Descriptive inventory for the Irv Kupcinet papers, 1929-ca. 2003

Provenance statement:

Materials were a gift of Jerry Kupcinet (accession #: 2004.0110).

Terms governing use:

All rights owned by the donor, including copyright, were deeded to Chicago Historical Society. Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Restriction(s):

To consult the sound or video recordings, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to have a copy made if one is not available).

Advance appointment with special permission required to view one volume of celebrity birthday greetings (2002).

Please cite this collection as:

Irv Kupcinet papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Related material:

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Irv Kupcinet collection of sound recordings (1984.0139).

Separated material:

Seperated materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Cartoons and broadsides of Irv Kupcinet (2004.0110) and photographs in the Image File.

Biographical materials, correspondence, financial and legal documents, manuscripts, newsletters, press releases, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers of Irv Kupcinet, a Chicago journalist, author, radio and television personality, and civic leader. The majority of the collection relates to Kupcinet's work as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and as host of a television talk show. Personal scrapbooks consisting of newspaper clippings and correspondence, as well as the papers of Kupcinet's wife Esther Kupcinet (Essee), also are found in the collection. Additional topics include Kup's philanthropic support for the Purple Heart Cruise, the Weizmann Institute of Science, B'nai B'rith, and other public service programs and organizations.

Irv Kupcinet (1912-2003) was a Chicago journalist, author, radio and television personality, and civic leader. Kupcinet began working for the Chicago Times (later the Chicago Sun-Times) in 1935 as a sports reporter. From 1943 to 2002, Kupcinet wrote a daily column under his by-line containing celebrity gossip and political news, which became known as "Kup's Column" in 1948 and eventually was syndicated to newspapers across the country. He also created a weekly television talk show called "At Random" (later known as "Kup's Show") that aired from 1959 until 1986, and won fifteen Emmy awards and a Peabody award. Kupcinet was involved in philanthropic causes, including founding the Purple Heart Cruise, and was a supporter of Jewish organizations, such as B'nai B'rith, the Jewish United Fund, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.