Helen Gurley Brown, full-length portrait, sitting on a desk. John Bottega. 1964. Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZ62-125119. bibliographic record

The New York World-Telegram and Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (NYWTS) (1,000,000 photographic prints, ca. 1880-1967, bulk 1920-67) offers researchers a rich body of material with which to investigate how this mass-circulation newspaper represented women. Consisting of images made by staff photographers and, more prevalently, images gathered from commercial studios and wire services, the collection is divided into a biographical section and a subject/geographical section.

The collection has proven to be a valuable source of images of people, including:

• women legislators
• actresses
• authors
• athletes
• other celebrities
• people who attracted press notice because of their involvement in events such as crimes, scandals, contests, etc.

To give an example of the range of coverage found in the collection: there are twenty-one folders of images relating to the career of Amelia Earhart, ranging from the folder labeled rather generally by New York World staff “Earhart, Amelia—Aviatrix. Dead. Flights,” which holds twenty-seven photos on this subject, to the folder more precisely labeled “Earhart, Amelia—Aviatrix. Dead. Welcomes. Paris, France,” which contains a single photo.

“Americanized Chinese gals on Mott St.” Ed Ford. 1965 Apr. 27. Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZ62-113493. bibliographic record

The subject/geographical portion of the file yields intriguing glimpses of women's involvement in the civil rights movement and local, national, and international politics. It also highlights aspects of family life, popular culture, and consumerism, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s.

The manner in which the newspaper's staff chose to caption the photographs and the headings under which staff filed them (which are retained both on the versos of the photos and in the division's finding aid) are sometimes as revealing of contemporary activities and concerns as are the photos themselves.

For further information on the New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection, see the collection profile at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/130_nyw.html.

For rights information, see: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/res/076_nyw.html.

Searching the Collection

“Forgotten women,” unemployed and single, in job demand parade. 1933 Dec. 7. Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZ62-113263. bibliographic record

Most images for which copy negatives or transparencies exist can be searched in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. The collection does not have its own listing in the online catalog but items from it can be found by searching the phrase “New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection” in combination with subjects or names of interest. Digitized images generally accompany the records.

To look for images for which no online record exists, onsite researchers can request to have folders retrieved from their off-site storage location; the turnaround time for retrieving from this collection is between one and five days.

• Consult the unpublished finding aid, which reproduces all of the headings New York World staff assigned to the folders in which they filed images. The finding aid is in two parts: Biographical (fourteen notebooks) and Subject/Geographical (three notebooks).
• Submit a special New York World Telegram & Sun Collection slip to have desired folders retrieved. Researchers can request up to ten folders per call slip per day.
• You can call the reading room to determine whether the material has been retrieved before coming to view it.

Go to the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)