ABSTRACT
Daily management of the Wall Street Journal was overseen by Barron’s wife, Jessie, freeing Barron to manage Doremus, as well as other editorial ventures. At its inception, Doremus & Company placed primarily classifieds and tombstones as financial notices of business deals for just nine accounts that grew to be quite profitable under the part-time management of Barron, who was an excellent salesman. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I in Europe, Barron took official control of Doremus, assuming the title of president, and aided the company in taking on its first major campaign, the U.S. government’s massive advertising effort to sell Liberty Bonds to raise money for the war effort. Shortly after the war, Doremus & Company assisted in beginning a special classifieds section of display advertisements in the Wall Street Journal that recruited personnel for executive and highly skilled positions; the purpose of this venture was to help returning soldiers find work. The innovation proved to be a top revenue-earner for the paper, and the practice was adopted by other major national newspapers.
