United Press International (UPI) Photograph Collection, 1921-1978, (circa 1800s, 1915-1968), bulk 1969-1977

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Summary

Title:
United Press International (UPI) photograph collection
Dates:
1921-1978, (circa 1800s, 1915-1968), bulk 1969-1977
Creators:
United Press International, Yotka, Edward James, 1924-1981, and Yotka, Eleanor Katherine Ohsol
Abstract:
Photographs from the United Press International Los Angeles stock photo office. Coverage is approximately 1921 to 1979 with the bulk of the photos from 1969 to 1977.
Extent:
14 Linear Feet (64 flat boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], United Press International (UPI) Photograph Collection (1980-001-r), Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, Chapman University, CA.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of 64 flat boxes of United Press International (UPI) newsservice photographs from the 1920s to the 1970s, with the bulk covering the 1960s and 1970s. Each photo is typically an 8x10 print with an attached typed caption, editorial notes, and/or markings written on the front or back of photos.

This collection contains several series of photos regarding the Lindbergh family, African American experiences, the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Nixon presidency, the 1972 U.S. presidential campaigns, the Ford presidency, the 1976 U.S. presidential campaigns, the Carter presidency, Henry Kissinger, well-known personalities, and pollution. The last series contains photos depicting other subjects, such as the women's liberation movement.

Biographical / historical:

United Press International (UPI) is a news agency headquartered in the United States with roots dating back to 1907 when it was founded by E.W. Scripps as United Press (UP). Per the "About UPI" webpage:

It became known as UPI after a merger with the International News Service in 1958, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst. Today, UPI is owned by News World Communications.

Once a mainstay in the newswire service along with Associated Press (AP) and Reuters, it began to decline as afternoon newspapers, its chief client category, began to fail with the rising popularity of television news. This decline accelerated after the sale of UPI by the founding Scripps family, culminating in two bankruptcies. In the late 1970s, UPI closed down its Los Angeles stock photo office and merged it with the New York office. This move prompted the donation of this collection to keep it from being destroyed. UPI offices in the US and around the world were more commonly called "bureaus," such as the New York bureau (Haynes, 2006, p. 7).

Acquisition information:
Donated by the United Press International (UPI) Los Angeles office and transferred by UPI staffers Edward James Yotka and Eleanor Katherine Ohsol Yotka to then Chapman College's Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library in the Spring of 1980. Edward Yotka opened and operated the UPI office in Los Angeles, CA in 1969.
Processing information:

Processed by Amanda Bowers in 2010. Updated by archival staff including: Rand Boyd, Annie Tang, Brian Song, and Victoria Perez. Last reprocessed by Perez in December 2024.

The following refers to processing decisions that were conducted during the work of this collection.

Most of the photographs in this collection include front or back descriptive notes that were typed or handwritten in pen, likely by UPI staff. Many of the terms of the day used by UPI staff were retained in series titles or scope and content descriptions in processing. Note that some of these descriptions were modified to better represent a series' contents, such as modifying "Blacks In America" to "African American Experiences."

Note that many reproduction prints exist in this collection. Series and subseries-level dates in parentheses are event dates that refer to the date of the reproduced items' events and not their modern-day creation dates. Dates for this collection's original materials are noted as creation dates. Creation dates refer to either the items' known dates or their approximate reproduction dates. Reproduction prints were likely made during UPI news service bureau work in the 1960s and 1970s.

Note that many of the series contain numerous duplicate photographs, as well as numerous photos without protective sleeves.

Some series, such as the Nixon presidency, contain loose captions that had fallen off a selection of photos. These captions were arranged by staff in their series' folders corresponding with the captions' subjects and dates.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by subject into thirteen series, several subseries and files, and then arranged by date. Exceptions are photographs in the personalities and other subjects series that are arranged in alphabetical order.

  • Series 1, The Lindberghs, (1915-1958), 1930-1974, bulk: 1930s-1940s, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, Early years, (1927-1934), 1967, 1973
  • ----Subseries 2, Aviation, (1923-1958), 1939-1974
  • ----Subseries 3, Lindbergh kidnapping, 1932-1941, 1972
  • ----Subseries 4, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, (1915-1935), 1930-1957, 1972
  • ----Subseries 5, "America First" and World War II, (1930s-1940s), 1940-1970
  • ----Subseries 6, Later years, 1964-1974
  • Series 2, African American experiences, 1929-1977, bulk: 1960-1977, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, Civil rights movement, 1956-1977, bulk: 1965-1975
  • --------File 1, Leaders, 1956-1977
  • --------File 2, Demonstrations, 1956-1975
  • --------File 3, Desegregation in education, 1956-1975
  • --------File 4, Black militants, 1968-1975
  • --------File 5, Riots, 1963-1973
  • --------File 6, Acts of racism, 1956-1970
  • ----Subseries 2, Politics, 1964-1975
  • ----Subseries 3, Military, 1965-1973
  • ----Subseries 4, Arts and Entertainment, 1929-1975, bulk: 1964-1975
  • ----Subseries 5, Athletics, 1921-1975, bulk: 1970-1974
  • ----Subseries 6, Socioeconomic, 1966-1975
  • ----Subseries 7, Reproduction photographs of drawings, (circa 1800s), circa 1960s or 1970s
  • Series 3, The Vietnam War, (1963-1968), 1954-1976, bulk: 1970-1975, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, American experiences, 1960-1975
  • ----Subseries 2, U.S. Anti-war movement, 1968-1976
  • ----Subseries 3, Vietnamese experiences, (1963-1968), 1965-1975, bulk: 1970-1975
  • ----Subseries 4, Refugee experiences, 1971-1976, bulk: 1975
  • ----Subseries 5, The Cambodian Civil War, 1970-1976
  • ----Subseries 6, Laos, 1970-1975
  • ----Subseries 7, Global experiences, 1954, 1969-1975
  • Series 4, The Arab-Israeli conflict, 1954-1975, bulk: 1969-1975, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, Maps and diagrams, 1973
  • ----Subseries 2, Egypt, 1961-1974
  • ----Subseries 3, Arabs, 1960-1976
  • ----Subseries 4, Terrorism, 1970-1975
  • ----Subseries 5, Israel, 1963-1975
  • ----Subseries 6, Negotiations, 1970-1975
  • ----Subseries 7, Protests, 1965, 1970, 1973-1975
  • ----Subseries 8, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, 1954, 1958, 1967-1970
  • Series 5, The Nixon presidency, 1947-1977, bulk: 1968-1974, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, Before the presidency, 1947-1968
  • ----Subseries 2, U.S. presidential campaign and inauguration, 1968-1969
  • ----Subseries 3, Domestic affairs, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 4, The energy crisis, 1973-1974
  • ----Subseries 5, Foreign affairs -- The Vietnam War, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 6, Foreign affairs -- The Middle East, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 7, Foreign affairs -- The USSR, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 8, Foreign affairs -- China, (1968), 1969, 1971-1976
  • ----Subseries 9, Foreign affairs -- miscellaneous, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 10, 1972 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican convention, and inauguration - second term, 1972-1973
  • ----Subseries 11, The Watergate scandal, (1968, 1971), 1972-1974
  • ----Subseries 12, Nixon family, 1968-1976
  • ----Subseries 13, Personal appearances and after the presidency, 1969-1977
  • Series 6, 1972 U.S. presidential campaigns, (1945), 1958, 1968-1973
  • ----Subseries 1, Senator Eugene McCarthy, 1968-1969, 1971-1973
  • ----Subseries 2, Senator George McGovern, (1945), 1968-1972
  • ----Subseries 3, Senator Edmund Muskie, 1958, 1969-1972
  • ----Subseries 4, Conventions, 1972
  • ----Subseries 5, Other candidates and politicians, 1970-1972
  • ----Subseries 6, Protests, 1972
  • Series 7, The Ford presidency, 1969-1978, bulk: 1974-1977, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, Vice-presidency, 1969-1974
  • ----Subseries 2, Presidential duties - domestic affairs, 1974-1977
  • ----Subseries 3, Presidential duties - foreign affairs, 1974-1977
  • ----Subseries 4, 1976 U.S. presidential campaign, 1972-1976
  • ----Subseries 5, Vacation and leisure, 1974-1977
  • ----Subseries 6, Betty Ford, 1974-1976
  • ----Subseries 7, Ford family, 1974-1976
  • ----Subseries 8, Assassination attempts, 1975-1976
  • ----Subseries 9, Miscellaneous, 1976-1978
  • Series 8, 1976 U.S. presidential campaigns, (1930s-1952), 1966-1976
  • ----Subseries 1, Ronald Reagan, (1930s, 1941, 1950, 1952), 1966-1976
  • ----Subseries 2, Other candidates and politicians, 1974-1976
  • Series 9, The Carter presidency, 1972-1979, bulk: 1977, undated
  • ----Subseries 1, 1976 U.S. presidential campaign, president-elect period and inauguration, 1972, 1974-1977
  • ----Subseries 2, Presidential duties - domestic affairs, cabinet members, and portraits, 1977-1979, bulk: 1977
  • ----Subseries 3, Presidential duties - foreign affairs, 1977-1979
  • ----Subseries 4, Carter family and leisure, 1976-1979
  • ----Subseries 5, Miscellaneous, 1976-1978
  • Series 10, Henry Kissinger, 1968-1977
  • ----Subseries 1, U.S. National Security Advisor, 1968-1973
  • ----Subseries 2, U.S. Secretary of State, 1973-1977
  • ----Subseries 3, Kissinger family, 1974-1976
  • Series 11, Personalities
  • ----Subseries 1, Names starting with A, B, C, 1957-1978, bulk: 1970s
  • ----Subseries 2, Names starting with D, F, H, J, K, L, (1918, 1940), 1944-1978, bulk: 1970s
  • ----Subseries 3, Names starting with E, (1930s, 1947), 1952-1975
  • ----Subseries 4, Names starting with M, 1954-1978
  • ----Subseries 5, Names starting with N, O, P, 1957-1958, 1969-1977
  • ----Subseries 6, Names starting with R, 1930s, 1949-1978, bulk: 1967-1974
  • ----Subseries 7, Names starting with S, 1950-1956, 1963-1977
  • ----Subseries 8, Names starting with T, U, V, W, Y, Z, 1945-1975, bulk: 1940s, 1970s
  • Series 12, Pollution, 1948-1975, undated
  • Series 13, Other subjects, (circa 1917-1944), 1945-1978, bulk: 1970s, undated

Physical description:
This collection originally consisted of 120 boxes of more than 48,000 photographs from the Los Angeles UPI stock photo office. These boxes had been forgotten in storage, and when the collection was rediscovered in 1989, it was found to have a great deal of acidification and vermin damage. There are now only materials remaining from approximately 79 of the original 120 boxes. Some photos with minor chemical damage were retained throughout the collection.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Bibliography:

Haynes, Gary. Picture This! The Inside Story and Classic Photos of UPI Newspictures. New York, Boston: Bulfinch Press, 2006.

United Press International. "About UPI." Accessed October 23, 2024. https://about.upi.com/.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Amanda Bowers, Rand Boyd, Annie Tang, Brian Song, Victoria Perez
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-04-09 16:50:14 -0400 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

UPI retains the copyright on all photographs. Permission to use photographs must be obtained from United Press International.

Preferred citation:

[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], United Press International (UPI) Photograph Collection (1980-001-r), Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, Chapman University, CA.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Location of this collection:
One University Drive
Orange, CA 92866, US
Contact:
(714) 532-7719
speccoll@chapman.edu
Website