The Gideon and Thaddeus Welles Collection

The Gideon and Thaddeus Welles Collection comprises issues of 676 newspapers and news magazines bound into 72 volumes, spanning a time period from 1819 to the 1840's. The collection, termed an `exchange' or `trade' collection, was compiled by Gideon Welles beginning in 1827 when he became editor of the Hartford Times.

Early newspapers contained local news plus articles copied from other newspapers. Editors commonly sent their newspapers to each other, in order to get news from other parts of the country. When an article was taken from another newspaper, that newspaper was credited, and so received extra publicity. Everyone benefited from this type of exchange.

Gideon Welles maintained a sizable newspaper exchange list. He remained with the Hartford Times until 1836 and continued to contribute until 1846. In addition to east coast newspapers from Maine to South Carolina, the collection has various newspapers from Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

The Welles Collection came to the Connecticut State Library as a donation from Emily Peabody Welles, the daughter of Thaddeus Welles, in 1915, as related in a newspaper article that was written at the time of the donation.

Issues in the bound Welles Collection volumes are arranged according to a plan of Gideon Welles', a plan not written down and not fathomable to other observers. Each title is cataloged separately in the State Library catalog and can be searched for by title and subject.

With permission from the Connecticut State Library, the Welles Collection is being microfilmed by Readex Corporation in order that its issues could be included, as appropriate, in the Early American Newspapers series. Individual issues on the film reels are not arranged in the same order as in the volumes, and in some cases the film contains additional issues not found in the volumes. The Connecticut State Library`s copy of the microfilm is being made available as it is indexed. At present, only those reels listed below are available for interlibrary loan.

To locate newspapers in the volumes or on the reels, researchers can search the catalog or use the indexes created to date:

Reels

Reel 1	Arranged by Order on the Reel
Reel 2	Arranged by Order on the Reel

Volumes

Volume 1

Arranged by Order in the Volume

Arranged by Title

If you have a question regarding the Welles Newspaper Collection, please phone the History and Genealogy Unit of the Connecticut State Library at 1-(860)-757-6580.