Page Contents
- Background
- Stars & Stripes Museum
- Stars & Stripes Archives
- Libraries
- University of Illinois Urbana Campus
- Library of Congress
- New York Public Library
- Army Heritage & Education Center
- Heritage Microfilm
- Pacific Stars & Stripes: The First 40 Years 1945-1985
Background
General
The Stars and Stripes was originally printed in 1861 by Union troops during the Civil War. In 1926,
National Tribune Corporation purchased the paper and merged it with its existing publications, The
National Tribune, The American Standard, and The National Guardsman, forming one
publication. The publication later became known as Stars and Stripes. From 1927 to 1937,
its president and publisher was William Rice Means. Rice died in Denver, Colorado on January 30, 1949.
Another former publisher was Howard Haugerud.
According to Pittsburg Post-Gazette staff writer Dan Fitzpatrick (May 22, 2002 Post-Gazette
online), at one point in time there were two versions of Stars & Stripes. Former Stars &
Stripes Omnimedia co-founder and chairman Jack Colletti said that friction between the two versions dates
back to the 1940s "when the federal government and Washington, D.C.-based National Tribune Corporation,
which had been publishing Stars and Stripes since 1877, reached an informal agreement allowing the
Pentagon to use the same name for overseas publications." National Tribune Corporation sold the name
Stars & Stripes to a small Pittsburgh-based company called iServed.com in May 2000. The
start-up company changed its name to Stars & Stripes Omnimedia.
When "Stars and Stripes Omnimedia Inc." filed for bankruptcy in August of 2001, the U.S. Department of
Defense, bidding anonymously, was the successful bidder at $85,000. The winning bid was for title to
the trademark, the archives, and the website address of Stars & Stripes Omnimedia. According to
revised Department of Defense Directive 5122.11:
"Stars and Stripes is a Department of Defense-authorized daily newspaper distributed overseas
for the U.S. military community. Editorially independent of interference from outside its editorial
chain-of-command, it provides commercially available U.S. and world news and objective staff-produced
stories relevant to the military community in a balanced, fair, and accurate manner. By keeping its
audience informed, Stars and Stripes enhances military readiness and better enables U.S. military
personnel and their families stationed overseas to exercise their responsibilities of citizenship."
A History of the GI's Newspaper, The Stars and Stripes"
-written by Former Staff Sergeant Arthur M. Millholland, Pleasant Prairie, WI 05/08
Founded in 1861, millions of copies have been distributed to military and civilian personnel all over the
world. Ten Illinois Union soldiers in Bloomfield, Missouri, started it. It was probably the only
source of news for Union troops, and/or some Confederate forces as well.
Stars and Stripes represents much more than our American flag to active and veteran military
personnel. It is a newspaper for soldiers, sailors and Marines, and their families. Reporting
and editing was by enlisted men and women from all branches of the service. In some episodes of
M.A.S.H. an officer was depicted as a reporter. That was in error, as we were all enlisted men and
women.
The Stars and Stripes flourished during each of the seven major wars this country has fought,
including the first and current war in Iraq. General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing, of World War I
said, "I do not believe that any one factor could have done more to sustain the morale of the [troops] than
the Stars and Stripes." General Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "This newspaper should be the
equivalent of a soldier's hometown newspaper, with no censorship of its contents other than for security."
General George C. Marshall referred to the Stars and Stripes as "A symbol of the things we are
fighting to preserve: free thought and free expression of a free people." During the Korean War
General Douglas MacArthur told the Stars and Stripes staff: "This is my daily paper and I want it on
my doorstep every morning, including Sunday." We worked seven days a week. General Norman
Schwartzkopf said, "I want to express my thanks to you for keeping us all informed with the Stars and
Stripes."
In Korea we were issued a Press Pass, signed by General MacArthur, which gave us access to commands at
all levels. On my beat no officer refused me any information about activities of their units. We
were allowed and encouraged to use names of all individuals, enlisted or officer, featured in our stories.
We had complete freedom of the press even if a story might have shed an unfavorable light on an event.
We were not writing opinion articles or editorials. In one instance, however, the editor in Tokyo
asked me to gather the opinions of officers and enlisted men on the firing of General MacArthur by President
Harry Truman. The GI's gave me mixed opinion, but the officers, except one, declined to comment.
That one was a Major General, who will remain nameless. This reaction: "What a hell of a way to
run a railroad!"
A number of famous people have been connected to the paper. Cartoonist Bill Mauldin, Sixty
Minutes' Andy Rooney, and Harold Ross, founder of The New Yorker, were all Stripes
staffers. Ernie Pyle (my hero and model) was also a frequent contributor. Some of my fellow
staffers went on to success as journalists. My journalism career devolved to writing articles on How
to Sell Men's Underwear for Jockey International. Oh well, it put bread on the table, and I was
able to write sermons as a Lay Speaker of the United Methodist Church.
Stars & Stripes Museum
According to Sue Mayo and Laura Meyer, librarian and volunteer
(respectively) at the Stars & Stripes Museum, their facility
has bound volumes of the European and Pacific Stars & Stripes
during the Korean War. At the museum, they research articles for
individual for a donation to the museum.
If you have any questions, please call them at 573-568-2055 or
email them at
stripes@newwaveomm.net. You can also visit their Facebook
page at Stars and Stripes Museum or their website at
www.starsandstripesmuseumlibrary.org.
Stars & Stripes Archives
The Stars & Stripes newspaper library in Washington, D.C. is a two-person library whose priority
is to provide services for the newspaper's reporters and editors. In the librarians' "spare time",
they provide research service for patrons. Unfortunately, the backlog to respond to patrons' questions
runs from 15 to 20 requests waiting to be handled. Since the Stars & Stripes is not indexed,
the only search method available to the librarians is to manually scroll through pages and pages of
microfilm. Each requests takes approximately 2 1/2 hours of research. This results in long
delays for patrons to access the material they are trying to locate. Stars & Stripes librarians
hope to alleviate this problem over the next two years by digitizing the newspaper's archives. The
staff plans to start with the war years first (Korean and Vietnam Wars). At this point in time,
Stars & Stripes librarians sometimes do not even have access to the reels of microfilm because the
digitization is being outsourced.
Libraries - University of Illinois Urbana Campus
The best method to obtain copies of a Stars & Stripes article from the Korean War era is to check
at a large library nearest to your location. Among the libraries known to have issues of Stars &
Stripes on microfilm are the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library.
In checking at the massive University of Illinois main library in downstate Illinois (Urbana), the KWE
initially found that "Stars & Stripes" was not listed in its holdings. However, some 15 years
ago the KWE's Lynnita Brown was a student at the U of I. She thought she remembered seeing back issues
of Stars & Stripes in the library stacks while she was working on a World War II-related term paper.
When she mentioned this to the reference librarian, a further search produced "National Tribune, The
Stars & Stripes, Washington DC, 1927-63" in the library's holdings.
If any KWE readers know where Korean War-era issues of the Stars & Stripes are held, please notify
lynnita@koreanwar-educator.org and she will add the
finding source to this page of the Korean War Educator.
Libraries - Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has a microfilm copy of Pacific Stars & Stripes. This microfilm is
available for patron perusal by contacting the LOC at the following e-mail address. Click on "Ask a
Librarian" once you reach the website. After they receive your request about a specific subject, the
Library of Congress' digital library team sorts questions and sends them on to the right person for
response. Questions about military history in the Korean War are generally forwarded on to the
military librarian for response.
Library of Congress www.loc.gov Washington, D.C.
The less information that you know, the harder it will be to process your request. The more
information you have (volume and issue number and/or date). the better your chances are for a response.
Libraries - New York Public Library
The Pacific Stars and Stripes is available on microfilm in the New York Public Library's
Microforms Reading Room
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/mic/ of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library. The address
is:
Microforms Reading Room
Room 100
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
Fifth Ave & 42nd Street
New York, NY 10018
212-642-0139
If you cannot come to the library or do not have someone working on your behalf, you might want to
contact NYPL Express http://www.nypl.org/express/ which is the
library's fee-based research and document delivery service.
NYPL Express
The New York Public Library
188 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016-4314
Tel 212.592.7201
Fax 212.592.7215
express@nypl.org
Libraries - University of Toledo
Stars & Stripes volumes from 1953 to January 31, 1963 are available on microfilm in the Carlson
Library Microform & Media Room (D-5, Lower Level of Carlson Library) at the University of Toledo, Ohio.
For more information about the location of this microfilm, see
http://library.utoledo.edu/collections/mmm/.
Libraries - Army Heritage & Education Center
The U.S. Army Military History Institute's Army Heritage and Education Center is located at 950 Soldiers
Drive, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013-5021. According to its website, the center's holdings include
Stars & Stripes. To review the user policies of the Center, visit their website at:
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usamhi/Patron_services.htm#submit_inquiry
Heritage Microfilm
Heritage Microfilm has the entire European and Pacific editions available on microfilm for the time
period of the Korean War. You can visit the Stars and Stripes microfilm duplication website at
http://www.heritagemicrofilm.com/starsandstripes.htm for more information and the entire vault listing
in excel format.
Contacts:
Leslie Fredericks-Leamon
Web Marketing Strategist
Heritage Microfilm
NewspaperARCHIVE.com
4049 21st Avenue SW,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
Phone: 319.390.9442 ex. 31
Phone: 888.870.0484 ex. 31
Fax: 319.396.4329
Email: lfredericks@newspaperarchive.com
Web: www.heritagemicrofilm.com
Web: www.newspaperarchive.com
Web: www.access.newspaperarchive.com
Or
Jeff Brown at 888-870-0484, Extension 20
|
