Fort Worth News-Tribune Collection:

A Guide

Historical Note

The newspaper was founded as the News-Tribune in Haltom City in 1969, as a neighborhood weekly newspaper. It was purchased from owners Mrs. Ione Whiteman and Wallace Sheppard in August 1970, by veteran journalists, Mack H. and Madeline C. Williams. The new editor was Walter H. Gray. All were well-known in the newspaper business. They converted it into a county-wide paper specializing in news that did not appear elsewhere. The Fort Worth News-Tribune became a conservative, staff-owned newspaper that reported the local news of Fort Worth and Tarrant County with special emphasis on politics, legal matters, social functions, and historical articles. It was the first weekly newspaper in the United States to become a member of the Associated Press.

Mack Williams was a reporter and editor for many years with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Fort Worth Press, the Dallas Times-Herald, and the Denton Record-Chronicle. He covered the White House during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and was a member of the White House Correspondents Association. Mack Williams served as editor of the News-Tribune and author of the popular column, "In Old Fort Worth."

Madeline Williams was City Hall reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and was on the editorial staff of the Dallas Times-Herald. Gray was also a former Star-Telegram City Hall reporter, a reporter for the Associated Press, the Houston Chronicle, and managing editor of the Laredo Times.

The Williams owned and published the newspaper until February 1986, when it was sold to Fort Worth Publishing, Inc., owned by veteran newswoman Linda Pavlik and businessman James Lattimore, Jr. A third investor, Kenneth Garrett, Jr., was not involved with the news operation. Pavlik and Lattimore served as publishers until March 1989, when the newspaper ceased publication.

The newspaper's name varied through the years between 1970 and 1989. In August 1970, the masthead read News-Tribune; with the subtitle "The Newspaper of Government, Business, Community Progress." In 1980 the subtitle changed to "Home-Owned Newspaper of Fort Worth and Tarrant County." In 1982 the subtitle was shortened to "The Home-Owned Newspaper," and on June 25, 1982, the name was changed to Fort Worth News-Tribune with subtitle, "The Home-Owned Newspaper." The company published other weeklies during its last decade. In 1980, it began with the Downtown Trib: Your Guide to What's Happening. The name was changed in 1982 to Downtown News-Tribune and used the same subtitle. In 1984 it became the Monday News-Tribune: Downtown's Own Newspaper and finally in 1986, Fort Worth Today. In addition Fort Worth Shoppers' News was published from 1987-1989.

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Scope and Contents

The collection is composed of the clippings files, photographs, correspondence files, artifacts, and newspapers produced and used by the business office and reporters of the Fort Worth News-Tribune. It is housed in 146 boxes totaling 69 linear ft.; in addition there are eleven bound volumes, and two artifacts. The materials are organized in the same series in which they were received. Materials are in alphabetical order by name of person or subject within each series. The newspapers consist of bound and unbound issues housed in chronological order.

There are five series in the collection. Series I is the clippings files, 1970-1989. The clippings were removed from labeled legal-sized envelopes to acid-free folders. There is a box by box summary and an alphabetical index to the clippings in the container list. The clippings contain stories about Fort Worth and Tarrant County residents, businesses, government bodies, and subjects as retained by the newspaper.

Series II are photographs of people and Series III are photographs of subjects, 1970-1989. The photographs were in a file cabinet that was transferred to Special Collections. All photographs and negatives were placed into acid-free folders. The photographs are primarily black and white, 8″ × 10″, glossy prints, but include some color prints, prints 5″ × 7″ and smaller, snapshots, and Polaroid prints. There are a smaller number of negatives that are or had been attached to the verso of the prints, but many have separated from their original prints and have been sleeved for protection. These negatives remain with the prints as they were received. There is a box by box summary and an alphabetical index to all persons, groups, and subjects in the photograph series in the container list.

The photographs appeared in the News-Tribune or were taken or collected by the newspaper staff. The people series are photographs primarily of local individuals, but they include some corporate groups, nationally prominent figures in the entertainment business and politics. The subject prints depict buildings, events, fashion, theatre and musical groups, street scenes, and other scenes and happenings in and around Fort Worth and Tarrant County. There is an occasional odd photo of an event in another city, state, or country.

In Series IV are selected correspondence files used by the staff, 1981-1989. The files consist of correspondence, reports, notes, news releases, photographs, and printed materials. They are arranged alphabetically by the original titles. See the container list for the titles.

In Series V are newspapers, both bound and individual issues, organized in two subseries, and thereunder arranged chronologically. The bound issues date from August 27, 1970, to May 25, 1973, then there is a gap until January 1980. The remaining bound issues date to December 1984. The unbound issues fill in many of the gaps and range from August 27, 1970 to March 17, 1989. It is nearly a complete set; however, the researcher should be aware that there are several gaps and some missing issues. Consult the container list for a box by box list detailing the titles and range of dates for the newspapers in the collection.

Series VI consists of two artifacts; a yellow News-Tribune newspaper street rack and a News-Tribune sign insert.

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Restrictions

Access

Open for research.

Literary Rights Statement

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

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Separated Material

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Administrative Information

Citation

Fort Worth News-Tribune Collection, AR368, Box Number, Folder Number, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library.

Acquisition

Permanent loan, 1989-1990.

Accessioned as number 90-7.

Materials in the Fort Worth News-Tribune Collection were placed on permanent loan to the UTA Libraries, Special Collections Division, by Kenneth Garrett of Fort Worth on October 30, 1989, and February 13, 1990. Gerald Saxon and Marcelle Hull received the collection. It was accessioned by Marcelle Hull.

Processing Information

Duplicate issues of the unbound newspapers were deaccessioned.

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 Note to the Researcher 

Please wear white cotton gloves (provided by Special Collections) to handle all photographs and negatives. Some of the negatives were taped to the prints. Please notify a staff member if you find any loose, sticky negatives that need to be sleeved.

There are many pages of names in the clippings and photograph series. If you note any misspellings or corrections that should be made to the name indexes, please notify a staff member.

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Container List

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Appendices

Appendices contain a complete index of individual names of the clipping files and the photograph file.