The journalism material of Hess' collection originally arrived in groupings such as large envelopes or file folders, according to the associated newspaper for which they were produced. Often both prints and negatives were in the same folder. There were also several sets of negatives that were originally arranged either by subject or alphabetically (there may be multiple sets for a single newspaper). These negatives were retained in that order during processing, and Spencer staff arranged the images from files or envelopes chronologically in order to make those images more accessible. The negatives in the files or envelopes were separated from the prints, with each retaining Hess' original titles when present.