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New York World-Telegram & Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress

Searching & Viewing

Some images from the New York World-Telegram & Sun (NYWTS) Newspaper Photograph Collection can be viewed online, but most of the collection has not been digitized, and advance arrangements must be made to view images from the collection, because it is stored off site.

Finding Aid

The collection is accessed through an online finding aid. (A multi-volume paper version of the finding aid is also available in the reading room).  The finding aid lists the headings used by NYWTS staff. The finding aid is divided into sections: Biographical and a much smaller Subject/Geographical section. The headings used in the finding aid were devised by NYWTS staff. The short descriptions that follow a person's name (Businessman, Politician, Singer) may not reflect what the person is known for. The following information is helpful in using the finding aid.

Biographical headings: The form and spelling of names is as they appear on the folders created by NYWTS staff. Rules of alphabetization used by NYWTS have been retained. Some entries include the description "Dead," used by the newspaper staff to indicate the subject is deceased, and this has been included since that is the information that was originally listed.

  • Members of royal families are generally listed under the name of the country they represented. For example, Princess Margaret is found under “England, Royal Family…Margaret, Princess.
  • Photos of the Beatles can be found under the Fab Four's individual names as well as under "Beatles."

Subject/Geographical headings: Headings were devised by NYWTS staff.

  • Subjects related to wars are listed under  "War--European I--", “War—European II---," and "War--Korea--."
  • Photos related to African-American civil rights can be found under “Education—Segregation,” “Racism” , Negroes," and "Riots--Race."
  • Some Olympics coverage can be found under "Athletics--Olympic Games."
  • Holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and New Years day can be found under "Holidays," while events such as Glenn Miller Week, May Day, and Pencil Week are filed under "Days & Weeks."
  • New York City photographs can be found under a number of varied headings and sub-headings. Bridges can be found under "Bridges--New York City--," while some buildings can be found under "Buildings--New York City--." Other buildings, such as Madison Square Garden, are filed under their proper name.
  • Other New York City-specific images can be located under broad topics, such as "Police Department--New York City," and "Apartment Houses--New York City."
  • More New York City photos are filed under these sub-divisions: "Brooklyn," "Coney Island," "Grand Central Station," "Lincoln Center," "Nationalities," "Piers," "Rockefeller Center," "Sanitation Department," and "Staten Island."

(empty), (clipping only), and (paper plate only): Parenthetical entries following the name entry have been added by Library of Congress staff to indicate that the folder contains no photographs. These entries represent a folder that is empty, a folder containing only a newspaper clipping, or a folder that contains only a printing plate or matrix, a paper mold used to print the newspaper image. "[...]" indicates the information available was unreadable.

Descriptive information: The descriptive information after the name or subject heading (after the dots in the paper version), for example "Male Nurse," "16th Birthday celebration," is information that was provided by NYWTS staff. It has not been edited, but, at times, headings that used abbreviations have been spelled out completely so they are more easily understood. Terminology in collection materials and descriptions may include negative stereotypes or words some may consider offensive. The Library includes historic captions because they can be important for understanding the context in which the images were created.

SEE: and SEE ALSO: references: SEE: and SEE ALSO: references are recorded from the outside of the folders. These references have not been verified, and many of the leads may not be fruitful. Do not assume that the folder is empty because there is a SEE: reference; the only empty folders are those with the parenthetical entry "(empty)."

Viewing Materials in the Reading Room

The New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection (NYWTS) is so large that it must be stored off-site. Materials are requested by filling out a NYWTS call slip, citing the section of the collection (either BIOG or SUBJ/GEOG) and the full heading and descriptive information recorded in the finding aid. A five-working-day turnaround time is needed for any requested material to be brought on site and prepared for viewing. Only ten folder headings may be requested by a researcher per day. Researchers can submit call slips for multiple, successive dates in order to view more than 10 folders/headings, but as all materials will not be ready in five-working-days, should plan to arrive five business days after the latest date on the call slips.

Cropping, highlighting, retouching, and other marks on the photographs have been retained as part of the artifactual nature of the image. These marks may not be removed by staff or researchers and will not be removed for purposes of duplication.

Selected Images Online

Further Information