Collection # P 0303 Indianapolis Recorder Collection ca. 1900–1987 Collection Information Historical Sketch Biographical Sketch Scope and Content Note Series 1 Description Series 2 Description Series 1 Box and Folder List Series 1 Indices Series 2 Index Series 2 Box and Folder List Cataloging Information Processed by Pamela Tranfield July 1997; January 2000 Updated 10 May 2004 Manuscript and Visual Collections Department William Henry Smith Memorial Library Indiana Historical Society 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269 www.indianahistory.org COLLECTION INFORMATION VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 179 linear feet ofblack-and-white photographs; 2 linear feet of color photographs; 1.5 linear feet of printed material; 0.5 linear feet of graphics; 0.5 linear feet of manuscripts. COLLECTION DATES: circa 1900–1981 PROVENANCE: George P. Stewart Publishing Company, May 1984, March 1999. RESTRICTIONS: Manuscript material related to Homes for Black Children of Indianapolis is not available for use until 2040. COPYRIGHT: REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material from this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society. ALTERNATE FORMATS: None RELATED HOLDINGS: George P. Stewart Collection (M 0556) ACCESSION NUMBERS: 1984.0517; 1999.0353 NOTES: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Indianapolis Recorder Collection was processed between July 1995 and July 1997, and between August 1999 and January 2000. The Indiana Historical Society thanks the following volunteers for their assistance in identifying people, organizations, and events in these photographs: Stanley Warren, Ray Crowe, Theodore Boyd, Barbara Shankland, Jim Cummings, and Wilma Gibbs. HISTORICAL SKETCH George Pheldon Stewart and William H. Porter established the Indianapolis Recorder, an African American newspaper, in 1895 at 122 West New York Street in Indianapolis. Porter and Stewart also operated a commercial printing business on the premises. Stewart bought Porter’s share of the business in 1899 and relocated to 414 Indiana Avenue in 1900; later to the Knights of Pythias building at 236–40 West Walnut Street; to 518–20 Indiana Avenue in 1918; and to 2901 North Tacoma Avenue in 1975. Fannie Caldwell Stewart became the owner and publisher of the Recorder after her husband’s death in 1924, and Marcus C. Stewart became managing editor. Marcus C. Stewart was owner and editor of the Recorder at the time of his death in 1983. Eunice Trotter purchased the business from the Stewart family in 1988. Trotter sold the Recorder to William G. Mays in 1990. The Recorder used few illustrations before 1906. By 1916 portraits of church leaders, reformists, and politicians illustrated articles on the first two pages of the paper. Some advertisements were also illustrated. Photographs of local sports teams appeared by 1935, though news photographs were not widely used until the mid 1950s. Publicity photographs of entertainers illustrated the entertainment pages starting in the late 1930s. Wire service photographs, often of athletes, also appeared at this time. News photographs made in Indianapolis illustrated the Recorder regularly starting from the late 1940s. Scenes of accidents, violent deaths, and arrests dominated the front pages from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s. Photographs of NAACP and Civil Rights movement activities also illustrated the newspaper through this time. The Recorder used images of local church groups, social clubs, and sorority and fraternity members frequently from the early 1950s. By 1960, photographs illustrated all sections of the newspaper. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH George Pheldon Stewart, the son of William H. and Josephine Stewart of Vincennes, Indiana, was born 13 March 1874. He moved to Indianapolis in 1894, and married Fannie Belle Caldwell, formerly of Louisville, in September 1898. The couple raised six children: Joyce Caldwell, Marcus C., Fredonia Helen and Theodore Douglass (twins), Henry Sweetland, and Clarence Porter. Stewart was a leader in the Colored Republican Committee, the Indiana Association of Colored Men, the Indiana chapter of the National Negro Business League, and the Indiana Negro Welfare League. He was affiliated, fraternally, with the Waterford Lodge No.13; Free and Accepted Masons, Marion Lodge No.5, Knights of Pythias; Persian Temple No.46; Nobles Mystic Shrine; and the Indianapolis Camp of the American Woodsmen. Stewart died in Indianapolis in 1924. SOURCES • Bodenhamer, David S., and Robert G. Barrows. Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994 • George P. Stewart Collection (M 556), Indiana Historical Society Library. • Gibbs, Wilma. "Society Receives Historic Indianapolis Photo Collection." Black History News and Notes 18 (1984): 1, 5–8. • Gibbs, Wilma. "Indianapolis Recorder: A Historical Overview of a Community Institution." Black History News and Notes 52 (1993): 4–7. • Gibbs, Wilma. "George P. Stewart and the Indianapolis Recorder." Black History News and Notes 42 (1990): 1–3, 8. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Indianapolis Recorder Collection contains 184 linear feet of black-and-white and color photographs; printed material; manuscripts; and ink, pencil, and mechanically reproduced drawings dating from circa 1900 to 1987. The collection is divided into two series. Series 1 dates from circa 1900 to 1983, with most items dating from circa 1950 to 1979. Series 2 dates from 1980 to 1981, and from 1983 to 1987, with a small number of photographs from the 1960s and 1970s. There are no photographs in the collection dating from 1982. The Recorder newspaper donated the collection to the Indiana Historical Society in two accessions in May 1984, and March 1999. The first accession (Series 1) was processed and made available to researchers by July 1997. The second accession (Series 2) was processed between August 1999 and January 2000. This portion of the collection includes nine linear feet of black-and-white photographs, one and one-half linear feet of color photographs, and one-half foot of printed and graphic material, respectively. Not all photographs printed in the newspaper during this period were included in the accession. Series 1 and Series 2 vary in terms of physical arrangement, size, and subject content. For these reasons each series, though part of the same collection, will require different research strategies. Photographs in Series 1 are filed alphabetically by subject, proper name, or corporate name. Patrons may search Series 1 by scanning the folder titles indicated in the Box and Folder List for Series 1. Indices also exist to lead patrons to socially or aesthetically interesting portraits of individuals and families. These indices are as follows: Babies and Children, Portraits, Armed Services Personnel, and Entertainers. The index "Entertainers" is further subdivided into the following categories: Gospel Singers, Male Musicians, Male/Female Bands, Female Vocal Groups, Male Vocal Groups, Female Vocalists, Male Vocalists, Female Musicians. For conservation reasons color photographs, graphics, printed material, and manuscript items are filed alphabetically is separate boxes. These box numbers appear at the end of the box and folder list for Series 1, in the listing: Series 1, Printed and Manuscript Material, Colored Photographs. The processor at the Indiana Historical Society processed items in Series 2 according to the original order of the material at the time of donation, which was according to the date of publication in the newspaper. The processor then created an index to the personal and corporate names, and subject headings found in the series. Patrons may scan this index to locate a search term (e. g. Girl Scouts, or NAACP). The date or dates associated with the search term indicate the date of the file folder in which the item is stored. The patron may then turn to the Box and Folder List for Series 2 to locate the box and folder number (as assigned by the processor) where the item is stored. Researchers using this collection will observe that the photographs are stored in individual sleeves and backed by sheets of archival paper. The processor at the Indiana Historical Society transcribed all relevant information originally written on the back of the photographs to the archival paper. The processor did not transcribe printing instructions, which usually consisted of mathematical formulas for enlarging or reducing the photograph for printing purposes. For Series 1, volunteers with personal knowledge of people and events in the particular photographs included additional information in brackets ([]) on the archival paper. For conservation reasons, the photographs and archival paper must remain in the plastic sleeve during viewing. All relevant information is written on the archival paper that backs the photographs. Recorder staff used wax to affix the photographs to layout sheets during newspaper publication, and most photographs retained residual amounts of wax that could not be removed. This residual wax can adhere the photograph to the plastic sleeve and archival paper, and the photograph may tear if removed from the sleeve. All photographs must remain in the archival sleeves for viewing. Variations in the subject content between the series reflect changes in the focus of the newspaper through the decades. Material in Series 1 shows that the Recorder functioned as an organ for international and local news about African Americans until the early 1980s. Series 2 reflects a change in focus to the activities of local politicians and interest groups. The