lecture

2025 Whitehall Lecture Series

The New York Newspaper Publishers of the Gilded Age 

Free for Museum Members at the Patron level and above

$20 for all other Museum Members

$48 for non-Members. Includes required Museum Admission

All Lecture begins at 3:00 pm

The Annual Whitehall Lecture Series presents The New York Newspaper Publishers of the Gilded Age, at 3:00 p.m. each Sunday from February 2nd to March 2nd. Experts and authors will speak about the publishers that were responsible for producing the newspapers of New York during the Gilded Age.  The Series will include presentations by:

John M. Blades will present a lecture about the sensational rise of William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal. 

James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power, will give a lecture about Joseph Pulitzer and The New York World.

Alex S. Jones, author of The Trust: The Private And Powerful Family Behind the New York Times, will give a lecture about Adolph Ochs

Betsy Prioleau, cultural historian and author of Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age, will present a lecture about Miriam Leslie and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

Thomas A. Kligerman, who will give a lecture on James Gordon Bennett, Jr. and The New York Herald.

When possible, each lecture will be followed by a book signing with the author. Visit the H. M. Flagler & Co.® Museum Store for a wide selection of books related to the Whitehall Lecture Series.

Website visitors may watch the lectures via a Livestream broadcast. There is no charge to watch the Livestream lectures.

Sponsored by:

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William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst Gray 72 300pxw

3:00 pm, February 2, 2025 

Watch This Recorded Lecture

 William Randolph Hearst built the foundation of one of the nation’s greatest media empires. In 1895, the young newspaperman moved from San Francisco to New York City to create the most successful daily of his time, the New York Journal, and compete with Joseph Pulitzer, the powerful journalist and newspaper publisher of the New York World. The two battled through the 1896 election and the Spanish-American War. The rivalry between the two papers gave rise to yellow journalism, a style of reporting that uses sensationalized news and conspicuous headlines to attract readers.

Lecturer: Mr. John M. Blades

Before being appointed as the Executive Director of the Flagler Museum, John Blades worked at Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument over a 20 year period in a variety of positions, including as the Senior Photographer and the Head of the Public Affairs Department. 

 Purchase the book, "William Randolph Hearst: The Life and Legacy of 20th Century America's Most Influential Man" by Charles River Editors:

Buy The Book

Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer bw3:00 pm, February 9, 2025

Watch This Recorded Lecture 

Best known today for the prize that bears his name, Joseph Pulitzer transformed American journalism and mass media consumption by making the newspaper an essential feature to urban life. It was not until after serving in the Civil War, that Pulitzer, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant, started his publishing career. In Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power, James McGrath Morris gives an intriguing portrayal of Pulitzer’s long-ranging impact on American politics through the power of his newspapers. Not only did he use the power of the press to advance his progressive political agenda, Pulitzer also used his influence to shed light on the vast social changes of the industrial revolution. Morris skillfully depicts Pulitzer’s transition from a wealthy champion for democracy to a lonely, blind wanderer desperate for a cure. Despite his unfortunate demise, Pulitzer remains an iconic American politician and publisher who changed the landscape of mass media.

Lecturer: James McGrath Morris

James McGrath Morris is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling biographer. He is the author five biographies and three works of narrative non-fiction. He also serves as Executive Director of the New Mexico Writers organization.

Purchase the book, "Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power", by James McGrath Morris:

Adolph Ochs

Adolph Ochs Grayscale 72 300pxw

3:00 pm, February 16, 2025

Watch This Recorded Lecture

The Ochs-Sulzberger family have chaired The New York Times for more than a century. Alex S. Jones will explore how Adolph Ochs’ complicated Jewish legacy, fears, and anxieties were reflected in the paper’s style.

Lecturer: Alex S. Jones

Alex S. Jones was a journalist for The New York Times from 1983 until 1992. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his reporting on the news media. During his career, he and his wife Susan E. Tifft wrote two books about newspaper dynasties, one being The Trust. Published in 1999, The Trust was selected by Time magazine as one of the five best nonfiction books of the year, and it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

 

Miriam Leslie

Horace Greeley headshot bw 3:00 pm, February 23, 2025

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Join This Lecture Live 3:00 February 23  

Heralded as the “Empress of Journalism,” Miriam Leslie was a pioneering New York newspaper publisher and one of the most influential women in 19th-century American media. As the publisher and owner of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, she played a crucial role in shaping public opinion through vivid, timely journalism and striking illustrations. Following the death of her husband, Frank Leslie, in 1880, she defied societal expectations by taking control of the business, legally changing her name to Frank Leslie to preserve the brand’s legacy. A bold and unconventional figure, she later used her fortune to champion women’s suffrage, bequeathing a significant sum to Carrie Chapman Catt to further the cause. Leslie’s impact on journalism and women’s rights remains a testament to her vision and resilience.

Lecturer: Betsy Prioleau

Betsy Prioleau is an author and cultural historian. She received her PhD in American Literature at Duke University, then taught English and world literature at Manhattan College where she was a tenured associate professor. She was a scholar in residence at New York University and taught cultural history at the New York University Liberal Studies Program. Besides essays and scholarly articles, she is the author of four books including Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age on Miriam Leslie.

James Gordon Bennett, Jr.

James Gordon Bennett Gray 72 300pxw

3:00 pm, March 2, 2025

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The son of the founder and publisher of the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was born in New York in 1841. Educated in the United States and France, young Bennett took over his father’s newspaper at 25 years old in 1867. He was a gifted editor and promoter who raised the New York Herald’s profile on the world stage by sending Henry Morton Stanley to Africa to find missionary and explorer David Livingstone. In exchange for financially backing the expedition, the Herald was provided with the exclusive account of Stanley’s progress.

Aside from contributing much to the paper’s strength, Bennett Jr. was an accomplished yachtsman who commanded his yacht Henrietta while she was in Federal Service. He also won the world’s first transatlantic yacht race, and he organized the first tennis match and first polo match in the United States.

Lecturer: Thomas A. Kligerman

Thomas A. Kligerman is an accomplished architect and the founding partner of Kligerman Architecture and Design. After being raised in Connecticut and New Mexico, Kilgerman spent time in France and England as a student and eventually earned an architecture degree from Yale.