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Dr. Henry Coppee called William C. Anderson, class of 1894, into his office in Packer Hall to question him about rumors of a new student publication. "It had never occurred to any of us that the University authorities might be interested in what we were doing or that we should ask them for approval," said Anderson, the first editor in chief of The Brown and White, in a column written for the 40th anniversary of the paper. Coppee had learned of the secret meetings of the editorial board from his grandson, Joe Thurston, '96, who was assistant business manager.
For nearly all of campus, though, the appearance of The Brown and White on Tuesday, January 16, 1894, was a complete surprise. Volume I Number I was four pages, 10 1/2 inches x 15 inches and arranged in four columns. Its purpose was clearly explained in a column on Page 1 under the headline "Greeting":
"In response to a general feeling that has existed for some time that Lehigh could support and really should have a publication appearing at least twice a week, if not daily, The Brown and White, in its initial number, now greets you.
"It will aim to put in the hands of its readers promptly all Lehigh news together with facts of general interest with regard to other colleges; special attention will be paid to accounts of all gatherings of alumni, and it is hoped that this will bring the alumni and undergraduates into a much closer union.
"So far as possible, a full list of notices in the nature of a calendar will be published, and all college organizations are invited to make use of this privilege. All alumni and friends as well as undergraduates, are invited to the use of these columns for correspondence and the publication of such matters as may be desirable."
The semi-weekly paper was to appear on Tuesday and Friday throughout the school year. The original board of 15 consisted of six seniors, five juniors and four sophomores.
The paper was set by hand and printed by the South Bethlehem Star which later joined with the Bethlehem Times. Milton S. Grim, South Bethlehem's pioneer newspaper printer, helped the first Brown and White staff bring the newspaper into being. (In fact he even tried to rename it Lehigh Blizzard). The staff would meet on the morning of publication day at Grim's shop at 8 E. Third Street and would usually write the copy that morning, handing it over to the printers who would set the type and publish the paper on a hand-operated press. The paper was then addressed and mailed.
Admittance to the board was governed by a writing competition in which prospective editors wrote articles and editorial material during the first months of the school year using pseudonyms. Competitors submitted an envelope with their pseudonyms on the outside and their real names inside. The competitors were judged on more than just the number of articles, but also on "originality and value of ideas, accuracy, and literary merit."
The competition was difficult for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that competitors often had little grasp for the journalistic style of the times. The Brown and White editors eventually coaxed a member of the faculty into acting as an unofficial tutor to instruct the competitors on newspaper style. The editorial columns were filled with encouragement and at times sharp criticism of the competition. The board did not feel compelled to fill all the slots, but stated that it would rather leave open vacancies and extend the competition in order to find the best men for the job.
The first two issues were sent to all students free and a subscription of $2 was required for the rest of the year. Collection of subscriptions was apparently as difficult an activity as publishing the newspaper, for the editorial columns were filled with pleas for payment to keep the struggling publication alive.
Because The Brown and White appeared at a time when Lehigh publications were not faring well, its success was in doubt from the start. The Bethlehem Times reported the day after the first issue of The Brown and White: "A new college publication called the 'Brown and White' made its appearance yesterday ... whether the college can support such a publication is a question. The Engineering Journal and the Quarterly both proved to be failures. This paper is not that style, however, and its success will be decided in the future. The board of editors, while novices at this kind of work, are sufficient in number to cover the field of news quite thoroughly, and will do their utmost to please the subscribers.
The growth of The Brown and White can be seen in its physical size rather than more frequent publication. Except for two brief intervals, the publication has remained semi-weekly. Through the 1910s, The Brown and White increased in size incrementally from four columns to seven columns by 1923.
Working on The Brown and White was a difficult endeavor for many, and the top editorial job of editor in chief seems to have been particularly taxing. An article in The Brown and White's 40th anniversary issue stated that 18 of the first 30 editors in chief resigned before the end of their one-year terms.
World War I had a large impact on The Brown and White, which was forced to change its production size and quality of paper before later downsizing its operation by 50 percent to a weekly publication published on Wednesdays. An editorial in the Sept. 18, 1918, issue explained the changes:
"Due to the scarcity of labor, and due to the necessary conservation of newsprint paper, The Brown and White will appear, for the present at least, only once a week ... This step has been taken as a patriotic one. Therefore, we hope that the student body will make an effort to support the paper more than ever. Every subscription is needed."
Unlike many other university newspapers, The Brown and White survived World War I without ceasing publication and emerged with a new name, The Lehigh Brown and White, not a revolutionary change but one that the editors felt would differentiate their publication from many of the prep school newspapers that were also called The Brown and White. That change lasted less than a year.
Despite surviving World War I and its continuous growth, the organization of The Brown and White made the job of the editors increasingly difficult. Curtis D. MacDougall, Lehigh instructor of journalism, wrote in the 1928 Brown and White stylebook, "The weaknesses of the old system were legion. The editors had difficulty in exercising their prerogatives once the competitions were over. Staff meetings were infrequent and were poorly attended. The managing editor was forced to give assignments by telephone, and the reporting was untrustworthy. Most of the paper each issue was written by the assistant editor in charge. With such a loose and uncertain organization, it is remarkable that The Brown and White attained the degree of merit that it did."
With these structural problems in mind, Lehigh President Charles R. Richards asked MacDougall to submit a plan to the board of publications to revise The Brown and White. The system that was adopted radically changed the publication, placing it under control of a new class: English 49. Any student could take The Brown and White course for one academic credit. The board of publications, with recommendations from the instructor, the retiring editor in chief and the retiring managing editor, elected the new editor in chief, managing editor and the two news editors.
Editorial material was to be determined by the Editorial Council composed of the four top positions. Promotion to The Brown and White Editorial Board was governed not by competition but rather by performance in the class. A new type of financing also became available to the publication through the use of the Student Activities Fee which was assessed to all students, making them, in effect, all subscribers to The Brown and White. The reorganized and redesigned Brown and White appeared Feb. 10, 1928.
In this form The Brown and White has continued its existence through another World War, Vietnam and more, never ceasing publication. Perhaps the most enduring quality of The Brown and White is its ability to adapt to times and situations. During World War II, when campus nearly shut down and dorms and fraternities were emptied to house troops, The Brown and White inaugurated a new weekly section called GI Lehigh, written with help from the soldiers. Through such ingenuity, The Brown and White kept publishing during the war.
In recent times, dramatic changes in newspaper production technology have altered both the look of The Brown and White and the jobs of its editors. Editorial staff members write, edit and lay out all of the stories on the most modern newspaper-producing equipment available, including Apple Macintosh computers with tabloid-size printers. Members of the business and ad production staffs solicit and make all advertisements for the newspaper. In their own darkroom, Brown and White photography lab assistants process film and make prints of Brown and White pictures.
Although its size, format and layout have changed, sometimes quite often, The Brown and White has remained true for 100 years to its purpose of providing the Lehigh Community with "All the Lehigh News First."
