly in their coverage of the Texas political scene, in which Northcott and Ivins specialized in the 1970s. Coverage extended to global economic issues during Jim Hightower’s editorship from 1976-1979.

Moving forward into the 1980s, literature and arts became an editorial focus in addition to the staple issues of civil liberties and social, racial, and economic justice. Dubose added literary essays in the 1990s as well as a page devoted to poetry. Over the course of the its history, little advertising littered the pages of the journal; the exception being a large, regular ad from the American Income Life Insurance Company of Waco, which included editorials by company founder Bernard Rapoport. In 1994, the Texas Democracy Foundation assumed publishing and promotion responsibility for the Texas Observer . As of March 2012, the Observer produces a monthly print edition as well as daily updates on its website.

Source:

Dugger, Ronnie. Texas Observer Handbook of Texas Online , accessed March 9, 2012. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/edt12

Dugger, Ronnie. Randolph, Frankie Carter Handbook of Texas Online , accessed March 9, 2012. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra34

From the guide to the Texas Observer, Records 98-318; 2004-130; 2010-261; 2011-150., 1952-2004, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)