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Facsimile edition of the Chicago Tribune, 1946-05 - 1946-06

 File

Scope and Contents

This area of the vertical file (series XI-127) contains information about the 1946 experimental facsimile edition of the Tribune, including prints of every known copy. (For a few dates, the collection contains both the original print as well as the copy transmitted by facsimile.) This area also contains information about earlier and later experiments with the technique.

Dates

  • 1946-05 - 1946-06

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is stored off-site and requires two business days advance notice for retrieval. Please contact the McCormick Library at specialcollections@northwestern.edu or 847-491-3635 for more information or to schedule an appointment to view the collection.

There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations.

Biographical / Historical

Experiments with the facsimile transmission of photographs, cartoons, and typeset copy began in the 1930s. Items to be transmitted were attached to a drum and scanned; the resulting impulses were transmitted by radio to a receiver which used the signal to create an image on sensitive paper.

WGN's first broadcast of a photograph was in April, 1939. In 1944, a group of newspapers (including the Tribune) and other interested parties formed Broadcasters Faximile Analysis, to develop the technique further. On May 11, 1946, the Tribune began broadcasting (over WGNB, the Tribune's FM radio station) a special edition of the newspaper. The first issues were printed on a receiver in Col. McCormick's home. Public demonstrations of the technique were held over the next few weeks. (Some of these demonstrations used a signal transmitted by telephone rather than radio.) This experiment lasted until June 18, 1948.

The technique was revived briefly in June, 1947, for the Tribune's centennial; the front page of the 1947-06-10 issue was broadcast around the world and printed by dozens of other newspapers.

Further experiments with the facsimile transmission of newspapers occurred in the following decades.

Extent

From the Collection: 228 Boxes

From the Collection: 59 Volumes

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Related Materials

For the facsimile version of the Tribune offered to subscribers in 1990, see XI-127/Tribfax

Processing Information

Some parts of these materials were originally assigned the identifier XI-112

Library Details

Part of the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635