Subseries I-B: Personality Files Medium (PM)
Scope and Contents
Subseries I-B: Personality Medium (PM) consists of 5” x 8” files (sometimes referred to as “card size” files in earlier descriptions and indices). This subseries includes both photographs (7.7 linear feet) and clippings (57 linear feet). Because of the smaller file size, the files in this subseries tend to contain fewer items per file than the PL files. Consequently, there are fewer files on prominent or famous people in this particular subseries. This series notably seems to contain many of the small, submitted head shot photographs, such as for marriage or engagement announcements. Most obituary clippings, if present in the collection, are found in this subseries.
Dates
- Creation: 1890 - 2004
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1930 - 1980
Creator
- From the Collection: Dayton daily news (Organization)
Restrictions on Access
The Dayton Daily News Archive is stored off-site. Please contact the Archives staff at 937-775-2092 or library-archives@wright.edu with your research topic at least three business days in advance of visiting to allow time to retrieve files.
Extent
65 linear feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Arrangement
Within this subseries, photographs and clippings are each in their own envelopes, and the two types of materials are filed in separate boxes (i.e., photographs for John Smith would be one box and clippings for John Smith would be in a different box). The boxes for the two separate types of material are sub-coded “PMP” (PM Photos) and “PMC” (PM Clippings). Files within each subdivision (PMP or PMC) are arranged alphabetically by last name, first name.
Appraisal
In 2023, this subseries was weeded (reappraised) to remove photographs created by external news agencies, such as the Associated Press, United Press International, World Wide News, etc. Approximately 4 linear feet of out-of-scope photographs were eliminated during this process.
Since 2024, this subseries has also been undergoing weeding to retrieve only original manuscript materials that are interfiled with the newspaper clippings. The majority of these manuscript materials consist of original questionnaires sent out by the newspaper to local political candidates, as well as the occasional publication concerning a local individual. These will be retained, and all the newspaper clippings (which is the majority of this subseries) will be discarded.
Processing Information
This group was created by combining people files from the following three previous subseries, all of which were the same size: Old Personality Clippings (1C), Obituary Clippings (1D), and “card-sized” people files from the JH Numeric subseries. The newspaper appeared to have started interfiling these groups before the collection was acquired by Wright State, and Wright State finished the integration. (If a personality file has a 4-6 digit number on it, this should be ignored, as it is from an earlier filing convention used in one of the predecessor components of this subseries, JH Numeric “C” or card-size files. These numbers were observed throughout the existing Old Personality Clippings and Obituary Clippings files, indicating that the newspaper had been in the habit of refiling JH Numeric people files into the Personality Files over the years already.)
The bulk of the arrangement and weeding work thus far on this subseries was done by Donna Bobb, Darrell Blevins, Alondra Mallia, Desiree Loewit, and Lisa Rickey.
Genre / Form
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections Repository
Wright State University Libraries
Special Collections and Archives
3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy
Dayton OH 45435-0001 USA
937-775-2092
library-archives@wright.edu
