*The Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter newspaper, published on this date in 1847, was an abolitionist and women's rights newspaper printed in Pittsburgh.
Jane Swisshelm edited the paper, and Robert M. Riddle printed it. Swisshelm funded the work through money in her estate; at the time, the abolitionist newspaper in Pittsburgh had closed. Crowds were waiting in the streets for the first issue. Swisshelm spelled "visitor" as "visiter" and believed her spelling was correct.
The Saturday Visiter also endorsed Free Soil arguments against slavery. The paper had good circulation with around 6,000 subscribers, though more subscribers lived outside Pennsylvania. Frederick Douglass said, "Few papers exert greater influence than the Saturday Visiter, edited by Mrs. Swisshelm." After Swisshelm had a child, she realized she was neglecting the work on the Visiter.
Eventually, in 1853, she started looking to sell the Visiter and looked for someone with similar political views as herself. Despite its good circulation, the paper went bankrupt by 1854 and was sold to Riddle. He merged the paper with the weekly edition of his Commercial Journal, keeping Swisshelm as the editor.
