Hersam Acorn was founded in 1997 after the merger of the Hersam Publishing Company, founded in 1908, with Acorn Press, founded in 1937. In September 2007, the company made its largest acquisition to date, buying the former Hometown Publications and Trumbull Printing, founded in 1959, from Journal Communications, which had purchased them in 1979.[2]
In October 2018, Hearst Communications announced that it had acquired the print and digital assets of seven weekly newspaper brands from Hersam Acorn in Fairfield County, Connecticut, including The Ridgefield Press, The Wilton Bulletin, New Canaan Advertiser, The Darien Times, The Shelton Herald, The Trumbull Times and The Milford Mirror. Those Hersam Acorn papers are now part of Hearst Connecticut Media Group.[3]
The original eight Hersam Acorn newspapers are all broadsheets and publish on Thursday. Following the Hometown acquisition, Hersam Acorn redesigned its 11 newest papers and said it would give them a local focus. Hersam Acorn newspapers in late 2007[2] (with weekly circulation in parentheses[4]) were: