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Bad Luck vs. Fate – The Sullivan Brothers…
October 13, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Today is Friday – more specifically, Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious or a fatalist, and I’m not quite sure what I think about “the luck of the Irish”, and even if it does exist on some level, whether or not Irish-Americans have it (or is it washed away in the salt water of Atlantic during transit. Quite honestly, I try to limit my exposure to bad news. However, a few weeks ago one of our staff brought me a 1943 newspaper containing an article regarding the dreadful story of the Sullivan Brothers during WWII. While the event was immortalized in the movie “The Fighting Sullivans”, and inspired drama “Saving Private Ryan”, there is no better way to capture this horrible moment than reading it as it was reported in 1943. A clip of the article is shown below, and more may be viewed through the link: Five Sullivan Brothers Killed in WWII Action. Was it fate, bad luck (of the Irish?), or something entirely different? Regardless, one thing is for certain, it was horribly tragic!
Exploring “This Day in History” through Rare & Early Newspapers… Updated!
October 6, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Who among us isn’t a bit curious as to what occurred on our birthday (or today’s date) through time? The concept of exploring a specific day (month/day) through history has always been intriguing, but before the internet, such knowledge was not easy to obtain. However, in the present world of data explosion, websites which explore “This Day in History” do the job quite nicely and have become very popular. One of my favorites is HISTORY.COM maintained by The History Channel.
Of course, as a collector and reseller of old newspapers, this trek is amplified by the capability of holding authentic newspapers containing contemporary reporting of these events – to not only read the articles themselves, but to explore the context of what else was going on as the events unfolded.
Thanks to ongoing requests from collectors, we’ve created an interface on our website which enables the seeker to explore what is available at any given moment for any month/day. Even if you are not looking to add to your collection, perusing through the issues can be fascinating. If you have interest in giving this a try, the steps below are provided to help you get started.
This feature is available at: Explore: “THIS DAY IN HISTORY”
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I tried own birthday and came up with the following: January 2nd Through Time
Don’t forget the “Sort” feature which will give you multiple ways to arrange your search results. Have Fun!
Announcing: Catalog #335 for October, 2023 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
September 29, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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The October catalog (#335) is now available. Shown below are links to various segments of the catalog, our currently discounted
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
From the Vault – Finding those unexpected historical nuggets.
September 25, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Few thrills are greater in the rare newspaper collecting hobby than finding the unexpected historic gem. Those moments of serendipity are the treasures we all hope for at some point in our quest for new additions to our collection.
I have come across many in my years of collecting with two among the more interesting.
Long before the days of the internet I subscribed to the catalogs of the prestigious Sotheby’s auction house in New York City as they occasionally ran Americana sales which included newspapers. One sale offered an 
issue of the SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE from August of 1776. Trying to assemble one newspaper of all thirteen colonies from the Revolutionary War, this would be a new addition to that set. The lengthy catalog description noted some war skirmishes but nothing significant. But that was not a concern to me as I was only seeking a title from that colony from during the war, and the date of 1776 made it that much better. I placed my bid and was excited to learn I won the issue.
Several weeks later the issue arrived. In preparing it for my collection I casually looked over the content, and you can imagine my shock upon finding on page 2 a complete printing of the Declaration of Independence! I couldn’t imagine the incompetence of the cataloger–employed by Sotheby’s no less–who missed this report.
Not many years ago we purchased the newspaper holding of a public library in Massachusetts which includes a lengthy run of a Springfield newspaper, in fact two truckloads of volumes ranging from the mid-1800’s thru the latter part of the 20th century. Knowing the wealth of historical material which could be culled from this collection we put our attention to those events for several months upon its return to our
office & warehouse in Williamsport. Some time later we realized that the sport of basketball was founded in Springfield. Could we be so fortunate to to find a report off the very first game every played? Did the local newspaper even report what is now an extremely significant event in the history of basketball?
Indeed they did. The Springfield Republican, March 12, 1892 issue reported somewhat inconspicuously on page 6 an event headed “Basket Football Game” played the day before (which we now recognize as the first public basketball game), with mention of James Naismith who is recognized as the founder of the sport. It was a thrill to find the report which languished for over 100 years, unbeknown to anyone, in the back shelves of a library. Curiously the curator of the Basketball Hall of Fame didn’t appreciate its significance, however the Smithsonian Institution did as it now is part of their collection.
What historical gems have you discovered serendipitously in issues purchased for another reason, or as part of a collection where nothing special was expected? Feel free to share your stories with other collectors!
(This post was originally published on October 13, 2008.)
They Put It In Print – Going to extreme lengths to prove another’s innocence…
September 18, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Would you step in front of a moving vehicle to push a small child out of the way of its path? Would you jump into a river to save a drowning family member? Would you kill yourself to prove a stranger’s innocence? If you are anything like me, the answers in order are: “yes”, “Yes”, and “NOT A CHANCE”. However, someone not only said “yes” to the 3rd question, he actually put his “yes” into action. How do we know? The New York Herald dated June 17, 1871 put it in print:
Dramatic Headlines Speak for Themselves… Hitler attacks Poland – WW2 begins!!!
September 8, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the New York Journal American, September 1, 1939, which had a pre-death report on the Hitler’s attack on Poland in 1939:
“GERMAN ARMY ATTACKS POLAND…“
Announcing: Catalog #334 for September, 2023 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
September 1, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
The reason I collected it: Dodge’s Literary Museum…
August 21, 2023 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Mastheads of newspapers through the centuries offer a very wide assortment of styles, sizes and decorativeness, with many being quite mundane. Only the “special” ones make it to the private collection, and “Dodge’s Literary Museum” is one.
Any newspapering which the masthead consumes one-third of the front page qualifies. This title’s masthead engraving consumes over half of the front page, very unusual as such. The content may be literary items with no “newsy” reports, but the front page is certainly worth of collecting, regardless of what is inside.
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The meanderings of those who collect Rare & Early Newspapers…
August 11, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
One of the more difficult challenges the staff at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers face on a near-daily basis is to not be (too often) distracted by that which makes the hobby itself so interesting: that is, that one never knows what one may find while perusing an old newspaper… nor where it may lead. In other words, to not become endlessly distracted. It really is the “back in the good old days” version of surfing the web. This isn’t to say the meanderings are bad per se, for if we permit ourselves to be carried away for a period of time there is much to learn; however, if permitted to get out of hand the phone would be ringing off the hook from collectors wondering why their purchases, which will likely lead to their own meanderings, have yet to ship. Combining the old (rare newspapers) with the new (the internet) has only exacerbated the temptation.
One minor instance occurred just a few weeks ago which, if you have a few minutes to spare, I’d like to share with you.
We recently purchased a set of The National Era which included many of the original installments of the serialized printing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. While tagging the issues which contained segments of her profoundly culture-altering novel, we noticed several issues which did not have portions still contained related articles. This led us to do an internet search for additional titles (newspaper publications) which had Uncle Tom’s Cabin themed coverage… and this is where the fun began.
I expected the big boys (The New York Times, Tribune, and Herald, along with other notable papers such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and The Liberator) to have mentions. However, I did not expect to see coverage of the book in The Saturday Evening Post – and as fate would have it, the issue referenced was one buried deep within our archives. Off I went to find the July 29, 1865 issue. Hoping for a glorious, detailed report, what I found instead was a poem with a mere mention. Still, although a bit disappointed, I was intrigued by the first line of the article: “There are fragments of songs that nobody sings”, by B. F. Taylor. After having my curiosity piqued by the line, and my sleeping heart stirred by the article itself, I headed back to the internet to find the text of the entire poem (which turned out to be significantly more challenging – dare I say time-consuming – than expected). Once found and read, the entirety of the trek to this point caused me to sense the tension between hope and sorrow… which led me to wonder how those who lived in the mid-1800’s morphed from anger (having read Uncle Tom’s Cabin), to hopelessness (seeing little-to-no change in the state of slavery since their “forefathers” had agreed it should be abolished, but did not do so for fear that the doing so would cause their quest to become a “united” group of states to fail), to hope in a trickle… and then a stream… and then a flood… and then a bloody tidal wave called the American Civil War… to deep sorrow (for the sins of the past and deadly consequences thereof), to restored hope and wonder (in what the future might hold).
Although at this point I could hear my daily tasks calling, this mental excursion was not to be stifled for it had caused me to recall a certain illustration from the cover of the Harper’s Weekly dated November 3, 1866) – a woodcut print of which I was familiar, yet one I had never taken the time to read the blurb describing it. Not wanting to let my travels come to an end with a whimper, I read the short description – And this led me to my final question and motivation for writing this verbose post: When/how did the moniker “Uncle Tom”, born from the text which had been instrumental in vanquishing slavery, morph from being a term of endearment to a gross insult? While the road I had taken did not lead me to new “finds” within our inventory, it did awaken my heart to the plight of slavery and my mind to the understanding of why a nickname which had once been bestowed on someone with kindness and admiration had transformed into one of the greatest cultural (and political) insults aimed at black Americans. The latter I learned by one more trip to the internet: When ‘Uncle Tom’ Became an Insult
The following photos provide a visual glimpse of my meanderings, with the poem by B. F. Taylor saved for last. If you made it this far, thanks for indulging me. Please know if you decide to start collecting rare and early newspapers, this condition is highly contagious. If you already are a collector, you already know.
Are the Molly Maguires, Mormons, General Pickett, Jim Thorpe and Hitler connected?
August 7, 2023 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What do Eskimos, George Washington, King William IV (England), the Ku Klux Klan, the Molly Maguires, Mormons, General Pickett, John D. Rockerfeller, Jim Thorpe, Amilia Earhart, Billy Burke, Adolph Hitler, “Bugs” Moran, Billie Jean King, and Roger Federer have in common? Coverage about each of them appeared in newspapers dated July 7th. The years may have varied, but one of the many reasons why were are familiar with their names is due to “This Day in History”. I wonder who might show up on a different day? Why not give it a try – see “Month and Day (Any Year)”?