The Detroit News records, 1856-1991 (164.5 linear feet) consist of photographic materials including glass plate negatives, film negatives, and photographic prints of various sizes as well as scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings from the Detroit News. The arrangement of the collection is alphabetical and maintains original order as far as could be discerned. In instances where multiple formats were stored together, they have been rehoused separately for preservation purposes. Researchers are encouraged to review the entire container list of this finding aid to identify corresponding materials of different formats within the collection, which have been indicated.
The researcher will find that a significant portion of the photographic materials depict interior and exterior views of the Detroit News building designed by Albert Kahn and erected in 1917. Additional topics of photographic materials include the radio station, WWJ and various events hosted by the News. Images of the Scripps and Booth families as well as employees of the Detroit News are also present among the collection. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, which present a broad range of subject matter as covered by a daily metropolitan newspaper. All of the glass plate negatives and a selection of film negatives have been digitized and can be viewed by following the links in the container list of this finding aid.
The Detroit News was founded in 1873 by James Edmund Scripps (1835-1906) as an evening newspaper. By 1918, the News published a 36-page daily edition and in 1919 it absorbed the Detroit Tribune. Scripps' son-in-law, George Gough Booth (1864-1949) joined the News in 1888, and contributed to its success and expansion into a new building on Lafayette Boulevard and Fort Street in downtown Detroit. The Detroit News building was built in 1917 and designed by the architect, Albert Kahn (1869-1942). The building was designed to house all of the daily operations of the News including the printing presses required to print the newspaper. The building also had its own hospital, library, barber shop and auto repair shop. The Detroit News' radio station, WWJ was founded in 1920 and is one of America's oldest operating radio broadcasting stations. WWJ's high frequency transmitter, W8XWJ, allowed the Detroit News to become the first newspaper to use an airplane to cover and report the news in 1931. In 1960, the News purchased and closed the Detroit Times and in 1989 entered into a joint operating agreement with the Detroit Free Press.
