The question for freedom… the Underground Railroad…

July 7, 2023 by · Leave a Comment 

Down the hill from my house is a backcountry lane called Freedom Road. As my 6 children were growing up, I loved telling them stories of an Underground Railroad stop in the old barn across from our house and how the escaped slaves, after a short respite from their journey, would then travel down the hill to continue along their road to freedom.  How fitting a name and how moving a story – especially to children who could gaze across the street and imagine the historical efforts of humble, brave and noble locals being played out in their own neighborhood. Imagine my delight when I found a rare mention of the Underground Railroad in an October 6, 1854, New York Tribune. As Tim Hughes often reminds us, “History is never more fascinating then when it is read from the day it was first reported”… or when it is in your own backyard.

The worst kind of “ism”…

March 31, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

“Isms” can be found everywhere – in politics, medicine, psychology, religion, etc.. If you suffer from something, believe something, or think something, or have a habit of doing something, there is likely an “ism” to cover it. A March 17, 1862 issue of the Kansas State Journal included a humorous item with a religious flare poking fun at “isms” while at the same time softly admonishing the common practice of assuming the worst in others (antithesisofloveism?). What initially caught my attention was the term “socinianism” -an “ism” which until now was unbeknownst to me. Enjoy (or ponder):Blog-3-31-2015-ISMS

The “Long Day of Joshua” on steroids…

March 10, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Many are familiar with the Biblical account aptly named “The Long Day of Joshua” where Joshua, through the power of God and on behalf of the allied Israelite and Gibeonite armies, commands the sun to stand still in order to give them more time to complete the rout of their enemies – which results in a miraculous extension of the day. The publishers of The Kansas State Journal must have had a pretty amazing need for an even greater expansion of time as they apparently didn’t just annex hours, but entire days to the calendar in January of 1862 (see below). Oh ye of little faith. Amazing!Blog-3-10-2016-Long-Month

Civil War Era Newspapers on Pinterest…

June 29, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

We at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers have made a brief attempt at providing an overview of the Civil War via images of historic newspapers.  These images may be viewed at:  Rare Newspapers on Pinterest.  We invite you to join with us in telling the story by going to www.rarenewspapers.com to find additional issues you believe should be added to “the story”.  Feel free to provide us with the item number(s) of any you would like to have added.  You may contact us by responding to this post or by e-mail (guy@rarenewspapers.com).