Search
The Rare & Early Newspapers Hobby
Receive the Newsletter
Buy Historic Newspapers
A marvelous development in engineering (?)…
August 8, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Sometimes the simple reports we find in newspapers lead to a much more fascinating back story than was anticipated. Such was the case with an interesting report in “The Cleveland Leader” of May 17, 1875, which contained a very lengthy & detailed article headed: “A Wonderful Discovery!” “A New Motor!” “The Days of Steam Probably Numbered”. Not knowing of any new motor created in the 1870’s I did some exploring and learned much about Mr. John Keely and the great hoax he perpetrated on the public.
See the hyperlink on Mr. Keely for the full story along with the following:
The end of the world… false alarm…
August 6, 2011 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
A few years ago several collectors contacted us wondering if the end of the Rare & Early Newspapers collectible was at hand. They had just received news about Google’s newspaper digitizing project and wondered if this would lead to an end in people wanting to collect historic newspapers. “Might this be the end of the old newspaper’s collectible world?” We tried to reassure them them that collecting the actual newspaper from the day it was 1st printed/read as compared to reading digitized versions is akin to eating an ice-cream sundae rather than looking at a picture of one. No matter how perfect the picture of the sundae reproduces the look of an actual one, it can never compare to the real deal. Apparently, time has proven this to be so. 2011 brought news from Google announcing the end of the digitizing project. The date of the announcement is rather ironic. Please read:
Google Announces End Of Newspaper Digitizing Project
🙂 🙂 🙂
The Traveler… Standard Oil’s dissolution… “perfectly logical”…
August 1, 2011 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I found myself in the The Christian Science Monitor dated August 1, 1911 where two front page articles caught my attention. The first is a bit of a continuation from a few weeks back,which was Standard Oil’s plan of dissolution being announced. The reorganization would involve the distribution of approximately 220,000 certificates representing 35 companies.
The other article was of Chicago’s aviation event which would have the largest purse ever offered, the prizes having a total value of $80,000. A stadium (the largest at that time) would be built that would hold 60,000 persons. Some notables to be in attendances were: Glenn H. Curtiss, Tom Sopwith, J.A. D. McCurdy, John J Frisbie, Harry N Atwood, Charles Willard and others.
I also found a cute little story entitled “perfectly logical” which just says it all…
~The Traveler
Ideas on how to collect Rare & Early newspapers…
July 30, 2011 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
While we at Rare Newspapers’ History’s Newsstand Blog are committed to continually adding material to help support the hobby, every now and then we come across informative material produced by others. Just recently we found a set of videos related to the collectible produced by eHow.com. They may be viewed at:
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_5949_collecting-comics-newspapers_-tips-strategies.html
Please enjoy!
The Traveler… the frigate Huzza… struck by lighting!
July 25, 2011 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
In today’s travels, I found the July 25, 1811 issue of the Middlesex Gazette from Middletown, Connecticut was carrying a lengthy article from Thomas Pickering to the People of the United States pertaining to Commodore Roger’s actions in the “Little Belt” incident.
There is also a report of the DIVING BELL which had just located the British frigate Huzza which had sunk during the Revolutionary war period. The frigate had 28 guns and was heading to Boston with money to pay the British troops when it struck a rock and sunk.
A death notice is also mentioned for Richard Penn, Esq., former governor of Pennsylvania. He was also the grandson of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania.
Also within is a report from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, of a miraculous event. A boy was struck by lightning, which went through him and even instantly killed the horse he was riding. The boy escaped with but a singe behind his ear and his side somewhat scorched and blistered. He managed to make it the rest of the way to his home (less than a mile) on his hands and knees, and recollects nothing whatever of the circumstances.
~The Traveler
Interesting wording of an obituary…
July 23, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The photo shows an obituary of Lady Oglethorpe as found in the “Country Journal Or the Craftsman” newspaper from London, July 1, 1732. It is always interesting to see how differently reports were presented several hundred years ago:
The Civil War… 150 years ago today… July 20, 1861
July 20, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We continue our weekly feature of reflecting upon the appropriate 150 year old issue of “Harper’s Weekly” from the perspective of a subscriber in 1861:
Today’s issue (July 20, 1861) has the front page taken up with two prints on the progress of “Filling Cartridges at the U.S. Arsenal at Watertown, Mass.”, which involves a surprising number of women. There are two interesting pages with a dozen prints of “Scenes About Camp” showing some of the activities while in recreation (dancing & acrobatics!) as well as practicing for warfare. These scenes offer a different view of soldier life; one away from the battle field. I can imagine relaxing & recreation is a welcome diversion.
One print has a scene of soldiers with Hagerstown, Maryland, in the background, and a few other prints have scenes of Harper’s Ferry, just a few years after the John Brown raid. Very impressive is the doublepage centerfold showing “The Navy Yard at Brooklyn…” which shows several massive sailing ships. And yet another print shows that not all soldiers wear the traditional garb, as “Irregular Riflemen of the Alleghanies, Virginia” are in frontier clothing. How can those involved in a fight tell the enemies from their fellow soldiers?
First newspapers printed in Oregon…
July 18, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
It was in 1843 when the great migration over the Oregon trail to the Pacific Northwest began, with some 3000 settling in Oregon City just a few years later. Located on the Willamette 
River, this town became the Oregon Territory’s first capital.
It was also the location of the first newspaper in the territory, titled the “Oregon Spectator” which began publishing on Feb. 5, 1846. This newspaper changed hands several times, and one of its editors, George L. Curry, left the newspaper in 1848 to start the Oregon City “Free Press” printed on a press he crafted by hand out of wood and scrap iron. This newspapers lasted for less than eight months.
On June 8 in 1848, at Tualatin Plains, a religious newspaper was begun by the Rev. John Smith Griffin titled the “Oregon American & Evangelical Unionist“. By the early 1850’s Portland was being settled and numerous newspapers made their appearance, the first being the “Weekly Oregonian” on Dec. 4, 1850. As more migrated West, more newspapers (The Morning Oregonian & more) made their appearance in not only Portland but other settlement towns in the Oregon Territory. Oregon would become the 33rd state in early 1859. (credit: “Printing In The Americas”)
A well dressed runaway…
July 16, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
It is not uncommon that runaway reward ads include a small engraving of a person, but never have I seen an engraving of so well-heeled a runaway as this guy. And his reward of “1 mill” is a bit of an insult as to his value. This ad appeared in the “Middlesex Gazette” from Middletown, Connecticut, July 29, 1829…
The Civil War… 150 years ago today… July 13, 1861
July 13, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We continue our weekly feature of reflecting upon the appropriate 150 year old issue of “Harper’s Weekly” from the perspective of a subscriber in 1861:
The front page (of the July 13, 1861 issue of my Harper’s Weekly) has a scene from: “The Battle of Boonville, Missouri”. So much gunfire & smoke! Inside has a nice print of “Fort McHenry, Baltimore”, a famous fortress from the War of 1812. There is also a nice full page print showing: “The Cabinet at Washington. It is great to put a face to so many names read in the newspapers, including Abraham Lincoln, William Seward, Simon Cameron, Gideon Welles, Salmon Chase among others.
Showing a “softer” side of the war is a full page print with 4 scenes of: “Hot Coffee Free For Volunteers Passing Through Philadelphia. Another page has a dramatic full page print of “Winfield Scott, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army” at 75 years old! (and he looks it). Also a full page print of “Major-General Scott at 41”.
Certainly the most dramatic print is the full page showing: “A Slave Auction at the South”. The whole process is incredibly inhuman and is part of what this war is all about.
There is another full page print of: “Major General John C. Fremont in His Prairie Costume”, just one of many different uniforms worn by soldiers in this war. He looks as though he stepped round of the wilds of the West.