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Announcing: Catalog #322 for September, 2022 – Rare & Early Newspapers for collectors…
September 2, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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September’s catalog (#322) is now available. Also shown below are links to a video featuring highlights from the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.
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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.]
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” – Historic Baseball Coverage…
August 12, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
One of the popular subsets of the Rare & Early Newspapers hobby is the collecting of historic baseball reports (as well as detailed coverage of favorite teams and players from the past). As of the writing of this post, more than 1,000 such issues were available for browsing and/or collecting at:
Baseball Reports and Headlines
One of our staff recently gathered a few issues together and created a one-minute video which we hope you will enjoy:
Announcing: Catalog #321 (for August, 2022) – Rare & Early Newspapers for collectors…
July 29, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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August’s catalog (#321) is now available. Also shown below are links to a video featuring highlights from the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.
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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.]
Mike Drop from 1886… Frederick Douglass Leaves Us All Stunned…
July 25, 2022 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
The phrase “mike drop” is a trendy phrase in 2022, however, none could hold a candle to Frederick Douglass‘ address to Congress in 1886/1887. The Atlantic Monthly from December 1886 & January 1887 carried his plea, and while I would like to have something to add to his words, I believe I’ll let a portion of his address speak for itself:
“The Principle of slavery, which [The Founding Fathers] tolerated under the erroneous impression that [slavery] would soon die out, became at last the dominant principle and power at the South. It early mastered the Constitution, became superior to the Union, and enthroned itself above the law. Freedom of speech and of the press it slowly but successfully banished from the South, dictated its own code of honor and manners to the nation, brandished the bludgeon and the bowie knife over Congressional debate, sapped the foundations of loyalty, dried up the springs of patriotism, blotted out the testimonies of the fathers against oppression, padlocked the pulpit, expelled liberty from its literature, invented nonsensical theories about master-races and slave-races of men, and in due season, produced a Rebellion fierce, foul, and bloody. This evil principle again seeks admission into our body politic. It comes now in shape of a denial of political rights to four million loyal colored people. The South does not now ask for slavery. It only asks for a large degraded caste, which shall have no political rights. This ends the case. Statesmen, beware what you do. The destiny of unborn and unnumbered generations is in your hands. Will you repeat the mistake of your fathers, who sinned ignorantly?”
Some may want to join me in picking our jaws up off of the floor as we stand in awe of a man who, as a former slave, (self) educated himself to such heights, ironically, using The Columbian Orator which was also used as a textbook by other familiar names: Ralph Waldo Emerson (philosopher/poet), Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin), and Horace Greely (editor/publisher of the New York Tribune) to name a few.
Announcing: Catalog #320 (for July, 2022) – Rare & Early Newspapers (for purchase)…
July 1, 2022 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.]
Juneteenth Revisited – “The rest of the story”…
June 27, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Roughly a week ago we were observing the most recent addition to our list of Federal Holidays: Juneteenth, which commemorates the day when Union troops marched into Galveston, Texas and Major General Gordon Granger informed the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. His General Order (No. 3) stated: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free…”. However, what is that at the end? Dot, dot, dot? There’s more?
His full order reads as follows: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” In other words, “You are free, but if you think the government is going to support you if you leave your new ’employer’, think again.” For many, this would be analogous to someone who was bound, kidnapped, and being transported by airplane to some horrible location having their bindings removed and told they were welcome to leave any time they want (albeit, at 10,000 feet without a parachute). While this Order is quite historic, and the day does deserve to be celebrated, there is a whiff of Hotel California in the air: “You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!”
Am I exaggerating – misrepresenting the circumstances? One might think so, but an article I recently discovered within a July 16, 1865 issue of The New York Times which printed a follow-up Order by General Granger given approximately one week later begs to differ: 
Even when granted with good intentions, freedom needs to be embraced – and the “doing so” is often fraught with hardship. However, while the struggle continues, taking time to celebrate this momentous occasion (along with the many victories which have occurred since June 19, 1865) is worthy of our unified, citizen-wide efforts – regardless of our racial, social, political, religious or economic differences. The intrinsic hope of “We The People!” must ever be before us.
Journalism from Early America to the Digital Age… Election Fraud and more…
June 10, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Someone recently brought to my attention an article posted on the website “Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas”. While scanning the article I was intrigued by the presence of illustrations of newspapers we have or have previously offered. One in particular which caught my attention was the timely political cartoon by Thomas Nast found in the Oct. 7, 1871 issue of Harper’s Weekly. While a degree of election fraud is (unfortunately) part-and-parcel of the election process, I was inspired to read through the entire article, and in so doing, found it to be quite informative… and wondered if the friends of Rare & Early Newspapers might also find it interesting. Hopefully you will also enjoy reading it:
“Journalism from Early America to the Digital Age”
Announcing: Catalog #319 (for June, 2022) – Rare & Early Newspapers (for purchase)
May 31, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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June’s catalog (#319) is now available. Also shown below are links to a video featuring highlights from the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.
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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.
Memorial Day – How many generations does it take to… (?)
May 27, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Generation 1 – The Call to Sacrifice
The oppressed are willing to sacrifice their very lives to throw off oppression – and many of them do, giving their last breath for the sake of their children and their children’s children.
Generation 2 – Picking Up the Pieces
Those recently freed from oppression begin to reap the rewards of their new freedom, but many scars remain – particularly those caused by the loss of loved ones.
Generation 3 – Enjoying Freedom’s Bounty
The sacrifices of the past are still discussed, but the wounds are largely well-healed, and the benefits born of the sacrifice of others is fully embraced.
[an unspecified number of generations – usually not many]
Generation End (Minus 2) – Freedom Is & Always Will Be
Freedom is so commonplace, it begins to be taken for granted. The oppression and sacrifices of the past are long forgotten.
Generation End (Minus 1) – Heads in The Sand
Freedom, is it really all that important? Comfort and ease is what we want. Sacrifice? For what! A blind eye is turned to the new oppressors at the gate.
Generation End – The Demise!
Where did our freedom go? Why are we being oppressed?? How did this happen???
Memory – it’s indispensable. A simple internet search for “lest we forget”, “those who fail to remember”, or similar will return a plethora of warnings about the consequences which go hand-in-hand with not remembering the lessons, sacrifices, blessings, etc. of the past.
As an example, it would be hard to argue that the Jews/Israelites, through time, have been one of the most oppressed people-groups on the planet – a chain of horror which began with their enslavement in Egypt. One would have thought their eventual “deliverance” by the hand of God would have set them up for eternity, yet, just a few generations after their new-found freedom was realized, they found themselves enslaved once again. Why? “The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side (Judges 8:34).”
While each generation needs to take personal responsibility for “remembering”, one cannot remember that which one never knew. Therefore, we, as the current generation, must take ownership of teaching ourselves, keeping what we learn in the forefront of our minds, and then teaching the next generation – lest they never know. Will this take considerable effort? Sure, but the sacrifice of time and energy pales in comparison to the sacrifices of the past.
To this end, perhaps the following will be useful:
Previous Memorial Day Themed Posts
Memorial Day Themed Newspapers
PS I am grateful for the men and women who have given their lives so my family, friends, and neighbors, whether we be politically or philosophically divergent or parallel, can enjoy the freedoms which fall under the umbrella of “inalienable Rights which are endowed to each one of us by our Creator”.
A woodcut masthead is worth a thousand words… Slavery…
May 16, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
A few weeks back my favorite person posted: Take a Closer Look … The Delicate Details of Woodcut Prints…
Such prints are truly amazing. However, as is the case with (most?) works of art, to some degree they tell a story. One such story is that of “Slavery – The Cry for Emancipation”, as told through the masthead of The Liberator. While we have many historic newspapers containing articles chronicling the path from the horrors of slavery, through emancipation, then on to suffrage and beyond, few rival what is communicated through this most-amazing, intricate, illustration which was present at the top of nearly every issue. At a distance its beauty speaks to the eyes, but a close-up view shouts to the heart: ENOUGH!
See for yourself:
