TABLE OF CONTENTS


Descriptive Summary of the Collection

Administrative Information

Biography of M. W. Newman

Scope and Content of the Collection

Organization

Selected Search Terms

Container List

Series 1: Correspondence, 1952-1998

Series 2: Works, ca. 1920-2001

Series 3: Personal, 1917-2001

Series 4: Photographs & Audiovisual, 1918-2002

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Inventory of the M. W. Newman Papers, 1917-2002


The Newberry Library
Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610-7324
USA
Phone: 312-255-3506
Fax: 312-255-3646
E-Mail: specialcolls@newberry.org
URL: http://www.newberry.org

Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2007.

©2007.


Descriptive Summary of the Collection

Creator Newman, M. W. (Morton William), 1917-2001
Title M. W. Newman Papers
Dates 1917-2002
Extent 6 linear feet (7 boxes, 2 oversize boxes)
Abstract Works, correspondence, personal materials, and memorabilia of Chicago newspaper editor, reporter, and critic M. W. Newman.
Language Materials are in English.
Repository Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections
Collection Call Number Midwest MS Newman
Collection Stack Location 3a 57 3

Administrative Information

Cite As

M. W. Newman Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Provenance

Gift of Nancy Newman and David Lee, 2006.

Processed by

Lisa Janssen, Shannon Yule, 2007.

Acknowledgements

This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Access

The M. W. Newman Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The M. W. Newman Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

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Biography of M. W. Newman

Chicago newspaper editor, reporter, and critic.

Morton William "Bill" Newman was born in New York in 1917. He attended the journalism school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and graduated in 1938.

He began his career at small newspapers in Indiana, North Carolina, and New Jersey, finally joining the Chicago Daily News staff in 1945. At the Daily News he proved to be a versatile newspaperman, serving at various times as rewrite man, architecture critic, copy editor, restaurant reviewer, crime and urban affairs reporter, and later, editor of the weekend arts and entertainment section, Panorama. He wrote several important exposes on Chicago urban affairs, covering such topics as the Chicago crime syndicate, the failure of public housing in the Robert Taylor Homes, and real estate agents who fostered racial segregation of neighborhoods for profit in an award winning series called the "Panic Peddlers."

Newman stayed at the Daily News until its demise in 1978, and wrote the newspaper’s front-page “obituary” on its final day. He spent the next 16 years at the Chicago Sun-Times where he concentrated on urban reporting. In addition to his newspaper work, he was editor of Inland Architect magazine from 1969 to 1980. After his retirement from the Sun-Times, he continued to contribute arts criticism to the Chicago Tribune and write for magazines such as Architectural Forum and Notre Dame Magazine. M. W. Newman also received numerous awards througout his career including the Marshall Field Award for outstanding editorial contribution to the Daily News in 1964, and was the first to be awarded the Community Media Workshop Studs Terkel Award in 1994. His many colleagues and admirers included Terkel and Mike Royko.

Newman met his wife Nancy when she worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and they married in 1962. He died of lung cancer in 2001.

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Scope and Content of the Collection

This collection consists primarily of clippings of Newman's newspaper writing for the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune, several magazine articles and research files. Correspondence regarding Newman’s writing and personal letters from Daily News colleagues such as Raymond Coffey and Robert Gruenberg are also included. The collection contains personal materials such as biographical sketches of Newman, publicity articles, official documents, and portraits and snapshots of M.W. Newman and Chicago Daily News staff members.

Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.

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Organization

Papers are organized in the following series:

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Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.

Names

  • Chicago daily news
  • Chicago Daily News, Inc. -- Employees
  • Chicago sun-times
  • Newman, M. W. (Morton William), 1917-2001
  • Terkel, Studs, 1912-

Subjects

  • Arts -- Press coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.) -- Newspapers
  • Cities and towns -- Research
  • Clippings -- 1950-2001
  • Crime and the press
  • Investigative reporting
  • Journalists -- Illinois
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Moving images
  • Newspaper editors
  • Sound recordings

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Container List

Series 1: Correspondence, 1952-1998

Correspondence contains letters from readers and other journalists regarding articles Newman wrote; personal correspondence from Chicago Daily News colleagues such as Robert Gruenberg, Raymond Coffey, and Jack Schnedler; and letters regarding his Field Award and University of Washington Distinguished Alumni Award.
Letters are arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
1 1 A - C, 1957-1992
1 2 Brooks, Gwendolyn, Jul. 2, 1961
1 3 Congratulations letters for Field Award, 1965
1 4 D - G, 1955-1988
1 5 Elliot, David, 1984-1987
1 6 Gruenberg, Robert, 1985-1989
1 7 H - M, 1963-1998
1 8 N - S, 1952-1992
1 9 Outgoing, 1965-1992
1 10 Schnedler, Jack, 1978, 1981, n.d.
1 11 Smith, Walter, 1962-1963
1 12 Unidentified Correspondents, 1971-1987
1 13 University of Washington - Distinguished Alumni Award, 1996
1 14 T - Z, 1959-1990

Series 2: Works, ca. 1920-2001

Primarily clippings of Newman's newspaper writing for the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. Also includes magazine articles from Notre Dame Magazine, Architectural Forum, and Chicago, research files, and a few manuscripts.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
2 15 American Friend - Studs Terkel (article from unidentified publication), ca. 1990s
2 16 At Play in the City that Works - guide for the American Society of Newspapers, ca. 1990s
2 17 Architectural Forum - articles, 1972-1974
2 18 Architectural Photographs of Richard Nickel - booklet, 1973
2 19 Bibliographical lists, ca. 1980s
2 20 Borg-Warner ad copy printed in Fortune Magazine, 1979
2 21 Chicago (magazine) - articles (some incomplete), 1985-1989
2 22 Chicago Daily News - articles, ca. 1950s
2 23 Chicago Daily News - articles, 1950-1955
2 24 Chicago Daily News - articles, 1956-1959
2 25 Chicago Daily News - articles, ca. 1960s
2 26 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1960
2 27 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1960
2 28 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1961
2 29 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1961
2 30 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1962
2 31 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1962
2 32 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1963
2 33 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1963
2 34 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1964
2 35 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1964
3 36 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1965
3 37 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1965
3 38 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1966
3 39 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1966
3 40 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun 1967
3 41 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1967
3 42 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Jun. 1968
3 43 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jul.-Dec. 1968
3 44 Chicago Daily News - articles, 1969
3 45 Chicago Daily News - articles, Jan.-Apr. 1970
3 46 Chicago Daily News - articles, May-Dec. 1970
4 47 Chicago Daily News - articles, 1971
4 48-49 Chicago Daily News - articles (See Oversize Box 1), 1972-1977
4 50 Chicago Daily News - last issue, includes proofs and plate of front page (See Oversize Box 1), 1978
4 51 Chicago Daily News Reprint - Forgotten Americans, 1964
4 52 Chicago Daily News Reprint - The Panic Peddlers, 1959
4 53 Chicago Daily News Reprint - State Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), 1956
4 54 Chicago Daily News Reprint - Tragic Side of Hyde Park, 1960
4 55 Chicago Daily News Reprint - You and the Relief Problem, 1961
4 56-59 Chicago Sun-Times - articles (See Oversize Box 1), 1978-1986
4 60-63 Chicago Sun-Times - articles (See Oversize Box 2), 1987-1994
4 64 Chicago Sun-Times - Commerical Real Estate Magazine - articles (See Oversize Box 2), 1990-1994
4 65 Chicago Sun-Times Reprints - The Chicago Agenda & Examining Chicago, (See Oversize Box 2), ca. 1980s-1990s
4 66 Chicago Sun-Times Reprint - Health Care Hustlers, 1988
4 67 Chicago Sun-Times Reprint - Turnaround Cities, 1985
4 68 Chicago Sun-Times - special inserts (See Oversize Box 2), 1988, 1991
4 69-70 Chicago Tribune - articles (See Oversize Box 2), 1994-2001
4 71 Chicago Tribune Magazine - articles, 1996, 2001
4 72 Magazine articles - miscellaneous, 1979-1989, n.d.
4 73 Manuscripts - miscellaneous and unidentified, ca. 1980s-1990s
4 74 Notre Dame Magazine - articles, 1990-1997
4 75 Obituary for Edward H. Eulenberg published in Headline Club News, Feb. 1988
4 76 Project Hope - program proposal, 1995
4 77 Research Files - Caldwell and Parks, ca. 1982-1997
4 78 Research Files - Cultural Center (intro for booklet), ca. 1997
4 79 Research Files - Dearborn Park, ca. 1995
5 80 Research Files - Fuerst, Jim, ca.1969-1998
5 81 Research Files - Harpers, ca. 1980-2000
5 82 Research Files - knockoffs, ca. 2000
5 83 Research Files - light, ca, 1993-1999
5 84 Research Files - Michigan Avenue, ca. 1997-2000
5 85 Research Files - miscellaneous, ca. 1975-1997
5 86 Research Files - murals, ca. 1995
5 87 Research Files - pets, ca. 1995
5 88 Research Files - religious architecture, ca. 1995
5 89 Research Files - St. Patrick's Church windows, ca. 1930s
5 90 Research Files - stars (for Notre Dame Magazine), ca. 1990-1995
5 91 Research Files - Terkel, Studs, ca. 1967-1995,
6 92 Research Files - Tree Studios, ca. 1920-2000
6 93 Research Files - University of Chicago, ca. 1990-2000
6 94 Research Files - Vinci (IIT), ca. 1998-2000
6 95 The Story of Chicago Architecture - booklet, 1969
6 96 Wisconsin Talk - speech, 1996

Series 3: Personal, 1917-2001

Biographical sketches, memorabilia, publicity, and official documents.
Arranged alphabetically.

Box Folder Contents
7 97 Biographical Materials - obituaries, press bios, recollections, ca. 1970-2001
7 98 Memorablila - awards and certificates (See also Oversize Box 2), 1964-2001
7 99 Memorabilia - miscellaneous, ca. 1935-2001
7 100 Official Documents - birth certificate, marriage license, passports, 1917-1993
7 101 Publicity - articles regarding M. W. Newman, 1961-1995
7 102 University of Wisconsin yearbook, 1938

Series 4: Photographs & Audiovisual, 1918-2002

Portraits and snapshots of M.W. Newman and Chicago Daily News staff members; photographs relating to articles; VHS cassette of a tribute to Newman; and cassette tape of a radio program featuring Rick Kogan.
Arranged by type of material.

Box Folder Contents
7 103 Photographs - Chicago Daily News staff and related (See also Oversize Box 2), ca. 1950-1978
7 104 Photographs - M. W. Newman, 1918-1931 (See also Oversize Box 2),
7 105 Photographs - M. W. Newman, ca. 1950-2000
7 106 Photographs - Pyewacket the cat (pet), ca. 1970s
7 107 Cassette Tape - Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan (radio program), Oct. 28, 2001
7 108 VHS Cassette - Bill Newman Tribute, Mar. 18, 2002