Thanks for the info about the "Truth"...some of what you said fits with what the "Mike" said in his 1999 Newsgroup message.
I tried sending him a message over the weekend at the e-mail address he used in 1999, but it was bounced back.
Here are some the highlights of his message:
-the "Truth" was published from the 1880's to 1958 and he has read every issue; it was for an article on boxing.
-"Articles featuring adult spanking appeared regularly, sometimes four or five times a year. They were usually presented in an amusing, lighthearted way, and more often than not they contained photographs of the (sounds like the picture you saw---do you still have it or the date it appeared) couples involved.
A few times adult spanking was mentioned in an Agony Aunt column ..."Dear Dulcie".
-"During the 1930's "Truth" published a feature about duties, that where then regarded as the domain of women. The feature was called, "How to Make A Good Wife Better" and was illustrated by a picture of a burnt sausepan and an angry looking man, with his wife wiggling across his knees. This picture appeared every month for about three years".
-Cinema advertisements also regularly contained drawings of spankings. (a practice btw that was common during the 1920's in the US).
He goes on in his message to describe the "Sailor Spanking"
I'm not sure if I'll be able to find this publication on microfilm here in the US, but it will be high on my ...To Find List.
Hope you get a chance to take a look again at old issues of "Truth" when your academic year comes to an end.. I would particularly be interested in knowing if you find anything from the 1920's...maybe you might even be lucky enough to find spanking pictures/ sketches of some lost films such as Constance Talmadge in "Primitive Lover" and/or Colleen Moore in "We Moderns".
btw in taking a quick look in the electonic catalogue at a world class university in my hometown this past weekend, I did come across a weekly publication with the same name published in the UK during the same time period.
You can find the complete message that I exerted in the new google Newsgroup archives.