A Labor Day Weekend Tribute through rare newspapers…

August 31, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

What was originally intended as a means for honoring the hard-working common laborers who helped build the United States into a prosperous nation (please, no “You didn’t build that!” comments), is now more closely associated with the end of summer.  Families and friends join together in one final effort to squeeze the last drop of relaxation from their laborious efforts exerted through the Fall, Winter, and Spring seasons.  Perhaps in the end this transition is well-suited to the intentions of the original proponents of the holiday… and much more has been gained than lost.

With appreciation for both the original and morphed sentiments of the holiday, the following links are intended to take you on a small trip back through the 19th and early 20th centuries, to view Labor Day through the eyes of those who have toiled before us.  Please enjoy…

Labor Day as seen through:

Harper’s Weekly Labor Day issue of 1913

Labor Day themed issues

Scientific American

And a number of categories available via the History’s Newsstand eBay Store:

Thanks again to all those who have given so much to help make the world a better place.  🙂

Newspaper error editions… by Rick Brown

August 27, 2012 by · 1 Comment 

An Authentic Issue

Rick Brown at Historybuff.com provides some interesting information regarding a couple of known error editions, including the highly collectible “Dewey Defeats Truman” issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune:

The Eleven Editions of the November 3, 1948 Chicago Daily Tribune
You’ve heard of the famous error paper “Dewey Defeats Truman”. Well, they produced ten more error headlines that day.

The Story Behind the “Dewey Defeats Truman” error issue
You’ve heard of the edition, but how did it happen? You’ll find the answer here.

The Tilden-Hayes Election of 1876
“Dewey Defeats Truman” was not the only presidential election error headline. Here’s another one.

Thanks, Rick, for your ongoing contributions to the hobby.

Before the Jane Fonda video…

August 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

The “Scientific American” issue of Nov. 18, 1911 offers this interesting solution for “…reducing abdominal weight”. I don’t think this one caught on…

The Traveler… The Olympic champion, Jim Thorpe…

August 20, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

In today’s journey I traveled to Carlisle, Pennsylvania through the Valley Sentinel dated August 20, 1912, wherein I found: “Olympic Reception a Gratifying Success”, being the home-town (college) celebration for the Olympic two-time gold medalist Jim Thorpe. His performance was amazing as he destroyed the world’s best in the decathlon and pentathlon. There is a lot of coverage in this paper on the celebration, including mention of Coach “Pop” Warner.

One hundred years later, Olympians are still breaking records in many ways, not only by performance and speed… Michael Phelps retires as the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals; Gabby Douglas, the first African-American to win gold in all-around gymnastics; the first ‘blade-runner’ Oscar Pistorius, and many more yet to come. Congratulations to all of the Olympians!

~The Traveler

He’ll be singing the blues…

August 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

The “Omaha Bee News” issue of Sept. 16, 1932 has this interesting report of a a singer destined for jail…

Historic Newspapers in the classroom…

August 13, 2012 by · 2 Comments 

We received the following note from one of our collector friends and thought our readers might enjoy his note:

Dear Tim Hughes and Rare Newspapers:

Sir, over the years, I have purchased many newspapers from you on eBay.  They have included topics such as: 1795 Boston newspaper with articles about Geo Washington and Sam Adams; Civil War battle of Lexington, MO;  Lincoln funeral in Philadelphia; Wm Jennings Bryan nominated for President in 1908; Sinking of the USS Maine; Wm McKinley assassination; Wilson’s 14 Points; and others.  I’ve also got papers from WWII collected by my Grandma (Grandpa was overseas with Patton’s Third Army) as well as others that I’ve found at rummage sales.  I also collect autographs (I have Wm Jennings Bryan, Rob’t Todd Lincoln, Lucretia Garfield, Paul Tibbets, Walter Mondale, and Mike Dukakis…if you find any autographs, please contact me!) and display them.
I thought you might be interested in how I display them in my class room.  Let me know if you wish to use any of these photos for marketing purposes.  Thanks for being such a tremendous resource to an American History enthusiast…who has the privilege to teach US History to 11th Graders!  Your papers are part of nearly every lesson, every single day.
Sincerely,
David George
Lafayette High School
St. Joseph, MO
COREBELEIFS:
In my classroom, history is not the study of the past. I abhor the use of bland textbooks
and rote memorization of facts. Rather, I teach that history is the interpretation of the present as viewed through a prism of past human experiences. I encourage my students to realize that “historical figures” were once living breathing human beings. They may be gone, but the life lessons that they left behind can still empower us to improve our lives and to better understand our world. I believe that “hand’s on learning” provides students with the most ownership of their knowledge. For this reason, my classroom is a museum filled with dozens of historical artifacts and framed newspapers. For example, when studying the Lincoln assassination, I allow students to hold a tear-stained Philadelphia Inquirer from April 1865. My students have even had the opportunity to re-­‐enact the 2000 Florida Presidential election on an actual Dade County voting machine. As a practitioner of Problem Based Learning, I believe giving students access to actual historical documents and relics makes the lesson a truly authentic learning experience. I want my students to realize that history is a never-­‐ending story of human triumphs and tragedies. It is a story to which they are contributing. That is a powerful lesson.

Newspaper Reports of Olympic Proportions…

August 10, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

As the 2012 Olympics come to an end, the staff at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers thought our readers might appreciate reviewing collectible newspapers with coverage of past Olympics.  While considerably more issues are available within our inventory than what is shown, at least the list will provide a snap-shot of such greats as Jesse Owens, Nadia Comaneci, Jim Thorpe, Gertrude Ederle, and more.  Please ignore the few scattered issues within this link that do not belong, and enjoy your walk back through Olympic history.  View Newspapers With Olympic Coverage

The Traveler… Taft is notified… have we learned yet?

August 6, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

Today I traveled to Farmington, Maine by way of The Franklin Journal (August 6, 1912). There I found that “President Taft was formally notified Thursday of his nomination by the National Republican convention at Chicago.” This would be a year in which a four-way presidential election occurred — Republican, Democratic, Progressive and Socialist.

In part of the acceptance speech, “…the president launches into a bitter attack upon ‘those responsible for the popular unrest’ of the present day… Votes are not bread, constitutional amendments are not work, referendums do not pay rent or furnish houses, recalls do not furnish clothing, initiatives do not supply employment or relieve inequalities of condition or of opportunity…” (see below). Here we are in another election year, 100 years later, with what sounds like the exact same issues…

~The Traveler

Tired of fishing him out of the well…

August 3, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

This tidbit from the “Olive Branch“, Boston, Nov. 19, 1853, expresses one Californian’s frustration.