Scope and Content Note
The U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection consists of almost 1.2 million original 35 mm and 2 1/4 inch negatives (primarily black & white) and 45,000 contact sheets (negatives contact printed onto photographic paper, multiple images to a page). The collection depicts local, national, and international news topics, with particular emphasis on Washington, D.C., and the United States.
The collection spans from 1952 to 1986, however the bulk of the images are from 1955 to 1979. It provides a chronological pictorial representation of local, national, and international news topics. Subjects featured in the collection include political campaigns and conventions, foreign policy issues, the space race, national leaders, consumer and industrial development, civil rights, and protests and demonstrations. There are also many images of sites in Washington, D.C.
The finding aid identifies the photographers hired on assignment and includes their agencies (e.g. Black Star), where relevant.
The extent listed for each job refers to the number of image frames on the contact sheets (e.g., "Extent: 10 images" refers to 10 images printed on a single contact sheet. For an example of what a contact sheet looks like, see the "Collection Strengths & Sample Images" section of the Research Guide). When there are multiple contact sheets within a job or a job is sectioned into A, B, C, etc. this may be represented with a comma or as a slash (e.g. 14/31 means that there are two contact sheets, the first with 14 images and the second with 31 images). The extent does not include enlargements of the contact sheet images, manuscript materials, or other ephemera like empty negative sleeves that might also be in the folder. Availability and accuracy of counts varies. The absence of an "extent" entry does not mean a folder is empty.
The original envelopes containing the contact sheets may have additional information. In most cases, there is either a handwritten caption (until late 1960) or a typed caption strip that appears on the envelope. The envelope information also includes job number, photographer's name or initials, and date of the job. The captions accompanying the contact sheets differ somewhat from that on the subject index cards.
For more information about the collection strengths and sample images, refer to the Research Guide: U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection.