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Most historic pre-Civil War 19th century event…
December 15, 2008 by TimHughes · 3 Comments
Continuing with our discussion on the “most historic” reports to be found in newspapers, we have been discussing the events of American history by era, the last being the Civil War. This post will discuss the most significant event in American history of the 1801 – 1860 era.
Much in American history happened during these 60 years: from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the War of 1812 from 1812-1815, the Texas war for independence of 1836, the Mexican War of 1846-1848, the California Gold rush of 1949+, and the events leading up to the Civil War to name just a few.
But what single event during the period of 1801 – 1860 would rank as the most significant in American history? If you could only have one newspaper from the pre-Civil War era in your collection, what one event would you most desire to best represent the era and–in your opinion–most affected the future of American history?
Arguments could be made for many events including those noted above, but also perhaps also the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, maybe a single event from the War of 1812, or the battle of the Alamo, or the treaty ending the Mexican War, or the Cherokee Trail of Tears, or perhaps even John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry that would happen just before the outbreak of the Civil War.
In my opinion the Louisiana Purchase was the most significant. This purchase from France would double the land area of the United States and in time 13 states would be carved from it. The explorations of Lewis & Clark and the subsequent Westward migration of so many from the East would transform the nation in so many ways that its significance cannot be ignored. To me it was the most significant event in American history from 1801 to 1860.
What’s your thought? We would all love to hear.
Golden Nugget Discovery Contest…
November 1, 2008 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The Golden Nugget Discovery Contest winners will be selected and posted by Friday, November 7th. In the meantime you can view the entries at: Golden Nugget Contest
Good luck to the participants!
The Green Mountain Boys…
October 30, 2008 by Historys Newsstand · 1 Comment
A few years ago while looking for Revolutionary War content for the catalog, I was both surprised and delighted to discover a report in the February, 1781 issue of Gentleman’s Magazine that mentioned the
famous Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, and their equally famous leader Ethan Allen. The report reads: “Letters of a late date from America, formerly a rebel colonel, who resided at Bennington, in the upper part of New York, not well used, as he thought, by the Congress, has marched off with six hundred Green-mountain Boys, as they style themselves, and joined Major Carlton at Ticonderoga; and it is thought other townships will follow their example.” Although I have seen various newspaper reports mentioning Ethan Allen, this was the first and maybe the only reference to the Green Mountain Boys that I have seen in my twelve years at Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers.
If you’ve come across another report mentioning the Green Mountain Boys by name, feel free to share it.
Editor’s Note: Marc Pompeo is one of our in-house historians who has been on staff for more than a decade.
To repair or not to repair?
October 29, 2008 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We receive many questions every year about all aspects of the newspaper collecting hobby, and now with our Blog reaching all customers who are online we have the opportunity to share with everyone answers to questions many have had. Here are two collector Morris Brill submitted:
1) What is the best way to preserve and store newspapers?
One of the delights of this hobby–and pleasant surprises for many–is that most pre-1880 newspapers require very little care. Newsprint of this era had a high rag/cotton/linen content which means it can last for hundreds of years with little effect. Just keep such newspapers our of sunlight, high humidity and high heat and I’m sure they will outlive you and your children. Keeping such issues out in the open and handling them, with care, can be perfectly acceptable. If you want to provide that extra protection for more choice issues you might do as we do. We keep each issue of our private collection in its own archival folder we custom make at our offices, and
then group such issues by theme of era in archival storage boxes such as those available from Light Impressions. We also provide presentation cases which are nice for sharing a collection with others as each holds many issues and the zip case makes them easily portable as well.
Issues from the post-1880 era are a bit more problematic, as such issues have a much higher woodpulp & chemical content which will cause them to become brown & brittle with age. Such issues are more demanding of the protective products mentioned and are encouraged for their proper storage & care.
2) Does taping a newspaper with archival tape diminish its value? Is it better to leave it ripped or repair the paper?
I believe that using archival tape to repair tears is preferable to leaving tears unmended. Be careful never to use regular tape as found in retail stores! Through experience I have learned that unrepaired tears simply get worse when handling, so a two inch tear could easily become a five inch tears unless one is extremely careful in turning pages. This tape is one inch wide and I slit it into quarter inch strips, making for more discreet repairs and extending the life of a roll fourfold. Simply apply and burnish the repair with your fingernail and the repair, while not transparent, should not be distracting and will allow handling the issue without worry of making the tear worse. I tend to do the repair on the side either less visible (page 2 of a front leaf tear) or the page without the historic content (page 1 if page 2 has the key content). Keep in mind that museums and historical institutions make archival repair an important part of their preservation philosophy.
Note: Although we do provide archival solutions, similar products may be purchased through quality hobby and photography vendors/stores.
Old news is good news for collectors…
October 8, 2008 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
David Chesanow recently posted an interview with Tim on his informative website americollector.com. With comments like “…newspapers, like books, extend into every collecting field…” and “Newspapers… are original historical evidence…”, David seems to get it right. The interview included such topics as:
- What newspapers do you (Tim) yourself collect specifically – by region, era, subject – or is the field your area and you just like the rarest, most historic items?
- What are the collecting areas within the hobby?
- What are some of the interesting collecting areas of some of your (Rare Newspapers) customers?
- What are the “Holy Grails” of newspaper collecting?
- Are newspapers ever forged? For example, aren’t there a lot of professionally done reprints in England?
- What have newspapers been made of over the years, and how perishable are they?
- Are the high-acid papers necessarily hard to preserve?
- When was the transition from rag content to high-acid paper in the U.S. and abroad?
- What’s the best way to store newspapers?
- Now that the Internet is killing printed papers, do you think the latter will become increasingly collectible?
To access the full text of the interview, go to “Old news is good news for collectors“. Thanks David for your fine contribution to the community and for your outstanding website!