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Announcing: Catalog #310 (for September, 2021) is now available…
September 3, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 310 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 310 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.
History’s Hidden Gems… President Lincoln, July 4th, 1861…
June 7, 2021 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana or, as we history buffs like to say, “Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it”.
Lately, I have developed a bit of an obsession with Abraham Lincoln. I am sure there are many who would chuckle and say, “what took her so long?” Granted, I knew all the Lincoln Basics. I have helped my 6 children memorize the Gettysburg Address. I have stood more than once, for more time than my companions were comfortable, gazing in awe at each word on the Lincoln Memorial. But most recently I’ve been struck with wonder when I come across the more obscure, hidden treasures of our 16th President. . . overcome with a sense that his insights into his times may be equally applicable to mine. This last week I heard someone mention a portion of President Lincoln’s speech before Congress on July 4th, 1861. I have shared a portion of it below so you can make your determination as to whether his call to see beyond the surface events, to the heart of the matter, is as relevant today as it was then. If you agree, then we should be a people who remembers our past so we do not repeat it and for those fellow Lincoln lovers out there, let’s keep digging for his more obscure hidden gems.
“It might seem at first thought to be of little difference whether the present movement at the South be called “secession” or “rebellion.” The movers, however, well understand the difference. At the beginning they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law. They knew their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, and as much pride in and reverence for the history and Government of their common country as any other civilized and patriotic people. They knew they could make no advancement directly in the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they commenced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps through all the incidents to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the National Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully , withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judge of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice.
With rebellion thus sugar coated they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted the farcical pretense of taking their State out of the Union who could have been brought to no such thing the day before .” ~ Abraham Lincoln, July 4th, 1861
The Traveler… Squelching conspiracy to the bitter end…
January 5, 2017 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to Parsons, Kansas, by means of The Parsons Sun dated January 3, 1967 where the headline read: “Cancer Victim – Death Takes Ruby; Slayer of Oswald”. “Jack Ruby, insisting to his final day that he acted along as Lee Harvey Oswald’s slayer, died today of cancer in Parkland Memorial Hospital…” This was the same hospital in which President Kennedy was pronounced dead.” Soon after Ruby’s killing of Oswald, conspiracy theories were stoked as news spread focusing on the point that Ruby knew Oswald. However, he attempted to debunk these stories as is described within the coverage: “…over the last weekend, it was revealed that one of Ruby’s last acts was to record another statement denying any conspiracy… a small recorder into the hospital room for Jack to use and tell his story — the story he died with…”
~The Traveler
The City of Boston receives noteworthy journalism award…
March 9, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The following is a note we recently received from one of the collector friends of Rare & Early Newspapers:
Happy to report that the section “Boston Journalism Firsts” and other contents of the Boston Journalism Trail site were used to nominate Boston for the Historical Site in Journalism Award given by the American Society of Professional Journalists, the largest journalists organization in the United States. The organization gave its 2014 award to Boston, thus for the first time honoring a whole city for the totality of its contributions to journalism. The organization’s president is to present the city’s mayor with a memorial plaque to be placed in a public space in downtown Boston in 2015. Thanks for all your support over the years.
To view details:
http://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=1260
The reprint issues of the “Honolulu Star-Bulletin” Pearl Harbor issue…
May 14, 2012 by TimHughes · 30 Comments
If there is a second in line for the most common phone call or email about a newspaper which turns out to be a reprint, it would be the December 7, 1941 of the “Honolulu Star-Bulletin – 1st Extra“.
The genuine issue is arguably the best newspaper to have reporting the historic bombing of Pearl Harbor, being a dramatic headline, from the day it happened, and from where it happened. And consequently those conditions make it ripe for creating a reprint edition. From what I understand the reprints are still available at the souvenir shop at the Pearl Harbor memorial.
There are a couple of tell-tale indicators which are easily observed:
* The genuine issue has an ink smear between the “A” and “R” in the huge “WAR ! ” in the headline.
* The reprint edition does not have the ink smear, it having been “cleaned up” to make for a better appearance.
* The genuine “1st Extra” is 8 pages and does not have the “2nd Extra” nor the “3rd Extra” within, as they were separate, stand-alone edition printed later in the day. The reprint editions typically have one of both of the later editions on pages 3 and/or 5.
* At least one of the reprint edition has the front page of the “Honolulu Advertiser” newspaper on page 3. Obviously a competing newspaper’s front page would not be found within a genuine issue of the “Star-Bulletin”.
As if the above are not sufficient in determine a genuine from reprint edition, the photos of the reprints typically have a “muddy” appearance and are not as crisp & clear as would be found in the genuine issue.
So what’s in a name?
September 18, 2008 by TimHughes · 2 Comments
In reading a report from a 1783 Connecticut newspaper this evening I found it interesting to what degree the last name “Arnold” was considered a disgrace. Note this report:
“Upon the memorial of Jonathan Arnold, of Hartford…a Sergeant in the Continental army & unfortunately 
bears the sirname of the infamous Benedict Arnold, once a Major General in the army of the United States, now a traitor and deserter…some time after the desertion of the said Benedict, the Hon. Major General Baron Stuben, pitying the misfortune of any person friendly to the American cause doomed to bear the same name with a notorious traitor. offered…liberty to assume the name of Stuben, & by that name to be known and called…on his taking & assuming the said name of Stuben, to pay to him the sum of Two Dollars per month during the present war…”.
I wonder how many more Arnold families there could have been in this country today?