NYT Sept 1942

I grew up in a suburb of New York City and have fond memories of class trips to that city's museums and other cultural institutions. One of the best was a visit to the Flatiron Building on Times Square, home of the New York Times. We went there in 1950 or '51. At that time almost everything connected with the production of the paper occurred in one place. I was fascinated by the mechanics of production: huge rolls of paper arriving in massive trucks from distant saw mills; noisy, ceiling-high linotype machines producing hot metal slugs; transformation of the slugs into pages of type called forms; transformation of the forms into flexible plates that could be bent onto the rotary presses; the mounting of these stereotype plates onto the boxcar-size presses; the roaring speed of the presses making the next transformation: blank newsprint paper into webs of printed sheets; and finally the cutting of pages, assembly into the daily editions, bundling, and loading onto delivery trucks. It was exciting, memorable; I hadn't known and could hardly credit that grownups got to do such wonderful things.

As it happens, Marjory Collins, about whom I wrote yesterday, did a photo shoot at NYT in September 1942. Here are some of her shots. It's interesting that both she, then, and myself, now, see the news work as the main point of interest rather than the production work.

All these photos come from the FSA/OWI collection in the LC Prints and Photos Div.

{LC caption: Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Reporters and rewrite men writing stories, and waiting to be sent out. Rewrite man in background gets the story on the phone from reporter outside1942 Sept.}

{LC caption: Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Copyreaders at the foreign desk. In foreground, foreign desk editor "spikes" a story (i.e. discards it)}

{LC caption: Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Ten o'clock is news room deadline. Copy is sent up to composing room on moving belt. Telegraph desk in background}

{LC caption: The "bull pen" where managing editors and others sit at one side. In foreground, assistant managing editor Rae. In background, managing editor James and night managing editor McCaw conferring}

{LC caption: Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. James and McCaw conferring}

{LC caption: Newsroom of the New York Times newspaper. Copy readers at the telegraph desk which handles all dispatches from the U.S. outside New York City. Man wears hat because of draught}

{LC caption: Drama department of the New York Times newspaper. Brooks Atkinson, drama critic, longhanding the review of a new play}

{LC caption: Financial desk copy reader on the New York Times newspaper staff has lunch on tray ordered from outside. Lunch in the news room is a half-hour period about 11 PM between editions}

{LC caption: Sports department of the New York Times newspaper. In foreground, working out a table of baseball scores. In background is sports desk. Copy readers and editors wait for new copy}

{LC caption: Radio room of the New York Times newspaper. The Times listening post, between 10 and 12 PM, between first and second editions. The operator is listening to Axis news (propaganda) broadcast. Paper in foreground has been previously examined to see what has already been covered in last edition of paper. Operator reports and new angles to city editor. Messages are recorded on tape in international Morse code}

{LC caption: Composing room of the New York Times newspaper. Linotype operators}

{LC caption: Composing room of the New York Times newspaper. Make-up men pick up linotype slugs from center table}

{LC caption: Composing room of the New York Times newspaper. Mats are checked for faults and blemishes}

{LC caption: Reel room of the New York Times newspaper. Threading paper through presses}

{LC caption: Reel room of the New York Times newspaper. Transporting rolls of paper to presses. Each roll weighs about 1700 lbs pounds and will make about 1300 newspapers}

{LC caption: Pressroom of the New York Times newspaper. Placing plates on cylinder of press}

{LC caption: New York Times newspapers being loaded on trucks from mailroom}

---

Here are some details from the top photo:

{Apart from the lady shown on the right, the newsroom seems entirely masculine. In fact the whole building seems that way; I noticed only one other fem in the whole photoshoot (a linotype operator).}

{It's obviously a quiet moment in the news cycle. Of the guys who are doing a little reading, this one interests because he's reading a tabloid, probably the New York Daily News, not one of the direct competitors of the Times.}

{This guy is listening via headset to keep hands free. From his expression, I'd say the reporter has just said something funny to him.}

---

Here are thumbs and links to other photos.

Looking north on Times Square	News room of the New York Times newspaper. ...	Wire room of the New York Times newspaper. ...
Wire room of the New York Times newspaper. ...	Telegraph room of the New York Times newspa...	Telegraph room of the New York Times newspa...
Recording room; shortwave telephone operators receive messages from Berne, Switzerland, and Honolulu.	Photo engraving department of the New York ...	Library of the New York Times newspaper. Ed...
"Morgue" of the New York Times newspaper. C...	Linotyper's hands in composing room ...	Composing room of the New York Times newspa...
Pressroom of the New York Times newspaper. ...	Pressroom of the New York Times newspaper. ...	Pressroom of the New York Times department....
Pressroom of the New York Times newspaper. ...	Mailroom of the New York Times newspaper. Bundles of papers are carried to trucks for distribution	Bundles of papers are carried to trucks for distribution