Newspaper Row/Journalism

While the Tribune’s office was based out of New York City, Newspaper Row in Boston was the street upon where all the Boston-based newspapers were based. Modernization has drastically changed the appearance of the street from its heyday as a center of news, especially with the introduction of the television and television news. It is unlikely that Margaret Fuller spent a vast amount of time at this location, as she did not turn to journalism until she moved to New York City.

Beginning in 1844 Margaret Fuller worked on Horace Greeley’s editorial board for the New York Tribune. Historians disagree on how influential Margaret was in the daily operations of the newspaper, but her written contributions cannot be disregarded as influential in how modern journalism is conducted. Her articles varied in topic, but her articles that gained the most attention were her reviews of prisons and asylums, calling for reform. She would visit the sites herself to gain an understanding of the conditions before writing her criticisms of them- the basis of what would become the Progressive Movement in the 1920s. Not all her articles were on controversial topics, as she was also a literary and art critic for the newspaper, but as she grew her criticisms turned into lectures on social reform. After two years of editorship for the Tribune, Margaret sailed for Italy to become the European correspondent for the Tribune. While in Europe Margaret Fuller got caught in the Italian Revolution of 1848- becoming the first American journalist to be a war correspondent in a combat situation. 

Fuller, Margaret. 1995. Margaret Fuller’s New York Journalism: A Biographical Essay and Key Writings. Univ. of Tennessee Press.

Marshall, Megan. 2014. Margaret Fuller: A New American Life. 1. Mariner books ed. Mariner Books. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

“Newspaper Row.” n.d. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://bostonlitdistrict.org/venue/newspaper-row/.