Baltimore Sun financial and selected labor records

Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

The Baltimore Sun was established by Arunah Shepherdson (A.S.) Abell in 1837. Abell and his partners, Azariah Simmons and William Swain, created the Philadelphia Public Ledger in 1836, and Abell saw the potential of a penny newspaper in Baltimore. In 1904 when the Great Baltimore Fire demolished the Sun Iron Building, Walter Abell, grandson of founder A.S., was managing the paper. As the fire swept closer, Walter Abell ordered subscription lists, records, and bound copies of the paper removed from the building. While much was saved due to Abell’s orders, the building itself and what remained inside was destroyed. In 1910, control of the company shifted from the Abell family to a Board of businessmen led by Crawford Black as Chairman. The same year also saw the first issue of the Evening Sun, which remained in publication until 1995. The Times Mirror Company acquired the Sun in 1986, and merged with the Tribune Company in 2000. While the financial history in this collection dates to the paper’s creation in 1837, the Sun’s connection with the Newspaper Guild did not begin until the 1930s. Following the lead of Heywood Broun, who established the American Newspaper Guild in 1933, the Washington Newspaper Guild was founded in January 1934. The Washington Guild President, Dan DeSouza, spoke to Baltimore journalists in March and by the end of the month the Baltimore Newspaper Guild was established. The Newspaper Guild earned representation at the Baltimore Sun in 1938, but contract negotiations were not settled until 1949. H.L. Mencken served as the Sun’s liaison to the Guild from 1941-1948. By the mid 1960s the Washington and Baltimore Guilds were working together and eventually merged to create the still active Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. See Bibliography for sources.

Scope & Content

The Baltimore Sun financial and selected labor records collection contains information pertaining to Sun finances and Baltimore Newspaper Guild relations. The dates of the materials range from 1837-1986, with the bulk spanning 1837-1962. The 12 series collection is housed in 42 document and flat boxes, 2 flat file drawers, and 126 ledger boxes. The Sun financial and account information is composed of 6 series, including 134 ledger books. Materials include monthly statements, treasurer’s reports, tax and payoll records, financial correspondence, and transactional files. The bulk of the monthly statements (not in ledger form) range from 1904-1962, and provide information on various Sun divisions including the Evening Sun, paper sales and advertising, publishing, the magazine section, and the color comic section. Much of the financial correspondence contains statements for the Abell accounts with the Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Baltimore. Also included in this collection are financial statements regarding Arunah (A.S) Abell’s earnings from the Public Ledger from 1860-1861. The ledger books date from 1837-1980 and include monthly statements, cashbooks, checkbooks, account records, stock ledgers, petty ledgers, and bank books. There are three series related to the Baltimore Newspaper Guild and its relationship with the Baltimore Sun, as well as guild developments at the national level. Contained in this collection are Guild newsletters from the late 1930s and early 1940s. Among the other Guild materials are correspondence, meeting minutes from August and September 1941, and documents from the Sun and Guild negotiations (within the legal documents series). The correspondence series contains letters to and from H.L. Mencken, and the meeting minutes are often lengthy discussions between Mencken and Guild members. In addition to the Baltimore Guild newsletters, the collection contains H.L. Mencken’s personal copies of The Guild Reporter, the official paper of the American Newspaper Guild, from 1938-1944. The legal documents series, which ranges from 1910-1944 contains negotiations and agreements between the Guild and theSun in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of the remaining materials relate to the purchase of the New World Publishing Company in 1910, including information from New World stockholders meetings. Another series is devoted to the construction of the new processing plant on Calvert Street in the late 1940s and 1950s. The majority of the materials are agreements with contractors and subcontractors, but plant specifications, blueprints and machine drawings are also present. The last series contains all radio and television information from the 1980s, as well as documents from Vitapix Corporation (1953-1958). Included are radio station acquisition and appraisal documents with photographs, sale agreements, radio closing documents, and television licensing contracts for WRLH.

Organized into twelve series: Series I. Financial statements and reports, 1904-1962, 1985. Series II. Transactional files, 1899-1942. Series III. Tax records, 1914-1962. Series IV. Payroll and wages, 1936, 1941. Series V. Financial correspondence, 1856-1963. Series VI. Sun executives and Newspaper Guild meeting minutes, 1941. Series VII. Newspaper Guild correspondence, 1934-1942. Series VIII. Newspaper Guild publications, 1934-1944. Series IX. Legal documents, 1910-1944. Series X. Calvert Street plant construction, 1946-1955, 1964-1966. Series XI. Radio and television, 1981-1986. Series XII. Ledgers, 1837-1980. Series I. Financial statements and reports Monthly financial statements Treasurer’s annual reports Series II. Transactional files Series III. Tax records Federal Income, Declared Value Excess Profits, and Excess Profits Tax Returns Maryland and personal property tax returns Annual information returns Series IV. Payroll and wages Payroll and unemployment tax Wage scales for other newspaper guilds Series V. Financial correspondence Series VI. Sun executives and Newspaper Guild meeting minutes Series VII. Newspaper Guild correspondence Series VIII. Newspaper Guild publications Baltimore Newspaper Guild newsletters and announcements The Guild Letter Other Guild newsletters and publications The Reporter The Guild Reporter Series IX. Legal Documents Series X. Calvert Street plant construction Calvert Street plant specifications Contracts and agreements for construction of Calvert Street plant Series XI. Radio and Television Appraisals, acquisitions, and closings WRLH television licensing agreements Vitapix Corporation Series XII. Ledgers Financial statements and records Transactional records Stock ledgers Letters

Provenance Information

The collection was received from the Tribune Company in 2002. Arrangements were made with Sandy Levy, the Sun Librarian, to retrieve the records scheduled for destruction and the UMBC Collections Management staff packed materials and transported everything to UMBC. The items were in no particular order when retrieved from Sun offices. Physical property rights were transferred to UMBC but intellectual copyright is still maintained by the Sun.

A preliminary inventory of the collection was compiled by student assistant Adam Cohen in 2006. The ledgers were separated from the rest of the collection and many of the books, which were moldy when received, were cleaned. All ledgers were eventually housed in phase or flat boxes. Materials were divided into twelve series based on subject or type of document, though when possible the original organization of items in folders and folder titles were maintained. Initial processing was performed by Adam Cohen and graduate assistant Andrea Shahmohammadi. Processing was completed and finding aid was written by graduate assistant Amy Ciesielski in Spring 2009 under the supervision of Special Collections Archivist Lindsey Loeper.

Access & Use

No restrictions.

Copyright maintained by Baltimore Sun.

Subject Headings

• Baltimore (Md.) Newspapers
• Baltimore (Md.)
• Baltimore sun
• Mencken H. L. (Henry Louis) 1880-1956
• Newspaper Guild

Series Description & Container List

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Series I. Financial statements and reports

Subseries I.A. Monthly financial statements

Subseries I.B. Treasurer’s annual reports

Series II. Transactional files

Series III. Tax records

Subseries III.A. Federal income, declared value excess profits, and excess profits tax returns

Subseries III.B. Maryland and personal property tax returns

Subseries III.C. Annual information returns

Series IV. Payroll and wages

Subseries IV.A. Payroll and unemployment tax

Subseries IV.B. Wage scales for other newspaper guilds

Series V. Financial correspondence

Series VI. Sun executives and Newspaper Guild meeting minutes

Series VII. Newspaper Guild correspondence

Series VIII. Newspaper Guild publications

Subseries VIII.A. Baltimore Newspaper Guild newsletters and announcements

Subseries VIII.B. The Guild Letter

Subseries VIII.C. Other guild newsletters and publications

Subseries VIII.D. The Reporter

Subseries VIII.E. The Guild Reporter

Series IX. Legal documents

Series X. Calvert Street plant construction

Subseries X.A. Calvert Street plant specifications

Subseries X.B. Contracts and agreements for construction of Calvert Street plant

Series XI. Radio and television

Subseries XI.A. Appraisals, acquisitions, and closings

Subseries XI.B. WRLH television licensing agreements

Subseries XI.C. Vitapix Corporation

Series XII. Ledgers

Subseries XII.A. Financial statements and records

Subseries XII.B. Transactional Records

Subseries XII.C. Stock Ledgers

Subseries XII.D. Letters