The New York Times Turns 175: How the Newspaper Began in 1851

On August 30, 1851, journalists Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones described a new newspaper they planned to start the next month. It was called the New-York Daily Times. It would be printed every day on a 24-column sheet, with morning and evening editions that each cost one cent. Raymond was a politician who later helped found the Republican Party, and he would be the editor. Jones, a former banker, would be the publisher and manage the money.

In their prospectus, the founders promised the paper would carry literary reviews, art criticism and editorial articles. They also said its columns would be free from narrow interests and open to communications on every subject of public importance. The first issue came out on September 18, 1851. Now, 175 years later, the hyphen and the word "Daily" are gone, but the New York Times remains, Smithsonian magazine reports.

The Times calls itself "the newspaper of record." Its past headlines include "Titanic Sinks Four Hours After Hitting Iceberg" in 1912 and "Men Walk on Moon" in 1969. This year the New York Times Company announced it had more than 13 million subscribers, which it said is the largest paid subscriber base of any news organization in the world.

The paper has changed a lot, especially in the past 20 years. Sam Dolnick, a deputy managing editor, started at the Times in 2009. He says it was a print newsroom built around the print newspaper, its deadlines and its front page. Now, he says, it is a digital newsroom working around the clock and around the globe.

David W. Dunlap, who started at the Times in 1975 as a clerk, is the curator of the Museum at the Times. It is on the 15th floor of the company's headquarters in New York City and shows the paper's history. The museum is closed to the public. On display is the front page of the first edition. Staff members say that although much has changed since 1851, the paper's mission has not.