New York Times Company.

The National Desk, also referred to as the National News Desk or the Telegraph Desk, is the department responsible for the development and presentation of The New York Times' reporting on the United States. At the time of these records' creation, it was one of three main news desks at The Times, along with the Metropolitan Desk and the Foreign Desk. Staff members include the national-news editor who headed the department, news editors in New York City, and editors and correspondents in the various city bureaus and regional outposts around the country. Washington, D.C. has the largest and most independent bureau, while Albany, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and other cities have smaller staffs under the supervision of the National Desk. Also vital to the department's operations are regional staff reporters and the stringers (freelance contributors networked around the country that often worked for local newspapers). In the 1960s, The Times created the role of director of news direction (later titled National News Director), who took over most of the duties of the national news editor, including assigning stories, making final editorial decisions, and managing personnel across the country. By the 1970s, the title of national news editor was back in use. The staff members best represented in this collection are the National News Editor Raymond B. O'Neill (1951-1968), Daily Assignments Editor Harold R. Faber (1951-1971), Director of National Correspondent Harrison E. Salisbury (1962-1964), National News Director Claude Sitton (1964-1968), National News Editor David R. Jones (1972-1987), and Assistant Managing Editor James Greenfield (1977-1991).

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. National Desk records, 1949-1984, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Founded in 1851 as The New-York Daily Times, The New York Times is one of the most influential newspapers in the world, with a circulation of well over one million and the recipient of over 80 Pulitzer Prizes. The New York Times Atlanta News Bureau is one of 11 national news bureaus.

From the description of New York Times Research Materials, circa 1960s-1990s. (University of Georgia). WorldCat record id: 423061839

George Jones was the first publisher of the New York Times and Henry J. Raymond was a New York politician and the first editor of the New York Times. Together with Edward B. Wesley they founded the New-York Daily Times in 1851.

From the guide to the New York Times Company Records. George Jones and Henry J. Raymond papers, 1838-1981, 1859-1869, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

The New York Times was founded in 1851 in New York City by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones and was later owned by the Ochs and Sulzberger families. Chester M. Lewis, the director of the archives and the oral history program began interviewing staff members in 1969. In subsequent years, Frank Bailsinson, a city editor, along with Hal Faber and David Dempsey conducted the interviews. After a brief period during which interviewing had halted, Susan Dryfoos, a member of the Sulzberger family and the director of the New York Times History Project, started conducting oral histories with herself as the interviewer.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Oral History files, 1948-1986, 1969-1971, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

The New York Times, created in 1851 in New York City and sold to the Ochs/Sulzberger family in 1896, began almost immediately producing pamphlets. The earliest copies in this collection date to 1858 and are advertising rates for the newspaper. Other early pamphlets were produced as souvenirs for special anniversaries, such as New York Times Jubilee, 1851-1901

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Pamphlets, 1851-2006, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Clifton Daniel (1912-2000) was an acclaimed journalist who served as the managing editor of The New York Times from 1964 through 1969. Born in Zebulon, North Carolina, he was educated at the University of North Carolina and during his early career worked for both The Raleigh News and Observer and the Associated Press in New York. Daniel began work with The New York Times in 1944 as a foreign correspondent. He was chief Middle East correspondent, a member of the London Bureau, and head of the bureaus in West Germany and Moscow. In 1955 he returned to New York to assume executive duties. In 1956, he married President Harry Truman's only child, Margaret Truman, with whom he had four sons. In September 1964 he became Managing Editor. For the next five years Mr. Daniel directed the news operation of The New York Times. In 1969 he was appointed Associate Editor of the paper. In 1973 he went to Washington to head The New York Times bureau in that city until 1976. Mr. Daniel retired in 1977. Daniel published a volume of reminiscences, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen in 1984.

From the guide to the New York TImes Company records. Clifton Daniel papers, 1955-1979, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Managing Editor, 1964-1969, and Associate Editor, 1969-1977, of the NEW YORK TIMES.

From the description of New York TImes Company records. Clifton Daniel papers, 1955-1979. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 713390005

The Metropolitan Desk, also known as the City Desk, the New York Desk, or the Metro Desk, was one of the three main desks at The New York Times, along with the National Desk and the Foreign Desk. This department was responsible for The Times' news coverage of the New York City region, which extended to the five boroughs, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The city editor controlled the New York reporting staff, the largest news department at The Times . Unlike foreign or national correspondents, New York staff members, both general reporters and beat specialists, received daily story assignments from the city editor. The earliest city editor represented in this collection is Frank S. Adams who held the title from 1952 to 1963. After Adams left The Times, the department's name was changed from City Desk to Metropolitan Desk and the department head's title became the metropolitan editor. This position was held by Abraham M. Rosenthal (1963-1967), Arthur Gelb (1967-1976), Mitchel Levitas (1976-1977), and Sydney Schanberg (1977-1980). In addition to regional political and social news, the Metropolitan desk also oversaw New York cultural coverage (art, dance, film, music, and theater) until 1962 when Managing Editor Turner Catledge created the position of cultural news editor that reported directly to him. Although this collection only documents up until 1983, the Metropolitan Desk is still one of the main Times departments today.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Metropolitan Desk records, 1954-1983, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Adolph Simon Ochs (1858-1935) was an American newspaperman and the publisher of the New York Times for almost forty years, from 1896 to 1935.

Ochs, the son of German-Jewish immigrants, was born in Ohio and grew up in Tennessee, where he began his career as a newspaper reporter and publisher. He acquired the New York Times in 1896. Under his leadership, the paper acquired an international reputation for objective and trustworthy reporting. In 1883, Ochs married Iphigenia Miriam Wise, daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. Their daughter Iphigene married Arthur Hays Sulzberger in 1917; he became the publisher of the New York Times after Ochs' death in 1935.

From the description of New York Times Company records. Adolph S. Ochs papers, 1853-2006 (bulk 1904-1933). (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 230739015

George Jones was the first publisher of the New York Times and Henry J. Raymond was a New York politician and the first editor of the New York Times.

Together with Edward B. Wesley they founded the New-York Daily Times in 1851.

From the description of New York Times Company Records. George Jones and Henry J. Raymond papers, 1838-1981 (bulk 1859-1869). (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 182521398

Influential journalist and editor Lester Markel (1894-1977) was the Sunday editor of The New York Times from 1923 to 1964. Between 1964 and 1973, Markel held the titles associate editor and consultant.

Markel was born in New York City and graduated from the City College of New York and Columbia University's School of Journalism. After working for several years as a reporter and editor at the New York Tribune, Markel succeeded Ralph H. Graves as The Times Sunday editor in 1923. As Sunday editor, Markel ran a largely independent staff of contributors (including correspondents in London, Paris, and Washington), editors, and designers that produced the Sunday edition of The Times . He assigned stories, wrote headlines, approved layouts for photographs and images, and was the final editor for every story printed. Markel was an exacting editor and was territorial over his staff and their articles. During his long tenure, Markel greatly expanded the size of the Sunday Department, both in staff numbers (from five staff members in 1923 to 84 in 1951), as well as the amount of content produced and the overall stature of the Sunday paper. He grew the The New York Times Magazine, the Book Review, the Drama, and the Rotogravure (which merged with the Magazine in 1942) sections, and added several specialty sections including the Week in Review, Arts and Leisure, and the Travel sections, as well as pages on gardening, food, and fashion. As the scope of the Sunday edition increased, its popularity and advertising revenue grew as well.

In 1964, Markel became associate editor, a move that signaled the beginning of his retirement from the paper. In this position, he gave up his editorial duties and was asked to study and improve the International Edition and to lead the newly formed Public Affairs Department, which was concerned with assessing the ways the paper could foster a well-informed populace. In this new capacity, Markel also chaired the "Committee of the Future," which collaborated with outside researcher groups to study how technological advances would affect The Times and journalism in general. He officially retired as associate editor in 1969, but continued at the paper as a part-time consultant until 1973 when, at age 79, he formally left.

Markel was an active public intellectual, giving speeches around the country and writing essays and articles for various publications and journalist organizations. He helped found the International Press Institute in 1951, serving as chairman of the organizing committee, the first chairman of the executive board, chairman, and later honorary chairman. He published the book What You Don't Know Can Hurt You in 1972 about the roll of the press in society. Markel also moderated the PBS television program News in Perspective throughout the 1960s.

Markel married Meta Edman in 1917. He died in New York City in 1977.

Source: Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power . New York: Ivy Books, 1966.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Lester Markel papers, 1930-1997, 1950-1973, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Arthur Gelb was a prominent journalist and senior editor at The New York Times. Along with many other accomplishments at The Times, in the late 1970s Gelb led the development of the feature sections Weekend, Living, Home, Sports Monday, and Science Times.

Gelb was born in New York City in 1924 and graduated from New York University in 1946. He joined The Times as a copyboy at age 20 and became a reporter for the paper in 1947. As a reporter, Gelb covered diverse beats, such as health news, City Hall, and the United Nations. Having particular success as a theater reporter and critic, he was appointed chief cultural correspondent in 1962. Next, in 1967, he was placed in charge of New York City news coverage as metropolitan editor. Gelb was known as an energetic and imaginative reporter and a highly regarded editor at The Times. He was promoted to assistant managing editor in 1976, and the following year to deputy managing editor under Managing Editor Seymour Topping. In that role he was charged with the launch of the new daily feature sections, which expanded The Times to a four section paper. He contributed to the redesigns of the Book Review and Travel sections, and helped develop new columns and features, as well as an additional Sunday Magazine (internally called "Sunday Magazine II"). At the apex of his news career, Gelb served as managing editor from 1986 to 1989 under Executive Editor Max Frankel. He retired from the news room in 1990 and for the next ten years served as the president of The New York Times Foundation, the charitable wing of The New York Times Company that supports projects related to journalism, education, art, community service, environmental concerns, and social welfare. Starting in 2000, he worked as a consultant to the paper and fully retired in 2007.

Gelb is the author of several books including a biography of Eugene O'Neill (1974), which he wrote with his wife Barbara, and his memoir City Room (2003). He was also the editor of Great Lives of the Twentieth Century.

Source: Talese, Gay. "The Kingdom and the Tower," The New York Observer. June 26th 2007. Accessed July 30, 2013: http://observer.com/2007/06/the-kingdom-and-the-tower/

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Arthur Gelb papers, 1949-1989, 1976-1989, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Arthur Hays Sulzberger was the publisher of xxThe New York Timesxx from 1935 until 1961 and chairman of the board of The New York Times Company from 1961 until 1968. While he was publisher, circulation of The Times almost doubled; the editorial page developed a reputation for strong opinions; news events were subjected to more analysis and coverage of specialized topics was strengthened; new sections and departments were created for food, fashion, and women; and the overall style of the paper became less rigid and more aesthetically pleasing.

Sulzberger was born in Manhattan in 1891 to Cyrus L. Sulzberger and Rachel Peixotto Hays Sulzberger. He was the middle of three brothers, Leo the eldest and David Hays the youngest. His father owned N. Erlanger, Blumgart & Company, a textile company, and the family was wealthy and socially prominent. Sulzberger graduated from the Horace Mann School in 1909, studied engineering at Columbia University, graduating in 1913. He joined his father's business after graduation and worked there until 1916 when he took a leave of absence to enlist in an officers' training corps in Plattsburgh, N.Y. There he met Julius Ochs Adler, the nephew of Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of xxThe New York Timesxx. The two became friends and Sulzberger spent weekends with Adler at Ochs' Lake George, N.Y. estate, Abenia. There, Sulzberger was reacquainted with Iphigene, Ochs' daughter. The two had met while he was at Columbia and she at Barnard College. They courted over the summer of 1916 and Sulzberger proposed in August. Although his initial proposal was rejected, Sulzberger persisted and by the following year Iphigene consented. Ochs agreed to allow the two to marry on the condition that Sulzberger join xxThe Timesxx. He agreed and the two were married in November 1917.

In his early years at The Times, Sulzberger was officially the assistant to the general manager. Other than managing the paper's charity, the Hundred Neediest Cases, it was a position that had few formal duties. Although Ochs wanted Sulzberger to learn all aspects of the newspaper business, he offered little guidance on how best to do this. Sulzberger soon saw an opportunity by assuming responsibility for the acquisition of newsprint. He was soon traveling to Canada and Scandinavia to scout supplemental shipments and new suppliers. His first success at xxThe Timesxx was convincing Ochs to become part owner in the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company in Kapuskasing, Ontario. This provided xxThe Timesxx with a consistent source of newsprint at a price they could control.

Sulzberger's next coup was in 1927 when he engineered a contract for exclusive rights to Charles Lindbergh's personal account of his trans-Atlantic flight. While Sulzberger did not have much faith that Lindbergh would reach his destination, his decision to reserve full and exclusive rights to the story was extremely profitable for xxThe Timesxx. While Sulzberger's acquisition of a paper mill for the paper would increase profits in the long run, the rights to the Lindbergh story produced almost immediate profits which greatly impressed Ochs. He began to take a greater interest in Sulzberger's apprenticeship and sent him on a number of international trips to establish contacts with correspondents and foreign offices. During these trips Sulzberger familiarized himself with the news operations of the paper and developed an aptitude for the news business.

Until the late 1920s, Adler had been viewed as Ochs' successor, but Sulzberger's natural abilities soon overshadowed him. Upon Ochs' death in 1935, Sulzberger became publisher and president of xxThe New York Timesxx. In stepping into this new role, he made it clear that he saw himself as a steward who was to preserve the quality and status of The Times. He wanted to continue Ochs' vision for the paper, "to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interest involved." He felt it was also his duty to strengthen The Times' reputation as the finest newspaper in the world and to improve the paper before handing it to the next generation.

For the first year he made no changes out of respect for Ochs. After that he began to institute the many innovations that reinvented the image of xxThe Timesxx. He jettisoned the supplements xxCurrent Historyxx, xxMid-Week Pictorial, American Year Bookxx, and xxThe Annalistxx. He introduced more and larger photographs and allowed more leeway with the format of the front page, headlines, and body of the paper. He introduced new technologies to improve all aspects of production, including the Times Facsimile, the transmission of photographs over telephone wires, allowing for the more and larger photographs in the paper. In 1936, he officially hired Anne O'Hare McCormick (she had been a freelancer and regular contributor since 1921 but Ochs did not approve of women working on xxThe Timesxx) and Ruby Hart Phillips in 1937. He instituted a daily luncheon that all members of the managerial staff were expected to attend. Presidents, foreign leaders, industrialists, and many other dignitaries were invited to these luncheons where conversation was off the record. Because leaders were able to speak freely it allowed Sulzberger and his associates to gain greater insight into world events and to cultivate relationships with these people.

Perhaps the greatest change instituted by Sulzberger was on the editorial page. Throughout his time at xxThe Timesxx, Ochs maintained that it was not the role of a newspaper to advance opinions. However, Sulzberger felt that the neutral presentation of the news would in no way be compromised by a strong editorial page; it was moreover the duty of a great newspaper to present educated arguments. He did not impose his own beliefs on the editorial staff, but instead allowed them to debate their side of an issue with him when he disagreed. The person who presented the best argument in these cases won the right to decide whether a column would be printed. On occasion Sulzberger had difficulty having some of his own editorials printed.

Once he became comfortable in his stewardship, Sulzberger became involved in a number of organizations outside of xxThe Timesxx. He was elected a director of the Associated Press in 1943, was a trustee of Columbia University from 1944 to 1959, and was very active in the Red Cross and was elected to a number of positions. He was granted a number of honorary degrees and other awards from institutions across the country and the world.

Sulzberger retired as publisher in 1961 and his son-in-law, Orvil E. Dryfoos took his place. Sulzberger served as the chairman of the board from 1961 until his death in 1968. During this time he relinquished a number of duties to Dryfoos and his successor, Sulzberger's son, Arthur Ochs (Punch) Sulzberger, but maintained a measure of control over the paper. He continued to read the paper or have it read to him every day. He continued to praise and criticize stories, columns, and decisions.

Sulzberger and Iphigene had four children, Marian, Ruth, Judith, and Arthur. The Sulzberger children, with the exception of Judith, were involved in the operation of The New York Times or The Chattanooga Times at one time or another (The Chattanooga Times was Ochs' first newspaper and remained important to him after his acquisition of The New York Times.) Marian was a member of the board of directors of The New York Times Company for 14 years, Ruth was the publisher of The Chattanooga Times and was the director of The New York Times Company for 30 years, Judith received her medical degree from Columbia University, worked as a doctor, and served on the board of many institutions, and Arthur was publisher of The New York Times between 1963 and 1992.

Sulzberger died in 1968 after a long illness. Upon his death, a number of tributes were printed in The Times written by friends, colleagues, and world leaders.

Sources

Catledge, Turner, Lillian K. Lang, and Arthur Hays Sulzberger. A.H.S. as Seen by an Editor, a Secretary and Himself. Times Talk 21, no. 4 (1968): 2-4.

Leff, Laurel. Buried by The Times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Shepard, Richard F. The Paper's Papers. New York: Times Books, 1996.

Sulzberger, Arthur Hays. The New York Times, 1851-1951, A Centenary Address. New York: Newcomen Society of America, 1951.

Tifft, Susan E., and Alex S. Jones. The Trust. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.

New York Times, 12 December, 1968.

One part wisdom, one part wit, one part humanity, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, 1891-1968, publisher of the New York times, 1935-1961, Chairman of the Board, 1961-1968. [New York]: The New York Times Company, 1969.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Arthur Hays Sulzberger papers, 1823-1999, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Journalist Abraham Henry Raskin (1911-1993) was The New York Times labor news specialist between 1934 and 1963, and assistant editor of the editorial page between 1964 and 1977.

Raskin was born in Edmonton, Canada, and graduated from the City College of New York in 1931. Shortly after graduating, he joined The Times as a part time campus correspondent and was hired full time in 1934 as a labor reporter. After serving in the military during World War II, Raskin became The Times' chief labor correspondent and was the paper's most prominent and active reporter on unions. Raskin established himself as a national authority on labor relations, strikes, unemployment, inflation, and the role of unions in American politics. He had close dealings with unions in such industries as automobiles, coal, copper, garments, newspapers, railroads, and steel, and was an active public speaker on labor affairs throughout his career. Raskin was elected to The Times editorial board in 1961 to consult on all labor-related stories. In 1964, he became the assistant editor (deputy editor) of the editorial page under John B. Oakes. In this role he oversaw the editorial staff when Oakes was off duty, helped select the content and shape the tone of the editorial page, and continued to write editorials and articles on topics that interested him. He retired from The Times in 1977 and died in 1993.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Abraham H. Raskin papers, 1950-1980, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

The New York Times Foreign Desk records is a collection of files maintained by the New York Times Company on the work and accomplishment of the foreign reporting staff, the operation of the foreign news bureaus around the world, and the process of gathering and editing the news from abroad. Although the coverage of international news by the Times is as old as the newspaper itself, the Foreign Desk records only cover the period beginning with the late 1940s up to the mid-1990s.

From 1948-1965 the publication of the foreign news report of the New York Times was the responsibility of Emauel R. Freedman, the only Foreign News Editor to hold the title for almost two decades. The next 20 years brought to the post no less than six of Mr. Freedman's successors: Sydney Gruson (1965-1966); Seymour Topping (1966-1969); James Greenfield (1968-1977); Robert Semple (1977-1982); Craig R. Whitney (1982-1983) and Warren Hoge (1983-1986).

In the 1950s the Times had, in addition to its full-time staff correspondents, a network of about one hundred or more part-time correspondents called the stringers. Stringers were usually attached to local newspapers. They filed their stories directly to New York just as the regular correspondents did. Their mission was to provide the paper with routine day-to-day news from their areas. In some countries, employed tipsters reported to the Times news bureaus. In most cases the Foreign Desk records contain the only existing records of the association of these people with the Times . Over the years this network was considerably reduced as staff correspondents were more mobile and are expected to travel quickly to the locale of the major breaking news stories. Coverage of routine developments was provided by the news agencies.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Foreign Desk records, 1948-1993, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Theodore (Ted) Menline Bernstein (1904-1979) was a longtime editor at The New York Times, a professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, and an author of several books on editing and journalism. As assistant managing editor, he had great influence on The Times' editing process, particularly around establishing uniformity of English language usage, improving the readability of news stories, and improving the appearance of the paper.

Born in New York City, Bernstein graduated from Columbia University in 1924 and from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1925. Later that year, he joined The Times as a copy editor for the City Desk, the department that reported on the New York City region. In 1932, he worked as editor for the Foreign Desk, and became the head of the Foreign Desk in 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II. In this role, Bernstein edited all of the stories related to the war, assigned stories to reporters throughout Europe and the Pacific, created headlines (including many of the most important of the war), and expanded the use of maps and graphics in the paper. Bernstein was next promoted to assistant night managing editor in 1948; in this position he not only took on greater responsibility editing news stories, but he also became more involved with the style and appearance of the paper. His influence increased again in 1951 when he became the assistant managing editor, a title he held from 1951 to 1969 under Managing Editors Turner Catledge and E. Clifton Daniel. During this time, Bernstein determined the daily content and visual display of the The Times' front page. He was the unofficial enforcer of stylistic standards, and guided the staff on reporting on, writing, editing, illustrating, and presenting the news. In 1951, he created "Winners and Sinners," a one-sheet publication, distributed to the staff in New York and around the world, which disseminated rules on style by highlighting mistakes and exemplary headlines and passages in recently run stories. Bernstein was also responsible for establishing the International Edition of The Times, which was published in Paris, and was closely involved with changes to typography and layout of the paper. In 1969, he left news editing to become the editorial director of the book division. He retired from The Times in 1972.

In addition to his work at The Times, Bernstein also taught copyediting as an assistant professor (1925-1939) and associate professor (1939-1950) at the Columbia University School of Journalism. He wrote seven books on grammar, style, general editing, and journalism, including Headlines and Deadlines: A Manual for Copy Editors, which he coauthored with Robert E. Garst in 1933.

He married Beatrice Alexander in 1930. He died in 1979 at age 74.

Source: Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power . New York: Ivy Books, 1966.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Theodore M. Bernstein papers, 1924-1984, 1951-1969, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Seymour Topping (born 1921) was an influential foreign news reporter, editor, and newspaper administrator who spent much of his career at The New York Times.

Topping was born in New York City and graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 1943. During World War II, he served in the United States Army in the Pacific theater, and in 1946 began covering Southeast Asia for the International News Service. He joined the Associated Press in 1948, and over the next decade was stationed as a reporter in the French Indochina region, London, and Berlin. The Metropolitan Department of The New York Times (which covers regional New York City news) hired Topping in 1959, and the following year he became chief Times correspondent in Moscow. His next assignment, in 1963, was in Hong Kong as chief correspondent of Southeast Asia. Topping returned to New York in 1966 as The Times' foreign editor; in this role he managed all correspondents stationed abroad. He continued to rise through The Times editorial ranks, becoming assistant managing editor in 1969, deputy managing editor in 1976, and managing editor from 1977 to 1986. While having increasing influence over news coverage, editorial decisions, and the general operations of the News Department, Topping continued to travel around the world and contribute major stories based on his travels. In September 1985, Times Publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger assigned Topping to be a consultant to the editors and publishers of The Times' 32 regional newspapers. Starting in 1986, Topping focused exclusively on improving the journalistic quality of the regional papers and received the new title of director of editorial development.

Topping retired from The Times in 1993 and for the next ten years served as Administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University's School of Journalism. Topping was the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors from 1992 to 1993, and chaired that group's Committee on International Communications.

Topping married journalist and documentary filmmaker Audrey Ronning in 1948 and together they had five children.

Source: "Seymour Topping: Former Foreign Correspondent, Foreign Editor, Managing Editor and Director of Regional Newspapers at The New York Times (Retired)." University of Missouri, accessed July 9, 2013: http://journalism.missouri.edu/alum/seymour-topping/

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Seymour Topping papers, 1963-1993, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Adolph Simon Ochs was an American newspaperman and the publisher of the New York Times for almost forty years, from 1896 to 1935. Under his leadership, the paper acquired an international reputation for objective and trustworthy reporting. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1858 to Julius Ochs and Bertha Levy Ochs, German-Jewish immigrants. The family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1864, where Ochs began his career in the newspaper business at the age of 11, starting at the Knoxville Chronicle as a carrier boy. He left school three years later and worked for both the Chronicle and the Knoxville Times, where he worked his way up to journeyman printer. He made the leap to reporter in 1875 when he covered Andrew Johnson's funeral for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He stayed in Louisville for less than a year and returned to Knoxville when it became clear there was no future for him at the Courier-Journal. In 1877 he joined two other men and published the Chattanooga Daily Dispatch. The venture was a failure, but Ochs was able to turn this to his advantage. He used the Dispatch's printing plant to publish the City Directory and Business Gazetteer and was able to pay off his debts. As the publisher of the Directory, Ochs came into contact with nearly every business and political leader in the city and remained in contact with them even after he left for New York. These men lent him the money to acquire the Chattanooga Times and provided references and money for him when he acquired the New York Times. He carried these testimonials with him as he met with businessmen in New York and they served as his introduction to a new set of leaders who were to become his peers. He would later continue this habit of presenting letters of praise, by always including a letter or two in praise of the New York Times and its leadership on the editorial page. Because of his success with the Directory and the fulfillment of his debts, Ochs had established himself as a good credit risk, and was able to borrow the needed amount to purchase the Chattanooga Daily Times in 1878. He was 20 years old. He announced that the Times would publish news and information for both the businessman in the city and the farmer on the outskirts of Chattanooga. The paper would provide local, national, and international news and would support the principles of the conservative Democratic Party while remaining independent of politics. Within a year Ochs was able to turn the paper into a success. Once he began to make a profit, he put that money back into the paper, expanding Associated Press telegraph service and hiring more staff, including his brothers, George and Milton. This success led to investment in Chattanooga, in both civic improvements and private real estate purchases. The market eventually collapsed, leaving Ochs in debt again. Although he worked himself out of debt, he was unable to realize the profits he had before the real estate boom.

In 1895 Ochs decided that the best way to regain his previous success and profits was to expand his business and that the place to do so was New York. After an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the New York Mercury, he learned in 1896 that the New York Times was for sale. At that time, the paper was losing money and had a number of competitors. With practically no money of his own, Ochs convinced the Times Reorganization Committee that he was the man to turn the paper into a viable business.

When Ochs acquired the paper in July 1896, there were few news reports free of bias and many that he considered publicity items, rather than straight news. He began to create the paper he had envisioned, one that would be a paper of record. On his first day as publisher he presented the credo by which the paper was to be governed, stating that the paper would "give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved" and that it would be a paper for "thoughtful, pure-minded people." The paper began covering financial news, the stock market, the real estate market, and court proceedings. Other improvements included more telephones and typewriters at the Times Annex, a Sunday pictorial magazine, Saturday Review of Books, standards for advertising, elimination of romantic fiction serials, and the publication of letters to the editor that criticized the paper, in addition to those that praised it. In striving to publish news and not opinion, he created an institution that presented objective and reliable news at a time when most papers would publish anything to gain readers. The slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print", was his invention, added to the paper's front page less than a year after he became publisher. The slogan was a direct comment on the yellow journals, specifically the New York World and the New York Journal. He vowed that the New York Times would never become one of them. By August, he was receiving compliments on the paper and requests for advertising space as a result. The city of New York began purchasing advertising the following month.

Circulation doubled within Ochs' first year as publisher and by the third year he was showing a profit. His image and influence grew along with the success of the paper. While in Chattanooga, Ochs had already met a number of notable people, but even more wanted to meet the publisher of the New York Times. He was constantly requested to join clubs and organizations and to speak at dinners, conferences, and graduation ceremonies. Awards, honorary degrees, and autographed photographs of national and foreign leaders decorated the walls of his office.

In 1883, Ochs married Iphigenia Miriam Wise, known as Effie. She was the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who is considered to be the founder of Reform Judaism in America. Their daughter, Iphigene, was born in 1892. She married Arthur Hays Sulzberger in 1917. Sulzberger became the publisher of the New York Times after Ochs' death in 1935.

From the guide to the New York Times Company Records. Adolph S. Ochs papers, 1853-2006, 1904-1933, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Prominent journalist James Barrett "Scotty" Reston (1909-1995) had a fifty-year career at The New York Times as a reporter, editor, vice president, and columnist. Reston is best known for his reporting on Washington politics, including his coverage of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference; his role in The Times' publishing of the Pentagon Papers; and his nationally syndicated editorial column (1974-1989).

Reston was born in Clydesbank, Scotland, and moved to the United States with his family in 1920. He received an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Illinois in 1932, and for the next two years worked as a sports journalist for Daily News (Springfield, Ohio) and in the publicity departments at The Ohio State University and the Cincinnati Reds. Between 1934 and 1939, Reston was a reporter for The Associated Press, first in New York City and then in London during the escalation of World War II. The New York Times hired him to their London Bureau at the outbreak of war in 1939, and in 1941 he moved to the Washington Bureau to cover diplomatic news. Reston served in numerous reporting, editorial, and administrative roles for The Times in Washington, and in 1953 he succeeded Arthur Krock as the Washington bureau chief. In that role, Reston directed The Times' coverage of United States politics and governmental affairs and managed such rising stars as Max Frankel, David Halberstam, and Tom Wicker. At the same time he continued writing and reporting, which gained him intimate access to many of Washington's most prominent insiders, such as John Foster Dulles and Henry Kissinger. As associate editor from 1964 to 1968, Reston gave up many of his administrative duties to concentrate on column writing. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger promoted Reston to executive editor in 1968, transferring him to New York to head the paper's entire news operations with the mandate to improve relations between New York leadership and the Washington Bureau. Reston returned to Washington in 1969 as a vice president, a position he held until 1974. As vice president, Reston was involved in high-level Times journalistic, editorial, and business decisions. Reston retired from Times administration in 1974 but stayed on as a consultant to the director of the company. He continued contributing editorial columns until 1989.

In addition to his writings for The Times, Reston wrote numerous books, including Prelude to Victory (1942), and his autobiography, Deadline: A Memoir (1991). He won Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting on the Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1946) and for his coverage of the 1956 presidential campaign (1957), and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1986), among many other journalist awards. Reston is also credited with greatly raising awareness of acupuncture in the United States by writing an article in The Times about treatments he received while recovering from an emergency appendectomy he suffered during coverage of Richard Nixon's visit to China in 1971.

Reston married Sarah (Sally) Jane Fulton in 1935 and together they had three children. Reston died in Washington, D.C., in 1995.

Sources: Apple, R.W., Jr. "James Reston, a Journalist Nonpareil, Dies at 86." The New York Times. December 7, 1995, A-1.

Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power. New York: Ivy Books, 1966.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. James Reston papers, 1940-1994, 1968-1977, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Journalist and author Thomas (Tom) Grey Wicker (1926-2011) was a longtime editor and political columnist for The New York Times .

Born in Hamlet, North Carolina, Wicker graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1948. After college, Wicker worked for a variety of North Carolina newspapers and spent two years serving in Japan as an ensign for the United States Navy Reserve. Wicker won a Nieman Fellowship in journalism from Harvard in 1957, and in 1959 The Nashville Tennesseean hired him as associate editor. Wicker joined the Washington Bureau of The New York Times in 1960, where he covered the White House, Congress, and national politics. Four years later, he succeeded James Reston as the chief correspondent and head of the Washington Bureau, and in 1966 he began writing the long-running editorial page column "In the Nation." As head of the Bureau, Wicker oversaw 48 staff members including 30 full-time reporters while continuing to report on politics. He became associate editor in 1968, which allowed him to dedicate more time to writing, and moved to the New York offices of The Times in 1972. He maintained the titles associate editor and columnist until his retirement in 1991.

Wicker wrote extensively on the criminal justice system, prisons, and the death penalty, and was one of several monitors who inspected the Attica Correctional Facility after the inmate uprising there in 1971. He was an outspoken critic of United States involvement in Vietnam, and a vocal proponent of the Civil Rights Movement. Among his other areas of sustained interest were taxation, the F.B.I., government secrecy, energy and environmental issues, nuclear weapons, and journalism's role in society.

In addition to his journalist work, Wicker was the author of many books, including 10 novels, some under the pen name Paul Connolly, and several non-fiction books on presidential politics and current affairs. He wrote short stories and essays for numerous publications, and was also an active public speaker, making appearances on college campuses, television, and radio.

Wicker married Neva Jewett McLean in 1949 and Pamela Hill in 1974. He died in 2011 in Rochester, Vermont.

McFadden, Robert D. "Tom Wicker, Times Journalist, Dies at 85." The New York Times . November 25, 2011.

Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power . New York: Ivy Books, 1966.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Tom Wicker papers, 1964-1993, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Journalist John Bertram Oakes (1913-2001) was an editorial writer and editor who worked for The New York Times from 1946 to 1993, and who is credited with creating the modern op-ed page.

Oakes was born in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, to George Washington Ochs-Oakes (brother of New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs) and Bertie Gans Ochs. He graduated from Princeton University in 1934 and, before being drafted into the United States Army in 1941, worked at several newspapers including The Trenton Times and The Washington Post . After the war, Oakes joined The New York Times as the editor for the Review of the Week section. He became a member of the editorial board as a contributor in 1949, and from 1961 to 1976 served as the editor of the editorial page. In this position, Oakes managed the editorial staff and edited and helped develop their contributions. He also continued to write columns, notably on environmentalism, civil rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War. He established The Times' Op-Ed Page in 1970, which featured opinion pieces from a range of voices from outside of The Times and presented opposite the paper's editorials. This format became a model for other newspaper op-ed pages. Oakes was forced out of his editorship by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger in 1976 after years of disagreement over the liberal tone of the editorial page. Oakes continued to contribute to the editorial page until his retirement in 1993.

Oakes married Margery Hartman in 1945 and together they had four children. Oakes died in Manhattan in 2001.

Sources: McFadden, Robert D. "John B. Oakes, Impassioned Editorial Page Voice of The Times, Dies at 87," The New York Times . April 6, 2001

Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power . New York: Ivy Books, 1966.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. John B. Oakes papers, 1952-1995, 1970-1990, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Robert Edward Garst (1900-1980) was a longtime editor at The New York Times, rising from the position of copyreader (copy editor) for the City Desk department in 1925 to special assistant to the executive editor at his retirement in 1967.

Born in Rockridge County, Virginia, Garst served as a private in the United States Army during World War I. He graduated from Columbia University's School of Journalism in 1924 and was soon hired as a reporter for the United Press International. In 1925, he joined The New York Times as a copy editor. For the next 42 years, Garst moved steadily up the editorial ranks of The Times . As night city editor (1938-1946) and assistant night managing editor (1946-1948) he assigned stories to reporters and edited stories for accuracy, spelling, grammar, style, layout, and design from 2pm to the production of the first daily edition early the next morning. Garsts became city editor in 1948, a daytime position that gave him authority over story assignments and editorial decisions for reporting on New York City. In 1952, he was promoted to assistant managing editor by Turner Catledge and became more involved with general office management, such as dealing with personnel issues and monitoring staff expenses and office finances. He also managed the weekend staff and, in 1960, organized and oversaw new procedures for disseminating news and stories ("flow of news") from New York to Los Angeles and Paris for the West Coast and international editions of the paper. Garst's final promotion was to special assistant to the executive editor under Clifton Daniel in 1964. Between 1964 and his retirement from The Times in 1967, Garst had fewer editorial and newsroom responsibilities and spent more energy on administrative matters.

In addition to his editorial posts, Garst taught copyediting at Columbia University from 1927 to 1948, and co-authored, with Theodore M. Bernstein, the 1933 book Headlines Deadlines: A Manual for Copy Editors .

Robert Garst married Iris Kollmorgen in 1925 and he married Edith Evans Asbury in 1971. He died in New York City in 1980.

Sources: Talese, Gay. The Kingdom and the Power . New York: Ivy Books, 1966. Kihss, Peter. "Robert Garst, Former Editor at The Times, Dies at 79." The New York Times, April 21, 1980.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Robert E. Garst papers, 1929-1979, 1952-1964, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Julius Ochs Adler was born on December 3, 1892 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Harry C. and Ada Adler. Ada was Adolph Ochs' sister. Julius graduated from Princeton in 1914 and then went to work at the New York Times . He joined the Army and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in April 1917, and in August of that same year was promoted to Captain. He saw action on the Western Front during World War I. By October of 1918 he was a Major and had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Adler returned to the New York Times in May 1919, where he worked alongside his cousin-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, as an assistant to Adolph Ochs. During the 1920s and 1930s, Adler was in the Army Reserves. When Adolph Ochs died, in April 1935, Adler became the general manager and vice president of The Times, and president and publisher of the Chattanooga Times . He was also one of the three original executors and trustees of the Ochs Estate (the others were Ochs' daughter, Iphigene, and her husband Arthur Hays Sulzberger). With his parents and other members of the family remaining in Chattanooga, Adler initially maintained close ties with the city and the Chattanooga Times, and bore the major responsibility for handling the Ochs Estate's interests there.

In 1940 he was reactivated into the Army and became a Commander at Fort Dix in New Jersey. In 1941 he achieved the rank of Brigadier General, and then in September of that same year he was promoted to Assistant Division Commander of the 6th Infantry Division in New Guinea in the South Pacific. Adler was relieved from duty in November 1944 because of illness. He then resumed his position at the New York Times, devoting himself largely to the business side of the paper, spending less time at the Chattanooga Times .

In 1922, he married Barbara Stettheimer. The couple had three children: Julius, Jr., Barbara and Nancy. He died in New York City on October 3, 1955, at the age of 62, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Julius Ochs Adler papers, 1918-1962, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Amory Howe Bradford (1912-1998) was was a vice president and general manager of The New York Times during the 1950s and early 1960s. He joined the Times in 1947 as a special assistant to the publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger, and over the next 16 years became an important member of management. Bradford allied himself with Orvil E. Dryfoos, who became publisher in 1961, and was expected by some to be his successor. As chairman of the New York City Publishers Association, Bradford became it's chief negotiator during the 1962-1963 the printers' union strike.

Two months after the strike, Dryfoos died, and Arthur Ochs Sulzberger was named president and publisher of the Times . Bradford resigned; issuing a statement saying he was "not in agreement with the proposed plan of reorganization".

When he became an executive of Scripps-Howard Newspapers in 1964, the Times found him in violation of its Incentive Compensation Plan and withheld stock awarded to him because he had joined a competitor. Bradford brought a lawsuit against the Times, but was unsuccessful.

From the guide to the New York Times Company records. Amory H. Bradford papers, 1946-1975, (The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.)

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood and his wife Dorothy Evelyn Augusta Onslow were known as the Viscount and Viscountess Halifax from 1934 to 1944, and later styled as the Earl and Lady of Halifax from 1944 to 1959. Viscount Halifax served as the British Ambassador to the United States during World War II. The couple's middle son, Major Hon. Francis Hugh Peter Courtenay Wood, was killed in 1942 during combat in Egypt. In 1943, the Viscount and Viscountess visited Brooklyn and dedicated the "Alice in Wonderland" room of the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn's pediatric ward in memory of their son.

From the guide to the Viscount and Viscountess Halifax photographs of Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, 1943, (Brooklyn Historical Society)