The Traveler… Pope Pius V canonized… man serves his country well…
September 8, 2012 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I journeyed to England through The Post Boy of September 9, 1712. There I found that Rome had been celebrating the canonization of Pope Pius V. They had festivities including “very curious artificial Fireworks”, windows illuminated with candles and tapestries, “abundance of Wine and Meat to be distributed to the Common People”, and more with “the Festival was concluded with the Discharge of the Cannon of the Castle St. Angelo, ringing of Bells, and an agreeable Consort of Vocal and Instrumental Music.”
The back page has an interesting article from Brussels “The 30th of last Month, dy’d at the Duke of Holstein’s Palace, while he was at Breakfast, a Man nam’d Anthony, 106 Years and 7 Months old: Head had been employ’d 84 Years in the Service of Spain in one Regiment only, in which there had been 26 Colonels, but never rose to any higher Post himself than a Sergeant… he was also a Foot-Sergeant, in the 100th Year of his Age, and the Duke of Holstein was his Colonel…” And we look forward to retirement at 65?? To view images of this content and more: The Post Boy of September 9, 1712
~The Traveler
The Hatfields & McCoys… on Pinterest…
September 3, 2012 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
There are few conflicts which have been romanticized as much as the quarter-century battle between two extended families from the boarder mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky. Wikipedia describes the ongoing struggle as follows:
The Hatfield–McCoy feud (1863–91) involved two families of the West Virginia–Kentucky area along the Tug Fork, off the Big Sandy River. The Hatfields of West Virginia were led by William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield while the McCoys of Kentucky were under the leadership of Randolph “Ole Ran’l” McCoy. Those involved in the feud were descended from Ephraim Hatfield (born c. 1765) and William McCoy (born c. 1750). The feud has entered the American folklore lexicon as a metaphor for any bitterly feuding rival parties. More than a century later, the story of the feud has become a modern symbol of the perils of family honor, justice, and vengeance… (view more via Wikipedia)
At Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers we’ve created a Pinterest Board so that those interested in seeing how these events were reported in the newspapers of the day can enjoy contemporary reports. As we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it is read from the day it was first reported”.
Please enjoy: Hatfields & McCoys – The Famous Feud… on Pinterest
Newspaper error editions… by Rick Brown
August 27, 2012 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
Rick Brown at Historybuff.com provides some interesting information regarding a couple of known error editions, including the highly collectible “Dewey Defeats Truman” issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune:
The Eleven Editions of the November 3, 1948 Chicago Daily Tribune
You’ve heard of the famous error paper “Dewey Defeats Truman”. Well, they produced ten more error headlines that day.
The Story Behind the “Dewey Defeats Truman” error issue
You’ve heard of the edition, but how did it happen? You’ll find the answer here.
The Tilden-Hayes Election of 1876
“Dewey Defeats Truman” was not the only presidential election error headline. Here’s another one.
Thanks, Rick, for your ongoing contributions to the hobby.
The Traveler… The Olympic champion, Jim Thorpe…
August 20, 2012 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
In today’s journey I traveled to Carlisle, Pennsylvania through the Valley Sentinel dated August 20, 1912, wherein I found: “Olympic Reception a Gratifying Success”, being the home-town (college) celebration for the Olympic two-time gold medalist Jim Thorpe. His performance was amazing as he destroyed the world’s best in the decathlon and pentathlon. There is a lot of coverage in this paper on the celebration, including mention of Coach “Pop” Warner.
One hundred years later, Olympians are still breaking records in many ways, not only by performance and speed… Michael Phelps retires as the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals; Gabby Douglas, the first African-American to win gold in all-around gymnastics; the first ‘blade-runner’ Oscar Pistorius, and many more yet to come. Congratulations to all of the Olympians!
~The Traveler
Historic Newspapers in the classroom…
August 13, 2012 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
We received the following note from one of our collector friends and thought our readers might enjoy his note:
Dear Tim Hughes and Rare Newspapers:
and rote memorization of facts. Rather, I teach that history is the interpretation of the present as viewed through a prism of past human experiences. I encourage my students to realize that “historical figures” were once living breathing human beings. They may be gone, but the life lessons that they left behind can still empower us to improve our lives and to better understand our world. I believe that “hand’s on learning” provides students with the most ownership of their knowledge. For this reason, my classroom is a museum filled with dozens of historical artifacts and framed newspapers. For example, when studying the Lincoln assassination, I allow students to hold a tear-stained Philadelphia Inquirer from April 1865. My students have even had the opportunity to re-‐enact the 2000 Florida Presidential election on an actual Dade County voting machine. As a practitioner of Problem Based Learning, I believe giving students access to actual historical documents and relics makes the lesson a truly authentic learning experience. I want my students to realize that history is a never-‐ending story of human triumphs and tragedies. It is a story to which they are contributing. That is a powerful lesson.

Newspaper Reports of Olympic Proportions…
August 10, 2012 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As the 2012 Olympics come to an end, the staff at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers thought our readers might appreciate reviewing collectible newspapers with coverage of past Olympics. While considerably more issues are available within our inventory than what is shown, at least the list will provide a snap-shot of such greats as Jesse Owens, Nadia Comaneci, Jim Thorpe, Gertrude Ederle, and more. Please ignore the few scattered issues within this link that do not belong, and enjoy your walk back through Olympic history. View Newspapers With Olympic Coverage
The Traveler… Taft is notified… have we learned yet?
August 6, 2012 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to Farmington, Maine by way of The Franklin Journal (August 6, 1912). There I found that “President Taft was formally notified Thursday of his nomination by the National Republican convention at Chicago.” This would be a year in which a four-way presidential election occurred — Republican, Democratic, Progressive and Socialist.
In part of the acceptance speech, “…the president launches into a bitter attack upon ‘those responsible for the popular unrest’ of the present day… Votes are not bread, constitutional amendments are not work, referendums do not pay rent or furnish houses, recalls do not furnish clothing, initiatives do not supply employment or relieve inequalities of condition or of opportunity…” (see below). Here we are in another election year, 100 years later, with what sounds like the exact same issues…
Rick Brown’s Primer on Collecting Old & Historic Newspapers…
July 30, 2012 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Several year’s ago, a newspaper enthusiast by the name of Rick Brown had a passion to spread the love of collecting “history in your hands… from the day it was first reported”. One of his efforts was to print a newsletter for the hobby. An early entry was a primer on collecting newspapers. While many of the prices are out-of-date, we invite you to enjoy this original contribution to the hobby: Primer on Collecting Old & Historic Newspapers
We will continue to post additional contributions to the collectible experience in future posts.
The traveler… a presidential proclamation… some things never change…
July 16, 2012 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, through The Weekly Register of July 18, 1812. There I found President James Madison had issued “A Proclamation” to the people of The United States for a day of Humiliation and Prayer for “… their common vows and adorations to Almighty God, on this solemn occasion produced by the war… that turning the hearts of our enemies from the violence and injustice which sway their councils against us, he would hasten a restoration of the blessings of peace…”.
The very last item in this issue (see below) dealt with the newspaper receiving complaints on the irregularity in which it has been received. They were assuring the people that all the newspapers were being “…put into the post office at this place on the day of publication…” and that “.. The delays are upon the road… It is however, due to our excellent post office establishment to say that there are fewer complaints than were anticipated.” Some things apparently have not changed in 200 years…
Wyoming’s first newspapers…
July 9, 2012 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
Wyoming has the interesting distinction of having once been part of four principal annexations: the Louisiana Purchase, the Oregon Territory, the Mexican Cession and Texas Annexation. It became a territory in July, 1868 and gained statehood on July 10, 1890.
The “Leader” was the first newspaper in Wyoming, begun on September 19, 1867, the same year that the first settlement had been created at Cheyenne. The newspaper was begun by Nathan Baker and J.E. Gates. Baker gained his printing experience in Colorado, working at the “Rocky Mountain Herald” and the the “Rocky Mountain News”. He went one to establish two other newspapers in Wyoming, the Laramie “Sentinel” on May 1, 1869, and the South Pass “News“. See the hyperlink for the interesting history of this town.
Also begun in Cheyenne in 1867 were the “Daily Argus” in October, and the “Star” in December, but neither one lasted beyond two years. Other early newspapers in Wyoming were the “Sweetwater Miner” at Fort Bridge in February, 1868, a vehicle to promote immigration, and a few months later the “News” at South Pass, noted above.
One of the more interesting newspapers from the West was the “Frontier Index” which began at Fort Sanders and moved along with the Union Pacific railroad going to Benton then to Bryan and then to Bear River City where it was completely destroyed by a mob. And no mention of Wyoming’s newspaper history should fail to mention the “Boomerang” (named for the editor’s mule), founded at Laramie on March 11, 1881 by Bill Nye. Subscribers were found in every state and some foreign countries. When Nye retired from the paper he became one of America’s best known humorists.









