H Page 13, Through the years-from The Student to The Daily Illini

History Story by Karen Collins, 10/02/95

The Daily Illini has been around for some years now, dating back to when
the University of Illinois was known as the Illinois Industrial
University. The first ever edition of what we now know as The Daily Illini
premiered in November 1871 as The Student. The Student was edited by the
students of the senior class.

The Daily Illini has gone through several changes in those years, covering
breaking stories, moving, changing names and changing printers. On the top
of every edition of The Student a quote read, "In America, literature and
the elegant arts must grow up side by side with the coarser plants of
daily necessity"-Irving.

The Student didn't remain the Student for long. In January 1874 the
publication's name was changed to The Illini, employing the saying,
"Learning and Labor." Both The Student and The Illini were more of a
literary magazine than a newspaper. The Illini was a 32-page literary
magazine published 10 times a year. As The Student, and in the early years
of The Illini, the publication was only published monthly. Bylines did not
appear on stories, nor were real newsworthy events covered. The Illini
eventually became bimonthly. In 1902, The Illini became known as the Daily
Illini and started printing five days a week.

In the early days as The Illini, no permanent equipment was kept. The
authorities of the publication would divide up all of the equipment at the
end of the year and keep it, requiring the new staff to find its own.

In the late 1890's Drill Hall, The Daily Illini's home at the time, was
destroyed by fire causing The Illini to lose all of it's equipment. From
then until almost 1920 the paper was printed by several different presses
in the Champaign-Urbana area, including The Champaign Gazette. From
1917-1919, the paper was printed on the University Press.

On June 19, 1953, The Daily Illini switched from a broadsheet style and
printed its first edition of the paper in tabloid size, the size that it
is today. The paper became less cumbersome and easier for readers to
handle. The broadsheet pages measured 17 1/2 inches across and 22 1/2
inches deep. The average size of The Daily Illini at that time was only 4
pages. Today The Daily Illini averages about 28 pages.

On Feb. 4, 1971, the DI changed from printing their own letterpress in
Illini Hall, to an offset press at the Rantoul Press, where the DI is
still printed to date. Before this time, however, the papers were printed
by a method called "hot type." The offset press allowed for a quicker
process that produced a sharper image.

In spring term of 1989, The Daily Illini started using Macintosh
computers, which replaced the unpractically wasteful typesetter and made
the company a little more technologically advanced.

Stories have come a long way in T he Daily Illini. In the early
beginnings, the stories were fluffy, featury and not newsy. The Daily
Illini changed and started to cover news. The Daily Illini throughout the
years has been dedicated to giving the best coverage possible to local,
national and international events. If it happened, and it did, the Daily
Illini was there. Making front page news:

Dec. 8, 1941-Nation united for total war; Paratroops land in Phillippines

Aug. 7, 1945-First atomic bombs hit Japan

Aug. 14, 1945-War Ends! Truman announces surrender

Nov. 23, 1963-U.S. in mourning for slain leader

April 5, 1968-Assassin kills Rev. King; troops return to Memphis

March 31, 1981-Regan stable after attack

Jan. 29, 1986-Shuttle explodes over Atlantic

Jan. 17, 1991-War in Gulf

May 6, 1992-Students rally in UI building; three arrested...La Casa
protest leads to sit-in

The Daily Illini hopes to continue the trend of providing up to date news
and information to University students and the Champaign-Urbana community.