UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The newspaper industry and its need to evolve are frequent topics of conversation in the digital age, but the Daily Collegian has been evolving since day one.
In April 1887, the publication was born as the Free Lance, a monthly news magazine with a clear mission. “It shall be our aim to sedulously represent to our readers the status of our College, an institution which enjoys, against a sometimes faulted past, a prosperous present and the assurance of a most successful future," said the editors in the inaugural issue. "To our Contemporaries we say we are glad to join the ranks. We say ranks, because Student Journalism is surely a fixture of the American university.”
The magazine carried out its mission, but like today’s news publications, it faced plenty of difficulties, too. In April 1901, the struggling Free Lance turned its focus on itself in its pages:
“We begin our new task by asking for the support and cooperation of the College, the alumni, and the undergraduate students. Please remember that the Lance is published by the student body and not by the staff of editors; that we shall be very glad for any literary contribution whether published or not; that we need your financial support; and if you have any criticism of the College Magazine or of college matters in general, we shall be pleased to have you submit it to us.”
The magazine eventually concluded publication with its April 1904 edition, which didn’t appear on campus until May of that year.
The State Collegian followed, putting out its first issue on Oct. 1, 1904, with plans to succeed where the Free Lance had failed: “We claim that with proper care and loyal support this publication can be made as interesting and newsy as the other was dry and stale ... Fact and not literary effort is to be the basis of this publication.”
The paper was published once a week on Thursdays and grew, adding photos and printing as a broadsheet rather than a tabloid-size paper.
In 1911, the State Collegian took a new name, reporting in its pages that, “In accordance with the usage which has developed rapidly within the past two years, we have decided upon a change in name — to the ‘Penn State Collegian.’
“‘Penn State’ is but little longer than ‘State,’ and is so much more definite and expressive that we advocate its use in all cases where the official title of the college is too long and dignified. The arguments in the question were discussed last year, and student sentiment seems to indicate that our familiar title for the college be from now on, ‘Penn State.’”
By the fall of 1920 the paper became a semi-weekly. Reporters covered all aspects of daily life as well as global events, even scooping local media by managing to publish a brief on the crash of the German passenger airship Hindenburg just as the paper was going to press.