The School of Journalism acquired the newspaper clipping reference library as a gift when the New York-World-Journal-Tribune went out of business in 1967.

The well-organized collection from the libraries of three longtime newspapers were contained in 256 three-tier steel cabinets and 500 storage boxes. The collection was first stored in an abandoned underground ammunition dump in the Busch gardens east of St. Louis to await future housing. There they were inaccessible, and Eastern area researchers who were accustomed to using them while they were still in New York were turned away.

Later the library was moved to the limestone caves north of Kansas City where the University had rented extensive storage facilities. Some of the contents in the storage were removed to the Columbia campus where a building had been erected for archival purposes. In as much as the building had been built by one department, storage charges were accessed to other divisions seeking the service. It was determined that the rate was too high to store the library.

In March of 1982 a faculty committee "World-Telegram Morgue Committee 1982-1983." made up of history professors appointed by President Olson determined that the newspaper file collection was of doubtful value. It was decided to destroy the collection.

University of Missouri-Columbia archives has this record - http://muarchives.missouri.edu/uw-rg4-s75.html - Sub-Series Five includes records from the World-Telegram Morgue Committee. This ad hoc committee was created to appraise the value of a large newspaper clipping collection, the New York World-Telegram and Sun morgue, acquired by the University's Journalism School. The Sub-Series includes a report from the Western Historical Manuscripts Collections Policy Committee, descriptions of the collection, committee agenda's, memoranda and correspondence, and a draft of the committee's report.

The South Carolina University College of Journalism learned of the pending action to dump the collection in a land fill and asked that it be given to that institution. South Carolina Journalism Dean A. T. Scroggins says the library will provide a valuable tool in several academic areas including the history, English, political science and journalism. The Hearst Foundation has made a grant to South Carolina University to convert the collection from paper to more durable film. A building has been provided which will make the collection available to the entire university.

The South Carolina University College of Journalism disposed of the collection soon after and the collection no longer exists.

No paper collection nor an article index exists for the New York World-Telegram and Sun newspaper. It is available only on
microfilm.

The photos are held at the Special Collections in the Library of Congress .

July 2007