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They put it in print… when ghost stories were mainstream…
October 26, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Science in the 1850’s was not what it is today, and although ghost stories still popular the fringe of scientific investigation, such reports rarely make the mainstream media today.
But not in 1858. The “Norwalk Experiment” newspaper of Ohio, printed in its Dec. 7 issue a fascinating report headed: “Dead Man Picking Himself Up–A Ghost Bringing His Bones from Hartford”. The crux of the article is: “The spiritualists of this city…gravely discussing the question whether the spirit of a man whose dead body was dissected by medical students…is picking himself up, piece-meal, and bringing his bones, one by one, to this city to be put together again…”. further on is mention that: “…This extraordinary determination, which we believe has no parallel in ghostology, ancient or modern, it is alleged, is being carried out…” with much more.
Interesting reading, giving evidence that ghost stories were more “mainstream” a century ago than they are today.
They put it in print… living Tammy Wynette’s anthem “Stand By Your Man”…
October 12, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
“The News” from Cleveland reports in its September 30, 1926 issue comments of the wife of famed boxer Jack Dempsey following his unexpected loss to Gene Tunney in one of the more noted fights in boxing history. In defense of her husband she noted: “…I didn’t marry the heavyweight title – I married Jack Dempsey.” and later: “I have never taken an interest in boxing… Jack didn’t bring the ring into the home… But fighting is Jack’s business. That is the thing he loves to do, and I have no more right to influence him with regard to it…”.
She put into practice the anthem Tammy Wynette would make famous some 42 years later with her song “Stand By Your Man”.
They put it in print… Forget the boxer: don’t mess with his wife…
September 28, 2015 by TimHughes · 2 Comments
An early 1800’s article of a grudge boxing match in London reports an interesting ending, when the losing boxer’s wife steps forward to challenge the assistant of the winning boxer. The October 25, 1805 issue of the Middlesex Gazette“ (Middletown, CT) states: “…They set to in great style & the wife rallied her opponent handsomely. She fought 14 strait…rounds and so completely disfigured the head of Leveret that he yielded to her superior science in the pugilistic art…The second was by far the best fight, and the delicate lady challenged her husband’s rival on the spot.” Forget the boxer… Don’t mess with his wife.
A West Coast collector amasses a large collection…
September 17, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Richard Robinson was a long-time collector of historic newspapers, having begun at the age of 10 in the mid-1940’s & continuing to add to his collection until his passing earlier this year. He was one of a small number of serious 
newspaper collectors from that era.
Having grown up in Beverly Hills, California, it is not surprising that a majority of his issues were from the Los Angeles area. Fortunately both the “Herald Express” and the “Examiner” typically used large, “screaming” headlines desired by collectors today. Although he had some issues from the 18th and 19th centuries, the lion’s share of his collection was made up with those from the era in which lived. How great it would have been to add to a collection reports on the end of World War II and later by simply paying the 10 cent price at the newsstand!
This front page article in the Feb. 26, 1952 issue of the “Beverly Hills Bulletin“ shows him as a 12 year old student when his collection included some 1000 newspapers. At the time of his passing the number had to have grown to 50,000 or more.
In a correspondence with him many years ago I recall him stating that he never paid more than $5 for any newspaper in his collection. Many were simply given to him. He noted as one of his prize editions the famous “Chicago Daily Tribune” with the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, which the Tribune offered to buy back from him for $25. He refused.
They put it in print… a prophetic statement on “modern technology”…
September 14, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “New York Times” issue of March 25, 1878, has a fascinating editorial which is a reflection of how people were panicked by the lack of privacy over 100 years ago as they are 
today.
The piece about Edison’s latest invention: “The Aerophone” goes on to detail how Edison’s work is destroying society. It begins: “Something ought to be done to Mr. Edison, and there is a growing conviction that it had better be done with a hemp rope. Mr. Edison has invented too many things, and…they are things of the most deleterious character. He has been addicted to electricity..” and railing on including mention that his phonograph is responsible for destroying privacy & making it impossible for anyone to talk to anyone any more, etc. The column-long editorial ends with an over-the-top fear for the fall of society, including: “…The result will be the complete disorganization of society. Men & women will flee from civilization & seek the silence of the forest relief from the roar of countless aerophones. Business, marriage, and all social amusements will be thrown aside…It may be too late to suppress the aerophone now, but at least there is time to visit upon the head of its inventor the just indignation of his fellow countrymen.”
A fascinating report in light of current-day concerns for lack of privacy.
“Brownsville Gazette” – a gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
August 24, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers’ focus: The American Antiquarian Society
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.).
161. “Brownsville Gazette“, Brownsville, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1808
Clarence S. Brigham’s two -volume History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820, published by AAS in 1947, was a landmark in newspaper bibliography. The fruits of thirty-six years of painstaking research are amply displayed in the detailed publishing histories and comprehensive censuses of institutional holdings. For fully 194 (nine percent) of the 2,120 titles included, Brigham was unable to locate any extant issues, though he could document the newspapers’ existence from other sources.
Since Brigham’s day it has been as AAS priority to locate and acquire issues of these “lost” newspapers. Many have been found, and much new information has been gathered towards a supplement to Brigham’s bibliography. Here is one such “discovery issue,” for the Brownsville Gazette, which turned up on eBay in 2004. The accompanying page from the manuscript to Brigham’s bibliography shows his draft entry for this title, clipped from the April 1920 number of the AAS Proceedings, where it was originally printed: from Isaiah Thomas’s 1810 The History of Printing in America (Cat. 9), Brigham knew that the Brownsville Gazette was being published early in 1810; and an 1882 county history citation indicated that it began publication no later than January 14, 1809. But no new information had come Brigham’s way between 1920 and 1947. Based on the discovery issue’s date and numbering, however, it is now known that William Campbell launched the Brownsville Gazette sometime in 1807.
“Le Bijou” – a gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
August 10, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers’ focus: The American Antiquarian Society
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.). 
180. “Le Bijou“, Cincinnati, Ohio, September, 1879
A hobby practiced especially by teenagers, amateur journalism exploded in popularity in the United States following the invention of an inexpensive table-top printing press in 1867. During the 1870s and 1880s, thousands of amateur newspapers were published and liberally exchanged with other amateur journalists around the country. Because of the circumstances under which they were produced, amateur newspapers are becoming of increasing interest to historians, and AAS actively adds to its large collection.
One of the most interesting amateur newspapers at AAS is Le Bijou, edited and published by Herbert A. Clark (ca. 1860-ca. 1924). A great-grandson of Lewis and Clark Expedition leader William Clark, Herbert was born into one of Cincinnati’s leading African-American families. His father Peter, an associate of Frederick Douglass, was politically active and instrumental in establishing free public schools for Ohio African-Americans. Le Bijou is notable for its prominent and forthright and advocacy of civil rights, a fight carried over to the Amateur Press Association, which in 1879 elected Clark it’s third vice-president over the heated objections of its Southern members. Many withdrew, forming in its stead the secret Amateur Anti-Negro Admission Association. Clark delightedly reported on the controversy in the pages of Le Bijou, which he published from 1878 to 1880. He then moved on to a career as a journalist and publisher of African-American newspapers.
They put it in print… Nazi generals attempt an escape to Japan…
July 27, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
World War II created a countless number of stories of heroism, sorrow, courage, and intrigue, many of which will never be known save for just a few.
The “The Detroit Free Press” of May 17, 1945 reported one such event which would surprise many historians today. Its headline notes: “Seize U-Boat Taking Key Nazis To Japan” with a subhead: “Luftwaffe Chiefs Captured at Sea“. This was just 10 days after the surrender of Germany, and less than 3 months before Japan would surrender to end World War II. The related article mentions in part: “A 1,600 ton Nazi U-boat, presumably attempting to escape to Japan, surrendered to destroyer-escorts of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet…Aboard were 3 major general of the Luftwaffe and two dead Japanese, who had committed hara-kiri…”.
To this day few know of the attempt of Nazi generals to seek refuge in Japan, yet it was a front page headline in Detroit at the time.
Ironically, the photo shown is actually of the capture/surrender of the infamous U-505, an event which had occurred in June of 1944, but was not announced/released until the previous day.
A movie in the making?
The put it in print… America will become the greatest nation ever!
June 15, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
One of the joys of reading old newspapers is the opportunity to discover what were, in fact, very prophetic statements made long before anyone could have known they would become true. As they say, hindsight does provide 20-20 vision.
One of the best is found in “The London Chronicle” issue of Nov. 2, 1765. Some 150 years before the per-eminence of America as a world power both military and economically, a writer begins an article: “Little doubt can be entertained that America will in time become the greatest and most prosperous empire that perhaps the world has ever seen…”.
How true that statement would become, but to predict that future nearly a dozen years before America would even declare independence from the mother country was truly a stretch. It’s a neat find in an otherwise inconspicuous newspaper.
They put it in print… the best UFO alien abduction newspaper ever?
June 8, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
UFO stories, with supposed “photos” have become rather commonplace in tabloids over the last 50 years, but few are accounts of alien abductions, and even fewer are accounts of abductions with eye-witness corroboration.
The small town of Show Low, Arizona, has a weekly newspaper and its issue of Nov. 14, 1975 has a terrific account (see image below) of perhaps the most famous alien abduction case in American history. It appears dramatically in this newspaper because it is essentially the “hometown” paper for the event: it published 38 miles from the abduction site (very rural Arizona) and less than 20 miles from the home of Travis Walton, the man abducted for 5 days before being returned to earth.
See the link to the issue of the “White Mountain Independent” for further details including multiple images showing snippets of much of the coverage. For any UFO enthusiastic this could well be the very best UFO newspaper report to be had. Is it even better than a Roswell newspaper from 1948?
Note: While the link above states the issue is no longer available, it is currently listed on eBay at: Thomas Walton Abducted By Aliens?