On September 13, 1892, Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote to C. C. Hunt, a writer and editor for the American Press Association, regarding a story he had submitted for publication. Paul was 20 years old, living with his mother in Dayton, and working as an elevator operator.
Please find the enclosed postage for the return of my manuscript "A Race for Revenge." Could I make any corrections in it, so that it would stand a show of acceptance, or is it hopelessly bad? By what time do your Christmas stories have to be in? I should like to try my hand on one if there are no objections at that end of the line.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to C. C. Hunt, September 13, 1892. Paul Laurence Dunbar collection, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Microfilm edition, Roll 3).
During this era, newspapers were printed from columns of metal type that were laboriously assembled for each issue. The American Press Association and other syndicates provided "plate columns" of type that were already assembled, making the production of newspapers faster and easier.
A few months ago, both of the other Freehold papers held up their hands in horror because The Inquirer, believing that its patrons demanded the latest telegraphic news, printed from the American Press Association. But it is only a question of a few months when type will be done away with in newspaper work, as by the new machines, all the matter is plates.
The Monmouth Inquirer (Freehold, New Jersey). January 1, 1891. Page 2.
Although the American Press Association rejected Paul's story "A Race for Revenge," several of his poems were included in its poetry column called Gems in Verse. Paul's dialect verse "The Ol' Tunes" appeared in newspapers such as The Journal in Logan City, Utah (on August 27, 1892), the St. Joseph Daily Herald in St. Joseph, Missouri (on September 8, 1892), The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Virginia (on September 23, 1892) and the Freeland Tribune in Freeland, Pennsylvania (on September 26, 1892).
You kin talk about yer anthems
An' yer arias an' sich,
An' yer modern choir-singin'
That you think so awful rich;
But you orter heerd us youngsters
In the times now far away,
A-singin' o' the ol' tunes
In the ol'-fashioned way.
Excerpt from "The Ol' Tunes" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Published in Oak and Ivy (1893).
More of Paul's poems were included in the Gems in Verse column: "Accountability" appeared in 1897, and "Life" was published in 1898. At its peak, the American Press Association served about 10,000 local papers, so Gems in Verse helped to spread Paul's work widely throughout the country.