Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie's Weekly, was America’s first illustrated newspaper. Its news illustrations were novel—they intrigued the public and made a significant social impact. By the middle of the second year, Frank Leslie’s was successful enough to have created a host of imitators.

Frank Leslie's Weekly was founded in 1855 as Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, when photography was still in its infancy and couldn't easily be reproduced in print. The illustrations gave readers visuals of current events for the first time, creating a new kind of engaging and immersive experience. Detailed engravings of major events from the Civil War to the Spanish American War were available within a couple of weeks. The illustrations and articles had a profound influence on public opinion, offering images in an era before television and widespread photography.

The literary and news magazine provided insights into American culture, including literature, arts, and social trends. It captured the zeitgeist of the time during its publication years. It included a weekly gallery of art and features on music, the stage, fine arts, sports, and literature, including serial fiction.

No publisher could match Leslie’s speed of production, and so he captured an audience ranging from barely literate readers, who appreciated having the news presented in pictures, to more sophisticated subscribers, who were drawn to his coverage of the arts and sports.

The magazine actively promoted women's rights. Frank Leslie's second wife, Miriam Leslie, took over the magazine after his death, and under her guidance, the magazine became a platform for promoting women's suffrage and other women's rights issues.

Lasting for over seventy years, Frank Leslie's Weekly was one of the longest running publications of its kind. Its longevity speaks to its influence and the role it played in American journalism.

• Slavery and abolition

• Politics, Elections, and political parties

• Civil War

• Business and commodities

• Society and culture

• Women’s rights and suffrage

• Labor and radicalism

• Religion

International Coverage

Frank Leslie’s took hundreds of thousands of Americans to places they had never seen before. During its lifetime, the publication provided the most earthy realism available in its day—sometimes more imagined than real.

Europe held a particular fascination in the pages of Frank Leslie’s Weekly, with reporting on the various monarchies, political intrigues, restlessness of ethnic minorities, emigration to America and Canada, industrialization, and economic and financial ups and downs.

While Asia and Latin America were favorite reporting areas, there are many articles covering the British Empire worldwide, the war in South Africa, natural disasters and famine in China, expansion of American trade, and the rise of colonial empires in Africa.

Left: Reporting on “the largest floods China has ever known” in Tientsin, China.

Example topics include:

• British relations with the Continent

• Louis Napoleon and France

• Events in Russia

• Political creation of Germany and Italy

• Franco-Prussian War

• Otto von Bismarck

• Trade and commodity flows

• Rise of Bolshevism

• Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

• World War I perspectives from the wartime capitals

• Imperialism in Africa

• Military posturing in Morocco and North Africa

• Chinese Coolie labor issue

• Westernization of Japan

• Sino-Japanese War

• Boxer Rebellion

• American loans and business in Latin America

• Civil War in Mexico

• Turkish outrages

• Egypt, antiquities, and cotton

Notable Illustrators

• Norman Rockwell provided a number of covers and illustrations for Leslie’s early in his career.

• Winslow Homer’s early assignments for the magazine, especially his depictions of the Civil War, are noteworthy.

• Thomas Nast, known as the "Father of the American Cartoon" and best known for his political cartoons, had some of his work appear.

• James E. Taylor served as a special artist for Frank Leslie's Weekly during the Civil War and is remembered for his sketches and drawings of battles, camps, and everyday life during the conflict.

• Joseph Becker was a staff artist who contributed numerous sketches from the Civil War front. He later became the chief artist for the magazine.

• Henry Worrall, an artist and musician, provided illustrations, especially images depicting life in the American West.

Notable Authors

Like many periodicals of its time, Leslie's commissioned, sponsored, and published short stories and serialized novels. It also contained firsthand accounts and narratives, offering personal perspectives on significant historical events. The many important authors it published include

• Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women;

• Helen Worden Erskine, a noted journalist;

• Ambrose Bierce, known for his satirical works (and remembered for his mysterious disappearance); and

• Julian Hawthorne, the son of the famed novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a writer and journalist in his own right.

Frank Leslie’s Weekly is available as a one-time purchase of perpetual rights or through annual subscription. It’s currently on the Accessible Archives platform and will move to the History Commons early in 2024.