Reprints
Reprints of the programs for the years 1911 through 1941 were published in 1983 by Mitchell-Fleming Printing, Inc. of Greenfield Indiana. They are marked on the cover as being reprints.
There is also a legal notice inside from the printer which in part states: "To distinguish this Reprinted Program from the original issue, the color scheme and stock was changed by the Reprinter."
Not all reprints have the legal notice inside but there should be the reprint notice on the cover. Not all reprints were copied correctly as there are years where pages are missing. All reprints have black and white printing inside - there is NO color printing to a reprint on the inside. An original 1914 program has no color printing inside either, but the paper stock is different and the cover is brown and white where as the re-print is light blue and black.
The 1921 reprint at right has the contents of a 1927 inside (note “1927” stamped at top right on the cover). It is believed that at the end of the printing run, leftover covers were put with leftover contents thus creating the reprint at right. There are other years where this occurred.
Programs before World War Two did have an issue with pages coming loose from the staples and as some of these programs have no page numbers, it can be hard to tell if pages are missing. One way to tell on programs from this era is with reprints but unfortunately, one is misprinted which affects page numbers. The inside front cover of an original 1924 program is known to be blank but the 1924 reprint program has the ad from the second page printed on the inside front cover causing a false number of total pages to be counted.
Although not affecting page numbers, an original 1927 program has an ad on the inside of the front cover but the reprint does not. Similarly, the 1936 and 1937 original programs have ticket order forms on the inside of the front cover and the reprints do not.
Below are examples of the reprint and real 1911, 1929, 1934 and 1940 programs.
As you can see, reprints are pretty easy to tell from the original - DON'T be fooled!
While reprint programs may be tougher to find than they were 20-25 years ago, they will never command the price of original programs and should be valued accordingly. Those with the correct cover and contents are valued more than those that are incorrect.
* This information is to the best of our knowledge. If anyone has more information, please contact: NI500CC@NI500CC.COM or dar500@indy.rr.com