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As Halloween approaches – “The Lady in the Furnace”. Yikes!
October 28, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Reality can often be stranger than fiction. Such is the case with “The Lady in the Furnace”. This true-life horror story (actual event) was first brought to my attention through a collector’s request: “Do you have any newspaper headlines on the Lake Bluff village hall furnace mystery burning of Elfredia Knaack on Oct.30, 1928?” My initial thought was this was going to be an off the grid event in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and our investigative efforts within our archives would be turn up empty. However, as I gathered information about the story so as to be an informed explorer, I was fascinated by what I learned. A severely burned young lady, unrequited love, a furnace, the mysterious imprint of a hand, a small town with its roots in the camp meeting movement of the late 1800’s, an actor with the last name of Hitchcock, spiritualism, secret “rendezvous”, the suggestion of ghosts, an unsolved mystery… What a weird story!
It didn’t take long before our staff realized this event had also captured the interest of those living at the time as we quickly found two issues with front-page reports – one from the city which has grown to nearly encompass this small town. Below please find a set of photos which include snapshots of some of the coverage found within the two issues (the Chicago Daily Tribune and The Day, from New London, CT – both dated on Halloween, October 31, 1928.
Whereas both issues have already been acquired by the one who sent us on this journey, interested individuals can learn more about this event by searching for Knaak Furnace 1928. And who knows, by the time this post “goes live”, we may have unearthed additional issues with coverage of this strange, but true event.
This Month in History – October…
October 7, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
A continuation of our ongoing series: This Month in History – October Edition…
Not to be repetitive, however, we are often asked how we find newspaper reports covering such a wide variety of topics. Part of the answer is simply longevity. We’ve been collecting and offering issues for a half-century, and time itself as helped us amass an extensive database of notable events. Customer requests, what we’ve learned in school, the news, historical books and movies, etc. have all contributed to the cause. However, our capacity for discovery exploded with the development of the internet. Thanks to an abundance of historical websites, we can now search by day, week, month, era, event, and more in our quest to “mine” our archives. One such resource (among many) is The History Place. Through this online database one can find events by the day, week, month, and year.
As each month approaches, we often access this (or a similar) resource to search for new/fresh topics to explore. In our most recent effort, we search for historic events, discovers, accomplishments, etc. which occurred in the month of August. Our results were found here: The History Place – Month of October.
If you take a few moments to scan their index of October events, perhaps you’ll see an overlap between some of those shown and our currently listed newspapers dated in October through time (see below). If you decide to explore, we hope you enjoy.
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER
Announcing: Catalog #347 for October, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
September 27, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
This Month in History – September…
September 26, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
“History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” (Timothy Hughes, 1975). Exploring events which have occurred in September as they appeared in rare & early newspapers are no exception. To view a selection of over 1000 such reports within the context of additional news of the day, go to:
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER
Announcing: Catalog #346 for September, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
August 30, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
This Month in History – August…
August 5, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
We often are asked how we find newspaper reports covering such a wide variety of topics. Part of the answer is simply longevity. We’ve been collecting and offering issues for a half-century, and time itself as helped us amass an extensive database of notable events. Customer requests, what we’ve learned in school, the news, historical books and movies, etc. have all contributed to the cause. However, our capacity for discovery exploded with the development of the internet. Thanks to an abundance of historical websites, we can now search by day, week, month, era, event, and more in our quest to “mine” our archives. One such resource (among many) is The History Place. Through this online database one can find events by the day, week, month, and year.
As each month approaches we often access this (or a similar) resource to search for new/fresh topics to explore. In our most recent effort, we search for historic events, discovers, accomplishments, etc. which occurred in the month of August. Our results were found here: The History Place – Month of August.
If you take a few moments to scan their index of August events, perhaps you’ll see an overlap between some of those shown and our currently listed newspapers dated in August through time (see below). If you decide to explore, we hope you enjoy.
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN AUGUST
Announcing: Catalog #345 for August, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
August 2, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
This Month in History – July…
July 8, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
July was a busy month from a (an) historic perspective. While it has always been a “time for war”, some of the most amazing discoveries, accomplishments, and human advancements have also made their way onto the historic July Calander. While the list is almost endless, three-handfuls include:
- A French soldier discovers the Rosetta Stone (July 19, 1799)
- First photographs were used in a newspaper (July 1, 1848)
- U.S. Congress authorizes the Medal of Honor (July 12, 1862)
- P.T. Barnum’s Museum burns down (July 13, 1865)
- Philadelphia Zoo opens, the first zoo in the U.S. (July 1, 1874)
- President Garfield is shot (July 2, 1881)
- Louis Pasteur successfully gives first anti-rabies vaccination to nine-year-old (July 6, 1885)
- The 16th Amendment, the power to tax income, is passed by Congress (July 12, 1909)
- Albert Einstein introduces his Theory of Relativity (July 1, 1905)
- “Lady Astor’s Bill” passes lowering UK drinking age to 18 (July 13, 1923)
- The bikini is showcased for the first time (July 5, 1946)
- Walt Disney’s Disneyland opens in Anaheim, CA (July 17, 1955)
- The first moon walk takes place (July 20, 1969)
- Hank Aaron hits his 755th and last home run (July 20, 1976)
- First ‘Test Tube Baby’ is born (July 25, 1978)
For those who have interest in exploring the available newspapers at RareNewspapers.com which may contain reports on some of the above, along with a host of other newsworthy articles, a link to the chronological list is shown below. We hope you enjoy your trek.
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN JULY
Announcing: Catalog #344 for July, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
June 28, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]
One of the more unusual, graphic issues on Lincoln’s death…
June 17, 2024 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The Philadelphia Inquirer had several issues on Lincoln’s death and funeral that were very graphic, more such issues than any other title we’ve encountered from the era. But perhaps the most unusual–I might use the word stunning–would have to be the Cleveland Morning Leader issue of April 28, 1865.
As would be expected of this date, the front page has nice column heads concerning the capture & death of John Wilkes Booth, including: “Stanton’s Bulletin!” “J. W. BOOTH! SHOT” “Harrold Captured!” “The Murderer’s Remains in Washington” “The Funeral Train” and more.
But the ink bleed-through on the front-page hints that page 2 has something unusual. And indeed it does, as does page 3 as well. When this four-page issue is opened the entirety of page 2 is taken up with a “monument” to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, set in type, done in a graphic style that appears like a monument. There is text within the “monument” but no other text on the page.
And page 3 contains a black-bordered box with five phrases relating to Lincoln, one a quote from his Emancipation Proclamation, and another a bit from one of his speeches.
It’s curious that we purchased this issue at auction with the description limited to just the front-page content on John Wilkes Booth. No mention was made of the inside content, but having had this issue before we knew what was inside – so much more notable than the front page.