Our Clarke
A monthly newspaper published at Berryville, Clarke County, and described by its own running head as established in 1895. Eighteen issues covering 1899 to 1927 survive in digitised form.
A monthly newspaper published at Berryville, Clarke County. Its own running head dated it to 1895, and eighteen digitised issues covering 1899 to 1927 survive; G. L. D. Harris was its editor and proprietor from the first surviving issue through the last.
The People's Journal was a monthly newspaper published at Berryville. Its own running head dated the paper to 1895, and eighteen digitised issues covering 1899 to 1927 are what the corpus can read. G. L. D. Harris is named as its editor and proprietor in the 1899 masthead and is still named as its editor in the 1927 issue — a span of at least twenty-eight years under a single hand1.
In August 1921 the paper printed the statement of ownership required of periodicals by the federal Act of 24 August 1912. That statement declared G. L. D. Harris to be editor, publisher, and owner in one, and stated that ownership being individual, no securities had been issued1. A single-owner Black newspaper in a segregated town, complying with a federal disclosure regime designed to expose hidden corporate control of the press, saying plainly on the record that there was nothing to disclose.
Two claims establish who ran the paper and under what ownership structure across at least twenty-eight years. What remains to be worked out is what the paper covered issue by issue — the People's Journal reading notes name events, people, and organisations the corpus has not yet promoted to claims of their own. A full read of the surviving eighteen issues is the natural next step.
G. L. D. Harris is named as editor and proprietor of the People's Journal of Berryville in its masthead in 1899 and is still named as its editor in 1927.
That one man's name appears in the same role on this newspaper across at least twenty-eight years.
The newspaper is the only witness to its own masthead. No external record of Harris has been consulted, and nothing about his birth, death, family, residence or race is claimed here.
Evidence role: supports. The 1899 masthead, the earlier endpoint.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1899-03-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, masthead and imprint
Relevant passagePEOPLE'S JOURNAL. G. L. D. HARRIS, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. THE PEOPLES JOURNAL published monthly at FIFTY CENTS ... Entered at the Post Office at Berryville, Clarke County, Va. as second class matter. "OF THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE."
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 1921 ownership statement, showing the same man in the same role twenty-two years later.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1921-08-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, statement of ownership required by the Act of 24 August 1912
Relevant passageSTATEMENT of the Ownership, Managment [Management] ... of The People's Journal, published monthly, Berryville, Va., as required by the act August 24, 1912. editor: G. L. D. Harris Berryville, Va. Publisher; G. L. D. Harris Berryville. Known bondholders mortgages, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: The ownership being individual, no securities have been issued. G. L. D. Harris Editor, Publisher, Owner.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
The statement of ownership printed in the People's Journal in August 1921, as required by the Act of 24 August 1912, declares G. L. D. Harris to be editor, publisher and owner, and states that the ownership being individual, no securities have been issued.
That a filing required by federal postal law, printed in the paper, declares sole individual ownership with no bondholders or mortgagees.
This is the printed statement, not the filing held by the Post Office Department, which has not been sought. It establishes what was declared in 1921 and says nothing about ownership before or after that date.
Evidence role: supports. The statement itself, quoted including the securities declaration.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1921-08-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, statement of ownership required by the Act of 24 August 1912
Relevant passageSTATEMENT of the Ownership, Managment [Management] ... of The People's Journal, published monthly, Berryville, Va., as required by the act August 24, 1912. editor: G. L. D. Harris Berryville, Va. Publisher; G. L. D. Harris Berryville. Known bondholders mortgages, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: The ownership being individual, no securities have been issued. G. L. D. Harris Editor, Publisher, Owner.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
G. L. D. Harris is named as editor and proprietor of the People's Journal of Berryville in its masthead in 1899 and is still named as its editor in 1927.
G. L. D. Harris is named as editor and proprietor of the People's Journal of Berryville in its masthead in 1899 and is still named as its editor in 1927.
That one man's name appears in the same role on this newspaper across at least twenty-eight years.
The newspaper is the only witness to its own masthead. No external record of Harris has been consulted, and nothing about his birth, death, family, residence or race is claimed here.
Evidence role: supports. The 1899 masthead, the earlier endpoint.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1899-03-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, masthead and imprint
Relevant passagePEOPLE'S JOURNAL. G. L. D. HARRIS, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. THE PEOPLES JOURNAL published monthly at FIFTY CENTS ... Entered at the Post Office at Berryville, Clarke County, Va. as second class matter. "OF THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE."
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 1921 ownership statement, showing the same man in the same role twenty-two years later.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1921-08-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, statement of ownership required by the Act of 24 August 1912
Relevant passageSTATEMENT of the Ownership, Managment [Management] ... of The People's Journal, published monthly, Berryville, Va., as required by the act August 24, 1912. editor: G. L. D. Harris Berryville, Va. Publisher; G. L. D. Harris Berryville. Known bondholders mortgages, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: The ownership being individual, no securities have been issued. G. L. D. Harris Editor, Publisher, Owner.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
The statement of ownership printed in the People's Journal in August 1921, as required by the Act of 24 August 1912, declares G. L. D. Harris to be editor, publisher and owner, and states that the ownership being individual, no securities have been issued.
The statement of ownership printed in the People's Journal in August 1921, as required by the Act of 24 August 1912, declares G. L. D. Harris to be editor, publisher and owner, and states that the ownership being individual, no securities have been issued.
That a filing required by federal postal law, printed in the paper, declares sole individual ownership with no bondholders or mortgagees.
This is the printed statement, not the filing held by the Post Office Department, which has not been sought. It establishes what was declared in 1921 and says nothing about ownership before or after that date.
Evidence role: supports. The statement itself, quoted including the securities declaration.
G. L. D. Harris, editor and proprietor · 1921-08-01 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, statement of ownership required by the Act of 24 August 1912
Relevant passageSTATEMENT of the Ownership, Managment [Management] ... of The People's Journal, published monthly, Berryville, Va., as required by the act August 24, 1912. editor: G. L. D. Harris Berryville, Va. Publisher; G. L. D. Harris Berryville. Known bondholders mortgages, and other security holders, holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages or other securities: The ownership being individual, no securities have been issued. G. L. D. Harris Editor, Publisher, Owner.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: peoples-journal. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-08. How this project checks its sources
See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association
Also indexed as: People's Journal; The Peoples Journal.
Know something about this place or record? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
The Clarke Courier called it the County League of Negro schools. The People's Journal called it the Clarke County School League. It had $28 when it started and $1,265.95 eleven months later.
What the evidence says Two independent newspapers. Four identifications, each marked as ours.
Between 1910 and 1927 the People's Journal, a Black newspaper published at Berryville, carried advertisements, church notices and personal items from Josephine City: a grocery, a boarding house, a lunch room, houses being enlarged and repaired, and a congregation meeting on fourth Sundays.
What the evidence says Advertisements and notices, faithfully carried. One account qualified by its own date.
In 1909 the Clarke Courier credited forty-one Black men and women with forming the Milton Valley Cemetery Company in 1879 and buying three acres for a burial ground. A 1910 advertisement signed for the company, and a 1926 Cemetery Board notice printed under its heading, show lots offered, a monument raised and a yearly dollar asked of every lot holder, while a committee raised money for a walk in the cemetery. Funeral notices show the dead brought home from Cairo and Detroit, and by the 1930s the cemetery had its own Memorial Day exercises.
What the evidence says The 1909 Courier's account of forty-one founders in 1879, the company's 1910 advertisement and the 1926 board notice, read on the page images, show a Black-run cemetery company with stockholders, a monument and a yearly $1.00 charge on lot holders. Courier notices from 1897 to 1945 record burials there, including people brought home from Illinois and Detroit.
