Cross-Border Transgressions: The American Sunday Newspaper, the Lord’s Day Alliance and the Reading Public, 1890 to 1916

By the start of the 20th century, readers of weekend newspapers had become accustomed to a smorgasbord of reading fare. The passage of the Lord’s Day Act in 1906 changed Canadian weekend reading habits by specifically banning the making, sale, importation and distribution of newspapers on Sundays. Focusing on the cities of Windsor (Ontario) and Detroit (Michigan), this paper uses circulation theory to explore the complicated relations that emerged between local, provincial and national authorities; religious groups; the rhythms of leisure and media production in modernity; and a voracious reading public that refused to be told how to spend their Sundays.