The following note and corresponding image was sent to us by a friend of the hobby. Please enjoy.
Hi to the good folks at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers [1].
This article (see image below) is from the bottom of the front page of The Evening Herald of Fairhaven and Whatcom, Washington state, Dec. 18, 1903. It is a rare front-pager. I don’t believe the Wright Brothers [2] wanted the publicity being in a race to get the air machine patent, and I don’t think many editors believed the first reports of powered flight.
This paper came from a bound volume. It is in excellent condition and I’m glad the editor had the sense to put it on the front page, even at the bottom. The newspaper is now called The Bellingham Herald.
I’ve been collecting newspapers since 1969 and really enjoy your website [1], blog [3] and catalog [4].
Mick Boroughs
[5]
2 Comments To "The Wright Brothers… from a friend…"
#1 Comment By Eric Fettmann On 10/16/2012 @ 6:01 pm
One of the most prevalent myths of early 20th-century news, which dates back to the book “The Aspirin Age,” is that there were few front-page reports of the first Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk. In fact, nearly all of the first reports of this event appeared on the front page (I’ve got about a half-dozen in my collection). They weren’t always very long, and the New York Herald’s banner-headline and double-photo Page One, which is the best of the lot, is definitely out of the ordinary. But a front-page report is hardly rare.
#2 Comment By GuyHeilenman On 10/17/2012 @ 10:31 am
Hello Eric – Thanks for commenting. You certainly have the background to speak on this. 🙂 Guy