Search
History of Newspapers Video (see more)
Email Subscription
Sign up to receive our latest blog updates!Buy Historic Newspapers
My collecting story… L.H. in Williamsport, PA…
July 23, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
(to unfamiliar surroundings) for me soon became so much more! Over the years each of our children have worked at the “History’s Newsstand” and have developed a deep appreciation of history and all it’s lessons.
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
My collecting story… J. W. in Stow, MA…
July 20, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
Why do I collect rare/historic newspapers? How did I get started?
In 2004, shortly after the Boston Red Sox won World Series, I received a January 7, 1920 copy of the New York Times as a gift from my wife. After not seeing any significant headlines in the paper, my wife 
said, “Check out the sports page”. There on page 22 was the trade of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, the legendary “Curse of the Bambino”. This inspired my interest to assemble a collection that epitomizes what it meant to be a true Red Sox fan including the 1918 World Series victory (Christian Science Monitor dated September 12, 1918), the aforementioned sale the legendary slugger to the Yankees, the subsequent 86 years of agony including the ’46, ’67, ’75, and ’86 World Series defeats, and finally the breaking of “the curse” by beating the Yankees and Cardinals to win the World Series that I had just secured in my October 2004 copies of the Boston Globe.
During my efforts to find these papers at Rarenewspapers.com and on eBay, I found a 1791 copy of the Middlesex Gazette, Middletown, CT announcing that Vermont has become the 14th state of the union and the FIRST to enter under the terms of the new federal Constitution. My wife 
and I were married in Vermont (where her parents lived for 35 years and where her ancestry has been traced to one of Ethan Allen’s brothers and the “Green Mountain Boys”) so it was of some personal interest as well. For only $30, I thought this paper was amazing and my wife suggested that I try to collect papers announcing statehood for each of our 50 states. With the prospect of searching for another 49 papers seeming a bit overzealous, I decided instead to focus on finding papers announcing statehood of the original 13 colonies.
It took a couple of years to secure all these statehood ratification newspapers and in the process, I found a paper with Maine becoming a state in 1820. Although this was beyond the scope of my original search, I remembered that Maine’s statehood was a part of the Missouri Compromise. So certainly, I had to search for a Missouri statehood paper! This was what is equivalent to today’s Google searches are on so many levels … one piece of history leads to another to another to another! And with this, my affinity for newspaper collecting had begun.
At the same time, by reading books such as David McCullough’s “1776 “and “John Adams”, “The Founding Brothers” by Joseph Ellis, and James Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention, my interest in U.S. history was further awakened and my interest began to shift to 18th and 19th century papers. These papers provide primary source documentation described in rich and colorful language that is not experienced in academic settings. As my appreciation of the hobby grew, I began to assemble groups of papers that are linked together by a particular event or series of events that “tell the story” in real time by those who were living at the time. It is with this mindset and approach that I have continued to be an avid collector to this day.
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
The July (2020) Newsletter from Rare & Early Newspapers…
July 17, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Monthly Newsletter ~ Rare & Early Newspapers
Welcome to the July 2020 edition of our monthly newsletter. This month we’d like to bring your attention to the following:
A New Set of Discounted Newspapers – 50% Off
Catalog 296 – New Items Added
Four Interesting Items on eBay
Catalog 296
History’s Newsstand
Newly Discovered Items
|
|
|
|
See what’s happening on our social sites
|
The June (2020) Newsletter from Rare & Early Newspapers…
June 22, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Monthly Newsletter ~ Rare & Early Newspapers
Welcome to the June 2020 edition of our monthly newsletter. With so much to talk about, let’s jump right in:
A New Set of Discounted Newspapers – 50% Off
Catalog 295 – New Items Added
Four Interesting Items on eBay
Catalog 295
History’s Newsstand
Newly Discovered Items
|
|
|
|
See what’s happening on our social sites
|
My collecting story… T. S. P. in New York, NY…
June 12, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
When we were kids my dad gave my older brother Some old paper money preserved between pieces of glass from colonial days and an old facsimile copy of a newspaper from the day that Lincoln was shot. It made a big impression on me. So when I started collecting old newspapers for the book it was that newspaper that inspired me to start a collection of my own. I remember how I felt when I picked it up and looked at it and realized that people of the time were reading these words that they were holding this paper and seeing the news for themselves. You could hear them saying how they felt about what was going on. And so not too long ago I made a point of going through your online catalog looking for some of these old Lincoln newspapers. I spent hours and days pouring over these and picking out from all those that were published on that day. I look for papers that were poignant or well illustrated or published in towns near where earlier generations of my family had lived. I looked for illustrations that showed the American spirit the way people felt at time and the events of the day. I wanted to find the illustration of John Wilkes Booth leaping to the stage from Lincoln Sparks at Ford theater. I wanted to show him laying in state. I wanted to show the crowds lining the railroad tracks as his train with his coffin Road by. I wanted to show those allegorical illustrations that show the country in the morning. But most of all, I wanted to show future generations of my family a paper that might’ve been the one that our own ancestors would’ve read that day. I was collecting all of this to make a record of the world that my family had lived in here in North America since 
the early 1600s. I wanted to future generations to know the story of what it took to build the life we now enjoy. I wanted them to see the uncertainties We faced, the tasks that were set for us as events as unfolded And the choices we made.
The other day I was watching some old movies in honor of Easter and Passover and among them was the 10 Commandments. At the end of the movie Moses is told by God that he is not going to be crossing the river Jordan. He was not going on with the people here the lead to the new land. The story of Lincoln‘s death is much the same. He had brought us through the Civil War and set down for all time on a document that ended slavery and freed a people. And then when peace was only moments away, he died and did not cross over into that time with the rest of us. I’m trying to remember at the moment whether or not FDR died before peace was declared at the end of World War II. He had brought us through the great depression, the dust bowl and World War II. And then there’s Martin Luther King and his “ I have a dream “ speech that was so prophetic. None of these men crossed over into the peace that they saw coming and into the land that they had envisioned and fought for — but they saw it on the horizon.
And so I am going on collecting these papers. I’m showing that events are not as simple as they are written in the history books we read in school. I’m showing the dialogue in the arguments that went on before decisions were made. I’m trying to show that not all people took the same side and then each had their own arguments and their own point of view. They chose their own paths and fought for them. And now when my family closes the book I plan to leave for them to read I want them to choose for themselves a path that will take him into the future. They may not cross over into the future is that they plan but I want them to think about the course and make a choice.
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
My collecting story… B.D. in Thornhill, Ontario…
June 5, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
Some years ago, maybe fifteen, I purchased a London Chronicle newspaper from Timothy Hughes newspapers. This was mainly for the fun of having an old newspaper from ‘the old country’. I have purchased quite a few since then and actually got round to reading some for the fascinating items that the contain. One such item concerns the creation of the chronometer by John Harrison in the 1700s. I had seen his chronometers displayed at the observatory in Greenwich, produced by Harrison in response to Queen Anne’s contest offering a huge reward for a successful timepiece but I could not find out for certain if Harrison was ever paid by the British Government.
LONDON CHRONICLE, London, 1765. Volume XVIII from Saturday, November 2 to Tuesday, November 5, 1765. Contains, on page 436, A Copy of the Certificate of the Commissioners of the Longitude … relating to Mr John Harrison’s Time Keeper, authorizing the payment to him of the 7,500 pounds, less the 2,500 already paid out. According to Wiki, Harrison received 8750 pounds in 1773 when he was 80 years of age but the “official award (from year 12 of Queen Anne’s reign) of 7,500 pounds was never given to anyone”. Dava Sobel in her wonderful book Longitude (London, Fourth Estate, 1995) says that Harrison’s son, William, sought the king’s intervention (George III) resulting in a payment to John Harrison of 8,750 pounds in June 1773, noting that ‘this amount nearly totaled the remainder of the prize due to him, but that it was a bounty awarded by the benevolence of Parliament – in spite of the Board of Longitude, instead of from it.’ Elsewhere, I have read that his son received this after his father’s death but I cannot recall in which newspaper (one in my collection, I think). This seems to set my questions to rest. It would appear that he was and he wasn’t, depending on how you look at it! He received the cash but not the ‘prize’.
Making the effort to read the newspapers is extremely rewarding but not without it’s difficulties. Some of the older papers, before 1700 are not so easy, especially those using ‘old English’ but it is very rewarding to plunge into the atmosphere created by ‘on the spot reporting’. Some of the items are quite extensive and take a while to plough through. I recently came across the item shown below:
The Supplement for the Year 1793 (to The Gentleman’s Magazine), London, includes on page 1208 an extract of a letter written by an Officer of the Agamemnon of 64 guns, Captain Horatio Nelson, and dated at Tunis, November 8, 1793 (see below). I have had this item for several years and only just spent some time (during this pandemic) reading it properly. I have hundreds yet to scrutinize! Perhaps I will find something that leads to a great historical revelation, or perhaps I will just enjoy reading about history from the pens of people who lived that history!
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
My collecting story… D.L. in Cranbury, NJ…
May 4, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
I have always been a collector, I guess it is in my genes. It started with coins when I was very young, I think it was when I was in the second grade. Like most collectors, I migrated within a category, from coins to error coins, to U.S. paper currency, to foreign currency, then to U.S.error currency, and so on. Next came the migration from category to category, from numismatics to scripophily to autographed manuscripts and then rocks & minerals (including arrow heads and meteorites). Finally, about 40 years ago, I stumbled across historical newspapers. Specifically, I collected newspapers concerning the stock market (panics and crashes), as well as news stories concerning the Robber Barrons (people like Jim Fisk, Jr., Daniel Drew, Commodore Vanderbilt, Jay Cooke, and the Rockefeller’s to name a few).
My mother was interested in the women’s movement and I decided to make her a nice presentation piece which included, a historical newspaper (“The Revolution” which was created and published by Susan B Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton), along with their autographs and a picture of Susan B Anthony, (presentation piece picture shown below).
So after I had purchased all the items to be framed, I started looking through the Revolution newspapers and was stunned by the quantity but especially the quality of the Robber Barron coverage in the newspaper. It was extraordinarily detailed and insightful as can be seen by some of the commentary I have attached. Their ability to dig up scuttlebutt on what shenanigans the key players were up to and the intimate detail with which it was reported was extraordinary. Well, I had no idea that information was in those newspapers, and it delighted me beyond what words can express. Old newspapers are pieces of history you can keep, they are time machines which allow us to look back in past. They also make you think. You can hold them in your hand and learn from them, and sometimes they move you and end up not just in your, hand and brain but also in your heart.
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
My collecting story… B.R. in Grosse Ile, Michigan…
April 20, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
Several years ago I ‘discovered’ the wonderful world of rare newspapers offered by Tim Hughes on eBay. I couldn’t believe what he had! Amazing rarities that I’ve never seen offered by anyone else anywhere else! I quickly became hooked.As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.
The April (2020) Newsletter from Rare & Early Newspapers…
April 17, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
-
Which issue within your collection do you value the most and why?
-
Have you ever found something you consider special within an issue you’ve collected that you did not know was present prior to your decision to obtain it? If so, what did you find?
-
Why do you collect rare/historic newspapers? How did you get started? Tell us your story.
|
|
|
|
See what’s happening on our social sites
|
My collecting story… R. L. in Daytona Beach, Florida…
April 13, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Below we continue our series in which we post the “stories” graciously submitted by our collecting friends during the pandemic of 2020.
Newspapers Offer A Glimpse Into the Past
I don’t know if some things never change, or if history simply has a habit of repeating itself. As I watch today’s TV news in the era of the Corona Virus, I see many of the same challenges to society today that faced a particular society 76 years ago. Both then and now, people were searching for normalcy in their everyday lives.
Harper’s Weekly, September 11, 1858
Fall 1944 was a time when World War 2 was still raging across the globe. My period newspaper reports that “members of the International and Swedish Red Cross have been obliged to discontinue their activities…” Today, we hear of the possibility of hospitals becoming over-run and shutting their doors.
In 1944, an article headlined Enormous Drain On Resources feels just as relevant now as it did back then. As we see images of grocery stores with empty shelves, I am reading about food shortages which existed in 1944, with potato thieves being fined — or even going to jail. Yet despite shortages and community hardship, then and now, everyday life carried on. While Jeffrey Morris was born on November 4, an 85 year old widow, Marie Guilbert, died on the 6th. The cycle of life still rolls on today.
Meanwhile, one subscriber offered a billiard table for sale to help pass the long winter nights. The editor offered a column titled How to Enjoy Long Evenings. Reading, creating arts & crafts, or even doodling sounds just as good to folks quarantined today, as it did to folks back then in a time of war.
What I find really amazing is that the wartime newspaper so relevant today is the Guernsey Evening Press published on November 22, 1944. It was written in English, under Nazi supervision, on one of the German-occupied Channel Islands. I believe its readers would certainly know how to face the current hardships we are enduring, and then some.
Newspapers from the past offer a glimpse into everyday lives. For me, that is the lure of collecting old newspapers. They are our personal connection to the people who lived while history was unfolding. Many of their hopes and fears and challenges were the same then, as ours are today.
As additional “stories” are posted they will be available at: MY COLLECTING STORY. We did this many years ago as well – and their posts are also included.