The Weekly Sillimanian traces its origins to the launching of the first campus publication of the then Silliman Institute named as Silliman Truth. As the first periodical in the Province of Negros Oriental at that time, the little magazine that it was served both the public and the campus. Copies were mailed to the Presbyterian Board and to other subscribers. Varied in terms of content, the publication was multilingual. English, Spanish and Cebuano were interchangeably used. The initial copies of the magazine were printed using a small press purchased by Dr. David Hibbard but later, copies were printed using a much larger press after a $400 grant was received by the Institute from Dr. Horace Silliman.