The Boston Record was founded on September 3, 1884, by The Boston Daily Advertiser as an evening campaign newspaper. The Record was so popular that it was made a permanent publication. It was the first tabloid-format newspaper in New England. Begun as the Afternoon Record, it was bought by William Randolph Hearst in 1921 and known as the Daily Record by the 1930s. It was merged with another Hearst newspaper, the Evening American, to form the Record American in 1961. In 1972, this was merged into the Boston Herald-Traveler, which later became the Boston Herald.

Notable staff