The purpose of the Washington State University News Bureau is to release to the media pertinent information concerning all aspects of the University. Both student and faculty activities along with sports are covered. Subjects include: new appointments to various University positions, conferences and events held on campus, faculty research projects, scholastic-award-winning students, players' letters of intent, game schedules, records, awards, and players selected by the professional drafts.
In 1957 a Sports Information Office (then called Athletic Publicity) was created within the News Bureau to handle all newsworthy sports items. The College of Agriculture also began its own information office about 1977.
Over the years, the News Bureau has had many Editors including: Alice Webb, early 1920s; Herbert Jenkins, late 1930s; Maynard Hicks 1942-1954; Dennis Morrison, 1950S and 1960s; and Dick Fry, 1970 to the present (1981).
All News Bureau releases have been arranged chronologically and are accessed by date only. From 1916 through 1956 news releases are grouped by year. The file of news releases for the period from 1918 to 1947 is not complete and much of the extant material is not dated. Consequently only a rudimentary chronological arrangement has been achieved for this period (1918-1947). The bulk of the material dates from 1947 through 1977. From 1956-1965, releases are divided monthly. Beginning in January 1966, articles are subdivided according to the headings "Sports," "News," "Hometown," and "Weeklies" for each month. Material within this file includes: new faculty appointments, faculty research, events on campus, award-winning students, game schedules, players' letters of intent, and those athletes selected by the professional drafts.
Owing to the strict chronological nature of the arrangement, the approximate date of publication must be known in order to locate a particular release.
The Collection is open for research use.
The News Bureau releases were transferred to the University Archives, Washington State University, from May 1978 to February 1981 (UA 78-13, UA 79-4, UA 80-7, UA 81-9). These accessions were combined with two earlier accessions, (UA 77-4) and WSU 116 to form one record group.
The combined group was processed in April 1981 by Barbara Kovarik-Gahl.