The New-York Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Agriculture, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage

The Spirit of the Times: A Chronicle of the Turf, Agriculture, Field Sports, Literature and the Stage was an American publication that began in 1831 and ran for seven decades. Edited by William Trotter Porter, it was a successor to the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, which Porter had also founded.1

This publication focused on a variety of topics, including horse racing, field sports, literature, and the stage. During the first half of the 19th century, newspapers primarily covered political and business news, with less attention paid to sports. However, as interest in spectator sports grew, publications like the Spirit of the Times emerged to fill this niche. By the mid-1830s, New York newspapers began to cover events like prize fights and horse racing, and by 1853, the Spirit of the Times published one of the first news stories about a baseball game.1