The New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, nicknamed "The Staats", claims to be the leading German-language weekly newspaper in the United States and is one of the oldest, having been published since the mid-1830s. In the late 19th century, it was one of New York City's major daily newspapers, exceeded in circulation only by the New York World and the New-York Tribune. Among other achievements, as of its sesquicentennial anniversary in 1984 it had never missed a publication date, thereby laying claim to the title of being continuously published longer than any other newspaper in America.

Valentin Oswald Ottendorfer was an American journalist associated with the development of the German-language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung into a major newspaper. He served a term as a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen and as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. He also served three times as an elector of the United States Electoral College. In addition to his political and journalistic pursuits, Ottendorfer was a notable philanthropist in both Europe and the United States. Today, he is best remembered as the donor whose contribution founded the Ottendorfer Public Library in Manhattan, which bears his name.