Capturing the Vibe – January 3, 1938…

November 6, 2023 by · Leave a Comment 

A new year and a new edition of “Capturing the Vibe” where we try to imagine what the world felt like to a newspaper reader from the past by immersing ourselves in their … “vibe of the day”… perhaps with a cup of coffee in hand on a snowy day where you are.

So, on we go with this month’s issue…

January 3, 1938… the start of a new year… Roosevelt gives a message to Congress.

 

A Map Shows the “Black Plague of the Twentieth Century” which was defined as a WORLD-WIDE TREND OF GOVERNMANTAL DOMINATION OR LIBERTIES

 

On a more frivolous note … 35 long-wed couples make merry at party with dinner and dancing.

 

Nelson Eddy/Elanor Powell & Tyron Power/ Alice Fay had movies premier.

 

Coverage of The Sugar Bowl.

 

 

And last but by no means least … a Genuine RCA Victor Electric Tuning Radio was only $89.95!

From the Vault: Best of the 20th century?

April 10, 2023 by · Leave a Comment 

As newspaper collectors we dream of “the event” we’d like to add to our collection. It’s the search for that issue–or issues–which make this a fascinating hobby. This is, after all, a very visual hobby. How displayable are stamps and coins?  Huge headlines proclaiming a cataclysmic event or magnificent achievement lend themselves so well to display, much more so than an original document about the event.

The 20th century had a great wealth of interesting events. But what is the best?  If you could only make one choice, what single headline of the 20th century would you most want to see in your collection?

I wrestle with how to approach this thought: most life-altering? most recognizable? most historic? most appealing for display? I believe the first Wright brothers flight is the most life-altering; “Dewey Defeats” Truman” as the most recognizable; and a great “Titanic Sinks” report as the most displayable. Some newspapers did much with the events of the gangster era, and certainly the “careers” of Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger and Al Capone are well known and significant reports would be attention-grabbers on any wall. On a more positive note there are some spectacular “V-E Day” and “V-J Day” issues celebrating the end of World War II.  But limiting myself to just a single issue I would take “Titanic Sinks”. ….what’s your thought?

Note: The History’s Newsstand Blog went live for the first time in 2008. Since then our goal has been to provide informative of interest to both novice and well-oiled collectors of Rare & Early Newspapers. The focus of the “From the Vault” series is to introduce the current generation of collectors to posts from the past (with occasional updates as appropriate). The original post shown above can be viewed at:

Best of the 20th century?

Snapshot 1923… King Tutankhamun unearthed…

April 23, 2018 by · Leave a Comment 

The following snapshot comes from the February 17, 1923 issue of The New York Times

The Traveler… “Who’s the leader of the club…?”

December 19, 2016 by · 2 Comments 

Blog-12-19-2016-Walt-DisneyToday’s journey took me to New York City by the way of The New York Times dated December 16, 1966. There on the front page I found the headline “Walt Disney, 65, Dies on Coast; Founded an Empire on a Mouse.” “Walt Disney, who built his whimsical cartoon world of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a $100-million-a-year entertainment empire; died in St. Joseph’s Hospital here this morning. He was 65 years old… Just before his last illness, Mr. Disney was supervising the construction of a new Disneyland in Florida…”

Oddly enough, Mr. Disney did not do any of the drawings of his famous Mickey Mouse.

~The Traveler

The Traveler… announcing the new President…

November 7, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-11-7-2016-false-election-resultsToday I traveled to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, by the way of the Fitchburg Sentinel ~ Extra dated November 7, 1916. I found that they had the presidential election the previous day and were declaring the winner… “Hughes’ Election ‘Flashed” In New York City”. You all remember President Hughes now, don’t you? Oh wait, that’s right — the wrong winner had been declared! Woodrow Wilson had truly defeated Charles Evans Hughes instead.

~The Traveler

The Traveler… a woman “controlling” the way…

September 5, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-9-5-2016-Margaret-SangerToday I traveled to New York City by the way of The New York Times dated September 7, 1966. I found the announcement “Margaret Sanger Is Dead at 82; Led Campaign for Birth Control.”  “…As the originator of the phrase ‘birth control’ and its best-known advocate, Margaret Sanger survived Federal indictments, a brief jail term, numerous lawsuits, hundreds of street-corner rallies and raids on her clinics to live to see much of the world accept her view that family planning is a basic human right…”

As per Wikipedia… “She founded the American Birth Control League (ABCL) in 1921 to enlarge her base of supporters to include the middle class. The founding principles of the ABCL were as follows:  We hold that children should be (1) Conceived in love; (2) Born of the mother’s conscious desire; (3) And only begotten under conditions which render possible the heritage of health. Therefore we hold that every woman must possess the power and freedom to prevent conception except when these conditions can be satisfied.”

~The Traveler

Movie prop newspaper #2… Help needed…

August 18, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-8-18-2016-Movie-Prop-ProhibitionMovie prop newspapers are exactly that – newspapers which have been created for the purpose of being used within a specific movie. e wrote on this in detail at: http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?p=8860. Over the next few weeks we’ll roll out a series of such issues for which we cannot determine the movie from which it came. Can anyone help? If so, please let us know.

Today’s issue is The New York Chronicle, undated, with the featured headline: “PROHIBITION REPEALED” (see image).

All issues we’ve listed to-date can be found at: Unidentified Movie Prop Newspapers

The Traveler… senseless tragedy…

August 1, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-8-1-2016-Texas-SniperToday I traveled to New York City by the way of The New York Times dated August 2, 1966. There I found tragedy had stuck the campus of University of Texas. “An architectural honor student who had been undergoing psychiatric care carried an arsenal of rifles and pistols to the top of the 27-story University of Texas tower today and shot 12 persons to death before the police killed him. The student’s wife and mother were later found dead in their homes… The police identified the man as Charles J. Whitman…”. In all, he had shot an additional 34 people.

~The Traveler

The Traveler… born to raise !%@#…

July 18, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

Blog-7-18-2016-Richard-SpeckToday I traveled to New York City through The New York Times dated July 18, 1966. The headline was announcing “Suspect in 8 Killings to Get Hearing Today”. “Richard Franklin Speck, the suspect in the slaying of eight women in a nurses’ dormitory last Thursday, was under heavy guard today. Speck was taken into custody early this morning after he had been raced from a skid row hotel to Cook County Hospital for treatment of self-inflicted arm wounds in an attempted suicide… The police were guarding against a possible assassination attempt…”  

The surgeon caring for Speck’s wounds is the person that positively identified him and had the police called. Shortly before he saw Speck, he had read the newspaper article and saw his photo. “…I picked up his head and looked at the nurse to see if she had noticed. I said to her, ‘Get the paper.’ I remembered the tattoo… Born to Raise Hell… Then he moistened his finger tips and began rubbing the patient’s left arm and disclosed the tell-tale marking…”. Later Speck asked the doctor what he was going to do with the $10,000 reward.

~The Traveler

The put it in print… Killing them with kindness?

July 11, 2016 by · Leave a Comment 

The August 15, 1945 “Evening Standard” newspaper from London, on the day they reported the surrender of Japan to end World War II, included an extract from a Reuter’s message quoting Admiral Halsey on the end of the war: “…Looks like the war is over. Cease firing, but if you see any enemy planes in the air shoot them down in a friendly fashion.”Blog-7-11-2016-The-Halsey-Touch

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