Scope and Content Note
The New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection depicts subjects typical of a major city newspaper. World events are represented, and New York City events and subjects are heavily covered. Frequent topics include U.S. presidents, New York City sites, World War II and the Korean War, African American civil rights, personalities and productions of the stage and screen, politics, demonstrations, and sports. For sample images of collection strengths, see the Research Guide: New York World-Telegram & Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress.
This newspaper photo morgue is typical of the visual files that newspapers maintained for images that either were published or were thought to have future publication potential. Many images have been cropped, retouched, or highlighted for publication, and captions are often pasted or stamped on the backs of the prints. No original negatives are in the collection.
The original folder headings provided by the newspaper are used in the Contents List. These headings can provide useful clues about why a picture was selected because they indicate a particular occupation or event that is not necessarily part of the photo caption. The Subject/Geographical headings often begin with a broad category, which aids in searching for general as well as specific activities. For example, "Dancing--Balls--Artists Equity Costume Ball."
The label "extent" is used to give an idea of the quantity of material for a person or topic. Availability and accuracy of counts varies. The absence of an "extent" statement does not mean that a folder is empty.
Some images were taken by the newspaper's staff photographers while others came from wire press services. Among the staff photographers were Walter Albertin, Al Aumuller, Dick DeMarsico, Orlando Fernandez, Ed Ford, Roger Higgins, Herman Hiller, Fred Palumbo, Al Ravenna, Phil Stanziola, Phyllis Twachtman, and Stanley Wolfson. Other images are publicity photos from television networks, film studios, book publishers, and the like. Many different wire services (commercial organizations that gathered and distributed images to subscribers or for potential publication) are represented in the collection, including Associated Press, United Press International, and ACME Newspictures. The collection is not comprehensive in its coverage of any particular wire service. No index by photographer or wire service name exists.