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They Put It In Print… Black Americana……
February 25, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Few nations can boast of a peaceful trek from being a slave state (at least in part) to the enslaved people-group holding the highest position in the very land that had once enslaved their ancestors. Whereas there is still much work to be done, the United States’ governmental structure allows, and even promotes such progress. Since much of these historic events were put in print, the link below is able to provide a chronology of many of the highlights of this amazing, albeit bumpy road. Since the link only provides a snapshot of each issue’s content, in order to view the related coverage you may need to click on the item number of several in order to view the item’s full description.
BLACK AMERICANA (and more)
Note: While perusing the issues shown in the link above, one might wonder why a link to a chronology of “Black Americana” issues includes those from outside the United States. Answer? Life rarely happens in a vacuum – and this is equally true with the trek shown above. Both the related tragedies, atrocities, and eventual progress which transpired outside the U.S. were often foundational in the thinking of those within. As a result, they have been included.
I’m New Here…Week Two
February 22, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · 5 Comments
For the next day and a half I’ve been left in charge of a small portion of things in the Rare and Early Newspapers world, which must mean I’m learning something. Still, I am going to rattle off this week’s post between all the responsibilities as I am fiercely resolved to not let anyone down. If you’re disappointed with my submission, please check in again next Friday when I have a little more time to reflect. But I do want to take a momentary glance at this recent week before it is forgotten in the next discovery.
Requests for birthday papers are a regular occurrence here, and it’s a good excuse to go hunting in the racks, exploring the mazes of columns and rows. To me, the best thing about searching for these issues is that they frequently hold a hitherto unknown element that increases the value beyond “a regular NYT from 1959”. However, I am learning that content is in the eye of the beholder. Yesterday I climbed and crouched (and crawled at one point) pulling every volume that might still contain the specified date. When at last I laid it flat on one of the twenty(?) portable viewing surfaces, I felt a surge of confidence that I had found something exceptional and I cornered the closest newspaper veteran to verify my discovery. “Winston Churchill,” I pronounced, “shaking hands with Harry Truman, on the front page above the fold. Is that special content?”
It turns out that it was not. It turns out Churchill and Truman were “getting together like that all the time.” Those were the very words used to burst my bubble and I couldn’t help wondering a bit about these giants of recent history — one with an abrupt ascension to the highest office in the land, and the other whose stirring oratory inspired hope in hopeless times — who were nevertheless real people with routines and commonplace interactions and details of living, even as they went about setting their mark on everything that came after. Newspapers are crammed to bursting with so many important people, so many consequential events and so many seemingly insignificant things, as well. Regular treasure hunters already know this; the novices might just discover it in a birthday paper. At any rate, this week I learned that there are at least two quests involved when I head out into the rows, coordinates in hand: the thing I know I am looking for, and the thing I didn’t expect to find.
I hope today you uncover a bit of treasure yourself.
Snapshot 1946… The Apple Watch prototype in print…
February 18, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The following snapshot comes from the Chicago Sunday Tribune, January 13, 1946. Does Apple pay Dick Tracy’s estate royalties?
I’m New Here… Week One
February 15, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · 10 Comments
It’s a daunting world — Rare & Early Newspapers — and at first it can feel like being in a foreign country, overhearing a few words that sound familiar in a vague sort of way. At least, that’s my sense. But I suspect it appeared that way to many collectors at the beginning. With that in mind, my plan is to share some of my observations, discoveries and even mistakes over the coming weeks, months and years as I learn to navigate this universe of newsprint. If you have never even held an old paper, much less thought to purchase one, perhaps my adventures will pique your own interest and you’ll find yourself browsing the titles and descriptions of the details of life in a bygone era. Having “met” a few of you veteran collectors and scholars, I suspect you might enjoy a little reminder of the early days when you turned that first purchase over in your hand, skimmed the columns, and then settled in for a read.
I began and then discarded multiple versions of this initial post — there’s no way to convey the immensity of standing in a treasure trove that is more than three times my height, wider than my house, and filled with papers. Without moving my feet I can examine the headlines from Harper’s, published every Saturday in the first half of 1869. 1869. That is not a misprint! The proper title is “Harper’s Weekly”, subtitled “A Journal of Civilization”. It is astounding that one hundred and fifty years after these rolled off the printing press, were cut and bundled and delivered to 100,000 people living in a completely different world (regardless of our shared geographical location), I am able to hold an original issue in my hands. It’s a rag paper, so the pages can be turned without any fear of damaging it. I verified this before opening an issue; gloves aren’t even required. The details of manners and battles and grocers and treasury debt emerge and bring the inevitable conclusion. Life in a different time –even with dramatically changed fashions, altered lifestyles, and varied circumstances– is still life. Civilization is after all the story of people. Sometimes it’s seen in broad strokes, sometimes in classified advertisements. I found the following in an 1861 publication, “When families send for ‘Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce’, observe if it is the genuine JOHN DUNCAN & SONS…” I am amazed the condiment has been around so long (and wonder, who was making fake Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce?). Others might be more interested in the 15″ map of Major-General McClellan’s Operations Along The Potomac.
Anyway, the Harper’s Weeklies section is a good place to stand and introduce myself and tell you I am privileged to be here. Please check in and see the “progress” part of my experience. Also, tell me what I should look for if you’ve been around a while. And if you’re new, feel free to ask any questions. If I don’t have the answer (which is likely, as I am new here) I have recently met some brilliant people who probably do.
Stephanie