"[3] Niles apprenticed as a printer in Philadelphia, eventually moving to Wilmington to start a magazine.

The magazine's content included coverage of the War of 1812,[4] among other offerings.

After the Register had been in publication eight years, Niles decided in 1818 to offer an index for all twelve volumes published in that period.

He hired young writer and critic, John Neal to read all twelve volumes, noting the location of salient topics throughout each article.

[5] Neal worked sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, for more than four months on the project, which he called “about the dreariest and heaviest drudgery mortal man was ever tried with,”[6] and that Niles claimed was "the most laborious work of the kind that ever appeared in any country.