Series II: Subject Files

The arrangement of this series reflects the original variety of arrangement schemes used at the newspaper: Black and White Photographs, Color Photographs, Alphanumeric Photographs, Numeric Photographs, and Subject "VIP" Files. Each subseries in this series is arranged in a slightly different way. See individual subseries for arrangement details.

In earlier versions of this finding aid, several of the series were designated as either "Dayton Daily News" or "Journal Herald". The Black and White Photographs and the Color Photographs were both designated "Dayton Daily News," and the Alphanumeric Photographs and Numeric Photographs were designated "Journal Herald."

The "Dayton Daily News" series have alphabetical arrangement, with or without hierarchy. Both the Black and White Photographs and the Color Photographs have a hierarchical arrangement, which includes a main topic heading and (sometimes) additional subheadings, such as "Streets - Third Street" or "Schools - Stivers."

The "Journal Herald" series have arrangements based on number codes.

The Journal Herald Alphanumeric Photographs used an alphanumeric code to correspond to topic categories (e.g., 81 for Education), which may have subcategory codes (e.g., 81g for K-12 Public Schools), and then alphabetic arrangements for files in the same subcategory (e.g., Steele High School, Stivers High School, etc.). In this series, the file was assigned an alphanumeric code based on the topic, and files were physically arranged alphanumerically based on the code.

In the Journal Herald Numeric Photographs series, each topic was assigned its own number. For example, "Cedvarille, Ohio" was assigned number 8,067. Additional photos of Cedarville might have been added to 8,067 over time, but if a new folder was needed for a new topic, the next available number was assigned. Files were arranged in number order, and the only way to find a file was through an index.

Both the numeric and alphanumeric files were indexed in a single card file system, which was converted to a database by Wright State Special Collections and Archives.

In all cases, indvidual photographs were marked with their (re)filing location on the photograph itself. This has been extremely helpful.

Nevertheless, over time, photographs from all of these series have "migrated" into other series, organically, as the newspaper employees did their work. It is common to find files with numeric identifiers crossed out and assigned a new alphanumeric code (and filing location). It is also common to find photographs on a particular topic all filed together in one folder, regardless of the filing location written on their reverse sides. This just makes sense, and the newspaper staffers were already merging the files (whether consciously or unconsciously) for convenience and efficiency. Conscious, concerted efforts to do this can be seen in the Subject VIP Files.