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Domininkas Boczkauskas (1846–1909)

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The Mahanoy City publisher behind one of the giants of the Lithuanian-American press. Markers: verified · confirmed · corrects a common error · open/caution.

Domininkas Boczkauskas founded the Lithuanian newspaper Saulė (“The Sun”) in Mahanoy City on July 27, 1888 — printed at first in a cellar, with help from his children. Its significance is hard to overstate: because the Russian Empire banned Latin-alphabet Lithuanian printing in the homeland from 1865 to 1904, the free coal towns of Schuylkill County became, improbably, a world capital of Lithuanian-language culture, and Saulė was its flagship. At its peak it had some 9,000 subscribers — the highest circulation of any Lithuanian paper of its time.

Saulė is often called the “first” Lithuanian paper; its own historical society calls it the second of its kind in the United States — so “longest-running and highest-circulation” is the defensible claim. The paper ran until 1959, carried on by his family for fifty years after his own death — so the newspaper’s long life (1888–1959) should not be confused with the publisher’s (1846–1909).

Boczkauskas — the period Polish-orthography spelling he used in America; Bačkauskas in modern standardized Lithuanian — had edited a Polish paper in Buffalo before Saulė. He died on February 25, 1909, in Mahanoy City, and is buried in the town’s St. Joseph Lithuanian cemetery.

His paper’s place in “Little Lithuania, USA” is set out in the Lithuanians of Schuylkill County profile.

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Frequently asked

What was Saulė?
'Saulė' ('The Sun') was a Lithuanian-language newspaper founded by Domininkas Boczkauskas in Mahanoy City on July 27, 1888, printed at first in a cellar. Because the Russian Empire banned Latin-alphabet Lithuanian printing in the homeland, free coal towns like Mahanoy City became centers of Lithuanian publishing. At its peak Saulė had some 9,000 subscribers — the highest circulation of any Lithuanian paper of its time — and ran until 1959.
Was Saulė the first Lithuanian newspaper in America?
No — its own historical society calls it the second of its kind in the United States. The defensible claim is that it was the longest-running and highest-circulation Lithuanian paper of its era.