Preliminary Inventory of the American Newspaper Repository Collection, 1856-2004
Collection Overview
The American Newspaper Repository Collection dates from 1852 through 2004 and consists of approximately six thousand bound newspaper volumes and more than 11,000 unbound newspaper items, most of which came, directly or indirectly, from the British Library. Notable long runs include the World, the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune. There are also runs of foreign language and immigrant papers, such as the Yiddish Forward, the Irish World, the Greek Atlantis, trade journals, Communist papers such as the Daily Worker, and other political papers. Many of these runs apparently exist nowhere else in the original format.
The Collection was processed in the order and physical condition in which it was received. The container list that follows has been organized into four groupings based on format: Bound Volumes, Loose Newspapers, Wrapped Bundles, and Volumes in Boxes, housed as such for preservation reasons. Thus, the same title may appear multiple times under the different format groupings. The container list for each grouping is sorted alphabetically by title, then chronologically. Because the collection was received with titles and dates out of order, box numbers in the container list are not consecutive; box numbers may also be repeated in cases where multiple items were housed in the same box.
American newspapers published some of the great writers and historical figures of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. The Repository's collection contains "first editions" and original copies of work by H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, E.B. White, Joseph Mitchell, James M. Cain, Zona Gale, Israel Zangwill, Alexander Woollcott, Deems Taylor, Leo Tolstoy, Walter Lippman, P.G. Wodehouse, Frances Hodgsen Burnett, Joel Chandler Harris, Ida Tarbell, Grover Cleveland, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, Gertrude Atherton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, H.G. Wells, E.F. Benson, Bram Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, William Jennings Bryan, Heywood Broun, Rebecca West, Don Marquis, and Robert Frost. O. Henry was a staff writer for the World; almost all of his stories were first published there, often with illustrations. Hugh Lofting's Dr. Dolittle was published in the Magazine and Story Section of the New York Tribune with Lofting's illustrations. Stephen Crane was a crime reporter for the New York Tribune; Ring Lardner was a columnist and sports reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Theodore Dreiser wrote a column called "Heard in the Corridors" for the St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Significantly, the collection contains records in their original format of landmark national and international historic events, including the American Civil War, the Dreyfus Affair (documented by a selection of clippings from various French newspapers), both World Wars, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the U.S. moon landing, as well as more recent occurrences such as the Israeli-PLO peace agreement and the events of September 11, 2001.
The Repository is also in effect an archive of rotogravure printing. There are thousands upon thousands of photographs of minor and major historical figures--scenes of war, childhood, architecture, celebration, crime, and fashion--printed with a tonal depth that modern printing methods seldom equal. The Yiddish Forward, The New York Times, and the New York Herald Tribune are particularly rich sources of rotogravure images.
The Repository collection is also rich in other formats. The World published the first crossword puzzles, in a little insert called "Fun." There are needlepoint patterns, Easter egg transfers, a profusion of children's games and activities, and sheet music by composers such as George M. Cohan. The newspaper hired illustrators from around the world to draw scenes of New York life. At the turn of the century the paper regularly published the work of cartoonists such as Richard Felton Outcault, creator of The Yellow Kid, Charles Green Bush, George Herriman, and Fanny Cory; the twenties caricatures of Al Frueh exist here in their original published form. The full color reproductions of paintings that appeared in the New York Tribune provide a visual history of the artistic taste of the early twentieth century.
The addition (accession 2005-0038) (215 items and 69 linear feet, dated 1926-1979) comprises bound volumes and wrapped bundles of eight newspaper titles, mostly published in New York, N.Y.: AUFBAU: Nachrichtenblatt des German-Jewish Club (New York, New York, 1940-1973); Colorado Times (Denver, Co., 1941-1969); Pelley's Weekly (Asheville, N.C., 1934, 1936); Pour la Victoire! (New York, New York, 1942-1945); Sunday Worker (New York, New York, 1936-1938); Weekly People (New York, New York, 1958-1979); and United States Daily (Washington, District of Columbia, 1926-1933).
The collection also includes digital prints of comics from 1898-1916, produced for a David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library exhibit in 2005.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- American Newspaper Repository Collection, 1856-2004
- Creator
- American Newspaper Repository
- Extent
- Bound volumes: 6081 Items, Loose newspapers and bundles: 1107 Linear Feet; 11,243 Items
- Repository
- David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
- Location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Language
- English.
Administrative Information
Collections are on the move for the renovation of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Contents of the Collection
[Alternate titles: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily Tribune]
