Flashback Friday 5 January 2018: American News Company Media Empire

From its early roots in New York, American News Company (ANC) was a newspaper and magazine wholesale business that would eventually handle distribution of newspapers, magazines and comic books through more than 300 branches across the United States.

In operation from 1864 through 1957, ANC ushered the shift from sensational pulp fiction entertainment to the science fiction boom of the 1950s via advancements in printing and distribution technologies after the Civil War. Eventually, antitrust actions against the company weakened its business relations and resolve, and decline ensued.

It's theorized that the final fall came as the result of a sole speculator who'd suspected an opportunity to seize profits from a "bookkeeping peculiarity" within the wholesale distribution company.

The New York Times print copy below denotes "advertisement elsewhere" in support of The American News Company, soon after the merger that resulted in initial organization:

PD image hosted by Kentucky Digital Library

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REF:

Wikipedia contributors. "American News Company." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Oct. 2017. Web. 5 Jan. 2018.

Ashley, Michael (1976). The History of Science Fiction Magazine Vol. 3 1946–1955. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc. p. 88. ISBN 0-8092-7842-1.