{{short description|Newspaper in Buffalo, New York}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Buffalo Courier-Express | image = Buffalo Courier Titanic Front Page (April 16, 1912).jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = The front page of the ''Buffalo Courier'' dated 16 April 1912, featuring the sinking of the RMS Titanic. | type = Daily newspaper | headquarters = Buffalo, New York | format = Broadsheet | owners = George E. Matthews<br>William J. Conners<br>Cowles Media Company | launched = 1926 | ceased_publication = September 19, 1982 }} The '''''Buffalo Courier-Express''''' was a morning newspaper in Buffalo, New York. It ceased publication on September 19, 1982.

==History== [[File:Mark Twain 1871-02-07.jpg|thumb|right|Samuel Clemens (center) with American Civil War correspondent and author George Alfred Townsend, and David Gray, editor of the ''Buffalo Express''<ref name="MTP-Gray"/>]] The ''Courier-Express'' was created in 1926 by a merger of the ''Buffalo Daily Courier'' and the ''Buffalo Morning Express.'' William J. Conners, the owner of the ''Buffalo Courier'', brought the two papers together. The combined newspapers claimed a heritage dating to 1828. One notable part-owner and editor of the ''Buffalo Express'' was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain,<ref name="MTP-Gray">{{cite web |title=David Gray biography |url=https://www.marktwainproject.org/biographies/bio_gray_david.html |website=Mark Twain Project |access-date=December 18, 2020}}</ref> whose tenure at the newspaper lasted from 1869 to 1871.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dlugosz |first1=Steve |title=Mark Twain's experience in Buffalo described as brief but memorable |url=http://ampoleagle.com/mark-twains-experience-in-buffalo-described-as-brief-but-memorable-p10010-1.htm |access-date=December 18, 2020 |work=The Am-Pol Eagle |date=May 27, 2020}}</ref>

In August 1979, The ''Courier-Express'' was purchased by the Cowles Media Company, a publishing company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a change in corporate leadership, Cowles Media decided to close the paper in September 1982. After the local Newspaper Guild members voted to oppose a deal to sell the ''Courier Express'' to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation,<ref name="cjr20110720">{{cite news | url=https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_newspaper_that_said_no_to_murdoch.php | title=The Newspaper that Said "No" to Murdoch | work=Columbia Journalism Review | date=July 20, 2011 | access-date=July 21, 2011 | author=Wexler, Celia Viggo}}</ref> the September 19, 1982 issue was the last issue published.<ref name="reading82">{{cite news | url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=a9gxAAAAIBAJ&pg=4209,5073642 | title= Buffalo Morning Paper To Fold | newspaper=Reading Eagle | date= September 8, 1982 | access-date=December 29, 2009}}</ref> That left Buffalo with only one daily newspaper, the ''Buffalo Evening News'', now known as ''The Buffalo News''.

Cowles Media donated the library to the Buffalo History Museum and Buffalo State College. The library is now housed in the E. H. Butler Library<ref>{{cite web|url=https://library.buffalostate.edu/home/main|title=E. H. Butler Library: E. H. Butler Library: Home|first=Ken|last=Fujiuchi|website=library.buffalostate.edu}}</ref> at Buffalo State College. The library consists of approximately one million news clippings, 100,000 photographs<ref>{{cite web | url=https://library.buffalostate.edu/archives/courier-express_photo | title=The Courier-Express Photograph Collection |access-date=October 6, 2018}}</ref> and several pieces of artworks and framed photographs. The news clippings and photographs, arranged by subject and person, cover the late 1950s to September 19, 1982. The collection served as the library for the reporters of the paper. The librarians weeded both the clippings and photographic files, discarding older files on a routine basis. As a result, many subject areas are not covered.

The library is currently being digitized. While that may take years, photographs will continually be added to the Butler Library Archives Flickr site.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/butler_library_archives/|title=Flickr.com}}</ref>

==Editors== {{Incomplete list|date=August 2008}} [[Image:Alice Russell Glenny-Women's Edition.jpg|thumb|Advertising poster for a ''Women's Edition'', by Alice Russell Glenny]]

===Editors of the ''Buffalo Courier''=== * Douglas A. Levien, 1850s<ref>"Death of Douglas A. Levien," ''New York Times'', April 28, 1897.</ref> * David Gray, 1870s<ref name="MTP-Gray" />

===Editors of the ''Buffalo Express''=== * Almon M. Clapp, editor, founded ''Express'' in 1846<ref name="clappsick">(6 April 1899). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1899-04-06/ed-1/seq-1/ Mr. A.M. Clapp Stricken], ''Evening Star''</ref> * Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as 'Mark Twain', 1869–1871, co-editor * Josephus Nelson Larned, co-editor with Twain * James N. Matthews, 1878–1888<ref name=MenofNY>{{cite book|last1=Matthews|first1=George E.|title=The men of New York: a collection of biographies and portraits of citizens of the Empire state prominent in business, professional, social, and political life during the last decade of the nineteenth century|date=1898|publisher=G.E. Matthews & Co|location=Cattaraugus County (N.Y.)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1wRAQAAMAAJ&q=George+e.+Matthews+buffalo&pg=PA357|access-date=31 October 2015}}</ref> * George E. Matthews, 1888–1911<ref name=MenofNY/> * Burrows Matthews, 1911–1925

===Editors of the ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' === * Burrows Matthews, 1926–1955 * Cy B. King, 1956–1970 * Douglas L. Turner, 1971–1980 * Joel R. Kramer, 1981–1982 * Theo C. Meier, 1950s

===General managers of the ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' === * Gordon Bennett, 1960s * Richard C. Lyons, 1971–1974 * Donald J. Maul, 1970s

===Notable alumni=== *Tom Toles * Wilbur Porterfield, photo pictorialist, 1926–1958

==See also== * Buffalo State College

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category-inline}} * [http://www.buffaloguild.org/about/ History of the Buffalo Newspaper Guild] * As of October 2022, [http://NYSHistoricNewspapers.org NY State Historic Newspapers] has the [https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88074337/ ''Courier-Express,'' 1977-1982] available online for free, public access. *As of October, 2022, [https://www.newspapers.com/ Newspapers.com] has the [https://www.newspapers.com/paper/buffalo-courier-express/26897/ ''Courier-Express,'' 1932-1943], online for paid subscribers. Some public and academic libraries offer Newspapers.com to their users. * [https://library.buffalostate.edu/archives/courier-express ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' Collection] at Buffalo State College

Category:History of Buffalo, New York Category:Newspapers established in 1926 Category:Defunct newspapers published in New York (state) Category:Newspapers published in Buffalo, New York Category:Newspapers disestablished in 1982 Category:1926 establishments in New York (state) Category:1982 disestablishments in New York (state) Category:Daily newspapers published in New York (state) Category:Defunct daily newspapers