| Industry | Print syndication |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1922 |
| Founders | John Cowles, Sr. |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Fate | Acquired by King Features Syndicate to become Cowles Syndicate affiliate |
| Headquarters | 715 Locust Street, , |
Key people | Henry Martin, Charles E. Lounsbury |
| Products | Comic strips, newspaper columns |
| Owners | Cowles family (1922–1935) Cowles Media Company (1935–1986) Hearst Publications (1986-present) |
The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register and Tribune Syndicate offered newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist Herblock, comic strips, and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others.
Throughout the 1940s the syndicate distributed the weekly "The Spirit Section," a 16-page tabloid-sized newsprint comic book supplement eventually sold to 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. The Register and Tribune Syndicate's most successful comics feature was The Family Circus (launched in 1960), eventually distributed to more than 1,000 newspapers; other long-running strips included Channel Chuckles, Jane Arden, The Better Half, and Tumbleweeds.