The Cricket: A Newspaper with 125 Years of Journalistic History

Grier’s school newspaper, The Cricket, has been around since the 1800s but has had an uneven past, going in and out of circulation over the years. With The Cricket once again being presented to students, alumni, faculty, and other stakeholders, it is important to highlight the history of this historical newspaper. 

The current publication is produced digitally for the first time in history, but the 1917 Cricket explains that it was first “published monthly in 1894 on four medium-sized pieces of paper.” 

The earliest archived paper dates back to 1899. One of the articles covers Nancy Jane Davis’s summer trip to Scotland. Students today may recognize the Davis name as belonging to Davis Hall and the Nancy Jane Davis prize given to a senior at graduation every year. In 1899, Davis was a faculty member but would later become a longtime principal at Grier School. The newspaper provided a way for Davis to share her experience in a time before holidays were captured on social media. 

The 1899 issue also featured Alumni Notes detailing what Grier girls had chosen to do after graduating. In terms of athletics, we get an interesting glimpse into history as the newspaper reports that the basketball team—following the lead of women’s colleges at the time—had decided to edit the game’s rules to better fit the court’s size and female players’ preference for a less aggressive game. Lastly, the issue briefly covered changes in staff and courses, with American History and music being added to the curriculum.

The Cricket seems to have faded in and out of Grier culture, echoing its 1899 tagline of  “published every little while.” The 1917 Cricket is the next available in the archives and waspublished four times that year. In the editorial greetings, the editors described how The Cricket got its name from a Charles Dickens novella, Cricket on the Hearth. The newspaper chose this name with hopes  “that each ‘Cricket’ hopping forth on its mission will chirp fondly, the happiness and joy that abound in our little world of Birmingham.”

The newly revived 1917 Cricket took a more artistic spin and featured an array of student creative works, including a humorous ballad depicting a Grier girl’s experience, an original short story, and a sonnet. A poem by Rose Mills Powers was also written to commemorate Nancy J. Davis’s sixteenth year of principality at Grier School. 

The 1917 issue also touched on the newly built Founders Hall, which brought many new additions to the school, including a swimming pool, new gymnasium, and a large music hall featuring 15 practice rooms. “No other school in the country can offer superior advantages,” the issue claimed. Other campus announcements included upcoming school plays and social notes covering recent school trips. In this edition of The Cricket, each class provided updates on what they had been up to in a section called “Class Notes.” The sophomores covered their athletic wins while the juniors discussed the dwindling number of people staffing The Cricket. 

The last Cricket published in 1917 covered the end-of-year events such as the senior-junior banquet hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Moulton, a celebration that included speeches and a late-night dance. A school pageant was also put on that featured Grier girls performing songs and dances from various nations, including an English dance, Spanish dance, Highland fling, and many more. It seems that even in 1917, Grier had an international flair. Lastly, the article touched on Field Day on May 19th, 1917, where the whole school played field games, basketball, and hockey.

The newspaper seems to have fallen out of circulation for much of the 20th century, However, Learning Skills teacher Mrs. Gerber reports that The Cricket had a brief revival once again in the early 2010s under the name of The Green and Gold Newspaper; however, that quickly died and did not last more than a couple years.

With The Cricket once again revived under its original name, Head of School Kara Lawler says she “hopes The Cricket allows students’ voices to be heard.” With the revived Cricket now having a staff of over 15 members and being supervised by Dr. Boudreau, Ms. Lawler’s hope of community building is very possible. Like its predecessors, the new edition hopes to dive into different aspects of Grier life, highlighting our talented and diverse community.

You can view the 1899, Volume 3 issue of the Cricket here.