The photographic morgue of the Hearst newspaper the consists of photographic prints and negatives published between 1895 and 1966. The collection is divided into two series, I. Prints and II. Negatives. Due to the size of the collection (approximately three million items), only the Prints series is cataloged; it is accessible through an online database. The negatives (approximately one million items) are not available for patron use.

Series I. Prints consists of approximately two million original photographic prints maintained in over 64,000 file folders. The files are arranged into five subseries, A. Biographical, B. Subject, C. Geographical, D. Geographical—Greater New York, and E. Jumbo (i.e., oversize), which reflect the original arrangement devised by the photo editors. The bulk of the photographs are gelatin silver and made to the conventional American standard dimension of 8 x 10 inches. Although they range in date from throughout the newspaper's lifetime, the vast majority date from the mid-1930s to the paper's demise on April 24, 1966. A few hundred gelatin silver prints and a handful of albumen prints, all of which pre-date the 1930s, are scattered throughout the collection. It was common practice for newspapers to weed their morgues from time to time to remove images, both photos and negatives, that were judged to have lost their news value. Much weeding likely occurred during the multiple mergers, between 1937 and 1941, of several Hearst newspapers, which ultimately resulted in the formation of the

Roughly half of the photographs were taken by photographers and nearly all of these were subsequently reproduced in an issue of the paper. In most instances, the backs of these prints bear either the stamped date of publication and a pasted-down clipping, or a report sheet, generally filled out by the photographer himself, which provides valuable contextual information such as the date, the photographer's name, and any pertinent information that they supplied about the shoot itself and/or the subject of the photo. In rare instances, prints of an amateur or freelance photographer were used. These were clearly labeled as such and subject to the same thorough contextual processing as all the other prints. Nearly all the remaining prints came from wire services, such as the Associated Press or Hearst's International News, and are identified with the wire service name and a caption on either the fronts or the backs. A small number of the prints are publicity photos from such sources as airlines, night clubs, public relations firms, and movie studios; these usually have a caption and source information on the back. The wire-service and publicity photos may or may not have appeared in the newspaper.

The prints in the collection formed the original working files for the editors and photographers of the . They were subjected to all of the traditional uses of a very active and long-term photo morgue and subsequently show signs of rough handling, bending, creasing, tearing, marking, rapid chemical processing, deterioration, and the advanced wear-and-tear of possible multiple uses. As such, although their historical and cultural worth remains high, their condition is not comparable to those of most fine art prints. Items in a print file such as this were intended to be used and, despite standard archival practices of housing and conservation, continue to reflect their original state. Likewise, many of the prints bear evidence of their use in publication: some show crop marks, or portions whited out, or outlines reinforced and features emphasized with pencil or pen. In some instances people were painted onto prints to recreate crime scenes. These are the traditionally integral and standard alterations of a working newspaper morgue and have been preserved as part of the history of the morgue. In the case of images produced by staff photographers, there is the likelihood that an original untouched negative exists in the Negatives series.

The Biographical subseries consists of both formal portraits and snapshots of people. Prominent New Yorkers, as well as most historical figures from the worlds of business, politics, sports, crime, science, literature and art, are represented. There is extensive coverage of presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. In addition to celebrities, thousands of otherwise obscure New Yorkers are represented in these files as the victims of crimes or accidents, the winners of sweepstakes, participants in -sponsored symposia, combatants returning from war, immigrants to America, or ordinary citizens involved in daily activities that caught the interest of staff photographers. Perhaps the most significant feature of the Biographical files is its sheer democracy of subject.

The Biographical subseries is arranged alphabetically by subjects' surnames. Depending on the quantity of images and/or the notoriety of any given subject, subjects either received their own folder(s), or were placed into broad letter and/or name folders. For example, images of baseball great Hank Aaron are located in the Aaron, Hank folder, whereas images of less well known Aarons are located in the Aaron / Aarons, A – Z folder. Regardless, it is still worth looking in the broad letter and/or name folders for additional photographs of well known subjects as photographs were sometimes misfiled, and individuals rising in notoriety during the last decade before the paper folder may not have warranted a folder of their own at the time. For example, there are a number of photographs of Raquel Welch filed in the Welch, J – Z folder. Images of subjects with less common surnames are located in letter-range folders; for example, images for the surname Abelson are located in the ABC – ABEQ folder.

The Subject subseries consists of files arranged by topic as assigned by editors. In all likelihood, these folder headings were created along general topical news or feature dimensions and then evolved further through the growth of the file itself. Throughout the series are large groups of photographs arranged in various subjective categories including railroads, housing projects, paintings, sculpture, opera, plays, plane crashes, ships, World Wars I and II, theatrical teams, maps, basketball, baseball, boxing, football, dogs, horses, strikes, fires, floods, explosions, hurricanes, buildings, bridges, hospitals, and corporations, to name but a very few. Hundreds of other subjects are represented by smaller groups of images.

The Geographical subseries consists of images from around the world, with the exception of the greater New York City area. These files are arranged alphabetically, first by state name (if in the United States) or country name and then, when applicable, by city name and/or topic, such as Oklahoma--Enid--Army Flying School and Ethiopia--Newspaper men at. Topics for the regions represented in this subseries are diverse and include events, man-made features, people, and military themes. Events include wars, raids, openings of bridges or roads, strikes, riots, demonstrations, and natural disasters. Man-made features or landmarks include structures such as businesses, plants, observatories, museums, hotels, hospitals, railroads, dams, schools, streets, churches, and miscellaneous buildings. Natural features include rivers, mountains, and lakes. While the U.S. Military section is included within the Subject subseries, military forts, ships, and other military subjects for foreign countries are arranged within this subseries. Much like the Biographical subseries, subjects in the Geographical subseries range from obscure, local people, landmarks, and events, such as the Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Totowa, New Jersey, to more widely known locales and events, such as Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The Geographical: Greater New York subseries is largely devoted to images of the streets, neighborhoods, landmarks, and buildings of the greater New York City area, including Long Island. This subseries includes similar coverage of landmarks and events as the Geographical subseries, but it is arranged alphabetically by a larger topic or category and then by the more specific subject. Some of the larger categories include churches, museums, parks, banks, fire departments, the Health Department, the Police Department, schools, streets, and theatres. In addition to these categories, some images are further arranged alphabetically according to neighborhood, such as Brooklyn, Bronx, and Long Island/Queens. The borough of Staten Island is also included as a topic, but has a much smaller selection of photographs than the other major boroughs of New York City. Manhattan is not represented as a category within the subseries. In addition to these major subjects covered within the subseries, the 1939-1940 World's Fair is also included. The 1964-1965 World's Fair, on the other hand, is included in the Jumbo subseries. The is also a major topic within the subseries, with photographs pertaining to contests held by the paper; editorials, features, and other stories included in the paper; as well as more operational topics such as photographs of the building, employees, offices and departments, and visitors to the building.

The Jumbo subseries consists of files created by staff to accommodate prints too large to fit in standard 11 ¾ x 9 inch file folders. The folders in this subseries are arranged and titled to reflect the other four subseries titles: Biographical, Subject, Geographical, and Geographical: Greater New York. Prominent in this subseries are sports photos and documentation of the 1964 New York World's Fair.

In processing this collection, the 's original folder titles were maintained whenever possible. However, due to inconsistencies in abbreviations, punctuation, and word choice, some reformatting and standardization was undertaken for better clarity and to facilitate indexing and sorting capabilities in the collection database. Examples are: File titles containing abbreviations for states (e.g., Conn.) were expanded to include the full state name. Colons, parenthesis, commas, and other forms of division between subtopics were replaced with double dashes to offset subtopics, for example Acheson, Dean: Heads & fulls was changed to Acheson, Dean--Heads & fulls. Spaces in between initials were removed, and periods were inserted in between initials previously unseparated. LI, L.I., and L. I. were standardized as Long Island. LIRR and L. I. R. R. were standardized as L.I.R.R. US, USA, U. S., U. S. A., and U.S.A. were standardized as U.S. Folder titles in the Geographical subseries that began with nationalities were changed to begin with the names of nations. For example German Army Troops Parachute Army was changed to Germany--Army--Troops--Parachute Army. As a subtopic, the abbreviations Bldg. and Bldgs. were standardized as Buildings. Where appropriate, Co was changed to County. Various spellings of countries were standardized. For example Porto Rico was changed to Puerto Rico, and Jugo Slavia, Jugoslavia, Jugo-slavia, and Jugo were standardized as Yugoslavia.

Due to the age of the collection, and the years of handling and the acidic nature of the original file folders, a number of file tabs bearing folder titles were lost or simply disintegrated. In these instances, the cataloger devised a title based on the contents of the folder. Because many of the backs of photographs contain clippings or captions with one word or phrase circled, a folder title was easily created.

A number of loose images were found outside of the file folders. When possible, they were integrated into existing folders, but on occasion new folders were created to accommodate them.