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Creator
New York Times Company
Call number
MssCol 17781
Physical description
78 linear feet (137 boxes, 189 volumes, 8 oversize folders, 1 tube)
Language
Some items in German, French and Spanish
Preferred Citation

New York Times Company Records. Adolph S. Ochs Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Adolph Simon Ochs was an American newspaperman and the publisher of the New York Times for almost forty years, from 1896 to 1935. Under his leadership, the paper acquired an international reputation for objective and trustworthy reporting. The collection contains correspondence, letterpress books, scrapbooks, financial records, blueprints, maps, land surveys, photographs, honorary degrees and awards presented to Ochs, and other material related to his life and career. The main areas of focus in the collection are the Chattanooga Times, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, the Philadelphia Times, Ochs' continuing interest in the city of Chattanooga, and personal and family matters.

Biographical/historical information

Adolph Simon Ochs was an American newspaperman and the publisher of the New York Times for almost forty years, from 1896 to 1935. Under his leadership, the paper acquired an international reputation for objective and trustworthy reporting. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1858 to Julius Ochs and Bertha Levy Ochs, German-Jewish immigrants. The family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1864, where Ochs began his career in the newspaper business at the age of 11, starting at the Knoxville Chronicle as a carrier boy. He left school three years later and worked for both the Chronicle and the Knoxville Times, where he worked his way up to journeyman printer. He made the leap to reporter in 1875 when he covered Andrew Johnson's funeral for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He stayed in Louisville for less than a year and returned to Knoxville when it became clear there was no future for him at the Courier-Journal. In 1877 he joined two other men and published the Chattanooga Daily Dispatch. The venture was a failure, but Ochs was able to turn this to his advantage. He used the Dispatch's printing plant to publish the City Directory and Business Gazetteer and was able to pay off his debts. As the publisher of the Directory, Ochs came into contact with nearly every business and political leader in the city and remained in contact with them even after he left for New York. These men lent him the money to acquire the Chattanooga Times and provided references and money for him when he acquired the New York Times. He carried these testimonials with him as he met with businessmen in New York and they served as his introduction to a new set of leaders who were to become his peers. He would later continue this habit of presenting letters of praise, by always including a letter or two in praise of the New York Times and its leadership on the editorial page. Because of his success with the Directory and the fulfillment of his debts, Ochs had established himself as a good credit risk, and was able to borrow the needed amount to purchase the Chattanooga Daily Times in 1878. He was 20 years old. He announced that the Times would publish news and information for both the businessman in the city and the farmer on the outskirts of Chattanooga. The paper would provide local, national, and international news and would support the principles of the conservative Democratic Party while remaining independent of politics. Within a year Ochs was able to turn the paper into a success. Once he began to make a profit, he put that money back into the paper, expanding Associated Press telegraph service and hiring more staff, including his brothers, George and Milton. This success led to investment in Chattanooga, in both civic improvements and private real estate purchases. The market eventually collapsed, leaving Ochs in debt again. Although he worked himself out of debt, he was unable to realize the profits he had before the real estate boom.

In 1895 Ochs decided that the best way to regain his previous success and profits was to expand his business and that the place to do so was New York. After an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the New York Mercury, he learned in 1896 that the New York Times was for sale. At that time, the paper was losing money and had a number of competitors. With practically no money of his own, Ochs convinced the Times Reorganization Committee that he was the man to turn the paper into a viable business.

When Ochs acquired the paper in July 1896, there were few news reports free of bias and many that he considered publicity items, rather than straight news. He began to create the paper he had envisioned, one that would be a paper of record. On his first day as publisher he presented the credo by which the paper was to be governed, stating that the paper would "give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved" and that it would be a paper for "thoughtful, pure-minded people." The paper began covering financial news, the stock market, the real estate market, and court proceedings. Other improvements included more telephones and typewriters at the Times Annex, a Sunday pictorial magazine, Saturday Review of Books, standards for advertising, elimination of romantic fiction serials, and the publication of letters to the editor that criticized the paper, in addition to those that praised it. In striving to publish news and not opinion, he created an institution that presented objective and reliable news at a time when most papers would publish anything to gain readers. The slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print", was his invention, added to the paper's front page less than a year after he became publisher. The slogan was a direct comment on the yellow journals, specifically the New York World and the New York Journal. He vowed that the New York Times would never become one of them. By August, he was receiving compliments on the paper and requests for advertising space as a result. The city of New York began purchasing advertising the following month.

Circulation doubled within Ochs' first year as publisher and by the third year he was showing a profit. His image and influence grew along with the success of the paper. While in Chattanooga, Ochs had already met a number of notable people, but even more wanted to meet the publisher of the New York Times. He was constantly requested to join clubs and organizations and to speak at dinners, conferences, and graduation ceremonies. Awards, honorary degrees, and autographed photographs of national and foreign leaders decorated the walls of his office.

In 1883, Ochs married Iphigenia Miriam Wise, known as Effie. She was the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who is considered to be the founder of Reform Judaism in America. Their daughter, Iphigene, was born in 1892. She married Arthur Hays Sulzberger in 1917. Sulzberger became the publisher of the New York Times after Ochs' death in 1935.

Scope and arrangement

The Adolph S. Ochs papers contain correspondence, letterpress books, scrapbooks, financial records, blueprints, maps, land surveys, photographs, honorary degrees and awards presented to ASO, and other material related to his life and career. The main areas of focus in the collection are the Chattanooga Times, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, the Philadelphia Times, Ochs' continuing interest in Chattanooga, and personal and family matters. The papers are divided into two series, People and Subjects, according to a system established at the Archives of the New York Times. These files were made up chiefly of correspondence. The New York Times Archives maintained a Book File and Map File as well. The Book File contained over 200 volumes of scrapbooks, biographies, photograph albums, and other bound volumes celebrating Ochs, the New York Times, and other aspects of his life. The Map File contained oversize items such as maps, surveys, blueprints, and scrapbooks. The contents of both of these files have been interfiled with related material in the People and Subject series. Both series contain the same types of material and are more fully described below.

Every aspect of Ochs' life is documented in the collection, from photographs of him as a child to testimonials sent to his family and the New York Times after his death. Material from Ochs' early career includes articles written while he was a young reporter, including his story on Johnson's funeral, letters of reference he received from Chattanooga leaders, material on various aspects of the Chattanooga Times and his leadership there. His detailed correspondence with EWO about his negotiations for the New York Times, drafts of his credo and editorial policy for the New York Times, documents concerning the construction of Times Tower and the renaming of Longacre Square to Times Square, and correspondence with and coverage of the expeditions of Richard E. Byrd, Robert Peary, and Charles Lindbergh are just a few items from the files documenting Ochs as publisher and guiding force at the New York Times. There is a great deal of material on Ochs's involvement in Chattanooga including the development of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee and his support and involvement with the Mizpah Congregation. Material from Ochs's later career includes correspondence with United States Presidents and notes about Ochs's meetings with them, minutes of Associated Press (AP) Board of Directors' meetings, and testimonials, honorary degrees, and awards presented to Ochs during his lifetime and at his death.

The New York Times Company Records. Adolph S. Ochs papers are arranged in two series:

  • Series I. People
    53 boxes 21 volumes

    This series contains correspondence, photographs, books, scrapbooks, and other materials that the Archives of the New York Times deemed to be of a personal nature or of minor subject interest. The files are arranged alphabetically by personal name and contain correspondence with and about that person. When applicable, cross-references are provided to relevant subject files. While this series contains mostly personal correspondence, many letters do mention Ochs's business interests. Letters to members of his family often concern the New York Times. Effie Wise Ochs's file contains the letters her husband wrote to her during his negotiations for the New York Times. His nearly daily letters to her provide descriptions of life in New York City at the end of the 19th century and details of his struggle to turn the Times into a viable paper. These letters, in which he discussed every aspect of his work, were passed around to the rest of the Ochs family in Tennessee.

    Nearly every member of the family had a position at Ochs's newspapers. His father, brothers, brother-in-law, nephew, and cousin all worked for him. This series contains files on all these men: Julius Ochs, Milton B. Ochs, George W. Ochs-Oakes, Harry C. Adler, Julius Ochs Adler, and Ben C. Franck. His son-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, joined the New York Times after his marriage to Ochs's daughter, Iphigene, and became publisher after Ochs's death. Iphigene was involved in her father's business throughout her life. As a child, she laid the cornerstone for the Times Square building and, as a board member, exerted a huge influence at the paper after her father's death. While not every member of the Ochs family was an employee of Ochs, he felt responsible for everyone's security and gave money, usually in the guise of loans, to many of them.

    Other material in this series includes Ochs's correspondence with prominent members of society, including explorers, presidents, foreign leaders, authors, and inventors. He developed a personal relationship with many of the people he met through the New York Times, including Spencer Trask, Jacob H. Schiff, George Eastman, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Admiral Robert E. Byrd, Charles Lindbergh, and many others. Ochs was often invited to the White House as well as the personal homes of U.S. presidents and often wrote about his interviews with them. For example, this series includes a narrative of his meeting with Calvin Coolidge in 1926, in which the two men discussed the war debts of the Allies and the World Court.

    The People series includes notable material on the Leo Frank case. Frank was a Jewish man accused of the rape and murder of a young girl in Georgia in 1913. His trial was highly sensational and was covered by many newspapers, including the New York Times, which supported Frank. The Leo Frank file includes correspondence between Frank and Ochs as well as scrapbooks with correspondence, clippings, photographs, legal documents, and pamphlets about the case.

  • Series II. Subjects
    84 boxes 1 tube 168 volumes

    This series contains correspondence, financial records, minutes, scrapbooks, photographs, films, maps, blueprints, and other material related to Ochs's newspapers and other business ventures, real estate interests, philanthropic works, and personal and family matters that the New York Times Archives was able to describe by topic, geographic, or organization names. Material on the activities and organization of the Chattanooga Times, New York Times, and Ochs's Philadelphia newspapers can be found here. This series also contains material on Ochs's estates Abenia and Hillandale, his anniversaries as publisher, personal events (such as birthdays, wedding celebrations, anniversaries, and vacations), Ochs's personal finances, and his speeches before the Associated Press and other professional organizations, as well as at commencements.

    There is no file with the heading "New York Times." Material relating to the paper may be found in the files for such topics as "Advertising," "Buildings," "Circulation,", "Editorial," "Ownership and Control," and "Staff." Material on the Times can also be found in files on the polar expeditions of Admiral Byrd and Robert E. Peary ("Expeditions") and the trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh ("Aviation"), the New York Times's Paris and Berlin Offices ("Paris," "Berlin") and files concerning Ochs's involvement with the Associated Press ("Associated Press"), including correspondence and minutes.

    Ochs's ongoing interest in Chattanooga is reflected in his involvement in the development of Lookout Mountain and the Mizpah Congregation. This series contains correspondence, maps, surveys, and photographs relating to Ochs's philanthropic support for these two organizations, as well as many others. This series also contains material of a personal nature that the New York Times Archives was able to arrange under a subject heading. Examples of this type include the file of correspondence and telegrams regarding members of the Ochs family who were in Germany when war broke out in 1914 and their escape to London ("World War I: Family's Escape from Germany") and the photographs of Ochs with friends and family ("Pictures of Ochs"). A large part of this series is made up of numerous scrapbooks containing Ochs's awards, honorary degrees, and testimonials. Every milestone was celebrated by the New York Times, including Ochs's birthdays and anniversaries as publisher, and clippings, letters, photographs, and souvenir booklets were collected for every occasion. A short list of examples of material of this sort includes speeches made Ochs, photograph albums containing group portraits of the members every department within the New York Times, scrapbooks for vacations taken by Ochs, booklets from Ochs's and Effie's golden wedding anniversary, and photographs of his estates, Abenia and Hillandale.

    Prominent correspondents in the subjects files include Louis Wiley, Carr Van Anda, Charles Ransom Miller, Spencer Trask, Jacob H. Schiff, August Belmont, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lillian Wald, and Thomas Edison.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Adolph S. Ochs papers were transferred to the New York Public Library from the Archives of the New York Times Company.

Source of acquisition

Donated by The New York Times Company, June 2007

Processing information

Processed by Megan O'Shea.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328

Access restrictions

Access to artifacts requires advance permission of the Curator of Manuscripts.