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The Traveler… peace…
February 16, 2015 by The Traveler · 2 Comments
Today I traveled to Boston by the means of the Columbian Centinel dated February 5, 1815. There I found the breaking news of the “A TREATY OF PEACE between this Country and Great Britain, signed on the 24th December last… I have undertaken to send you this by Express — the rider engaging to deliver it by Eight o’clock on Monday morning… I am with respect, Sir, your obedient servant, JONATHAN GOODHUE.”
This peace treaty ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. Due to lack of telecommunications and time travels at that time, even though the treaty was signed December 24, 1814, the Battle of New Orleans was fought and won on January 8, 1815 and the Treaty was not in effect until it was ratified by the U.S. Senate on February 18, 1815.
~The Traveler
They put it in print… First appearance of an American flag?
February 13, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Many in our hobby like to pursuit the very first time “they put it in print” and the “it” can be a very wide range of announcements, reports, or images. Certainly first reports of major 18th 
and 19th century battles have been among the favored issues of collectors, and most certainly the first printing of ht Declaration of Independence in a newspaper commands a considerable premium among those who are able to consummate that pursuit.
Two collectors, Michael Zinman and Steve Lomazow, raised an interesting question: what newspaper was the first to include a print of the U.S. flag within its pages? After discovering several newspapers from 1847 and then 1840 with flag engravings, we found in our database the “True American & Commercial Advertiser” from Philadelphia, 1806 which incorporates a U.S. flag (albeit a small engraving: see photo) within the masthead image (see sample). The newspaper actually began in 1798 but that didn’t mean the masthead engraving was there. Typically mastheads change, often several times, through the life cycle of a newspaper.
But a confirmation from Vincent Golden, newspaper librarian at the American Antiquarian Society, which has holdings of this title going back to issue number 1, confirms the engraving with the flag is, indeed, present with that very first issue.
So this sets the earliest appearance of the U.S. flag in a newspaper at July 1, 1798. But I’m not convinced this is the earliest date. Are any of you collectors aware of an earlier appearance? Check your collections and share with the rest of us!
The Traveler… the first admission… “black is beautiful” 1st coined…
February 2, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to New York City by the means of two different titles… The New York Times of February 2, 1865 and the Harper’s Weekly of February 25, 1865. In the New York Times I found “J. S. Rock (Colored,) of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, was to-day, on motion of Senator Sumner, admitted an Attorney and Counselor in the Supreme Court of the United States.”
The Harper’s Weekly includes a nice illustration of “John R. Rock, Colored Counselor”. Within the article reads “…Mr. Rock is known in Boston as a first-class lawyer. This even, following two days after the passage by Congress of the proposition to amend the Constitution so as to abolish slavery in the United States, will be regarded by the future historian as a remarkable indication of the revolution which is going on in the sentiment of a great people. Mr. Rock has never been a slave. He represents the colored freeman, as Mr. Douglass represents the freeman. This extraordinary reversal of the Dred Scott decision is an act almost sublime…”
In doing further research on Mr. Rock, he is also credited with coining the phrase “black is beautiful” while giving a speech in Boston in March of 1858 as a refutation of the western idea that the physical features of African Americans were unattractive. However, further research has found that he did not say those exact words but did in essence about the beauty of the black people.
~The Traveler
A gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
January 30, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
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.).
93. “Moniteur de la Louisiane“, New Orleans, February 21, 1810
The Moniteur de la Louisiane, established in 1794 by Louis Duclot, was the first newspaper published in Louisiana. Because so few early issues have survived, its history is difficult to piece together. The earliest known issue — since lost in a fire but preserved in facsimile — was dated August 25, 1794; all other extant issues are from the 1800s. Although founded when Louisiana was under Spanish control, the Moniteur was published primarily in French, the language of Louisiana’s majority population. Over time the newspaper grew in size from octavo to quarto to folio, and it also change publishers. This 1810 issue lists Jean Baptiste Le Seur Fontaine as publisher, A role he had assumed by 1803 and perhaps as early as 1797. Publication apparently ceased in 1814. When Fontaine died that year, he bequeathed to the city of New Orleans his personal file of the Moniteur.
This is one of two issues of the Moniteur sent to AAS by Edward Larocque Tinker as part of his very substantial gift of early Louisiana newspapers and periodicals.
They put it in print…
January 26, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
It was such a tragedy to America when Alexander Hamilton, the founding father of the United States, chief of staff to Washington in the Revolutionary War, and America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, was killed in a duel, an event he opposed but honor forced him to participate. His words from shortly before the duel are telling: ““My religion and moral principles are strongly opposed to the practice of dueling…My wife & children are extremely dear to me…I am conscious of no ill will to Col. Burr distinct from political opposition…But it was, as I conceive, impossible for me to avoid it…”. The report is found in the “Middlesex Gazette” newspaper of July 20, 1804 (see below).
His wounds at the hand of Aaron Burr–who curiously was Vice President at the time–would prove fatal. His comments give evidence to the value of honor among the early patriots, even when they lead to a tragic end.
The Civil War… January, 1865
January 15, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in January, 1865 – 150 years ago? Such a walk back in time through the eyes of those who read the daily and weekly newspapers of the period can be quite revealing. This is why we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” The following link will take you back in time to show the available newspapers from the Rare & Early newspapers website. There’s no need to buy a thing. Simply enjoy the walk back in time:January, 1865
When “white paper” was unavailable the presses kept running…
January 2, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We recently came across an interesting issue of “The Daily Rocky Mountain News” from Denver, dated Oct. 4, 1864. The uniqueness was not in the reporting; it was in the newspaper itself. Rather than printed on traditional newsprint stock, this issue is printed on pink-colored tissue paper. Fortunately, although very flimsy, it is not the least bit fragile.
It was not unusual for print shops to run out of newsprint and to become inventive in finding ways to get out the day’s edition, particularly for newspapers in remote parts of the country as most paper mills were located in the Northeast. Think of the famous wallpaper issues from the Civil War. Some investigating came across the reason. One website on the history of the “Rocky Mountain News” noted that: “…When the Indian outbreak caused an embargo on traffic over the Western plains in 1864-5, he frequently ran out of white paper, and in such emergencies he printed the news on wrapping paper gathered from Denver stores…”. So this pink paper was wrapping paper. I wonder how long the need for “necessity paper” lasted. We also have two more issues with a similar date which are printed on yellow and green paper. In any case, very interesting curiosities for this fascinating hobby.
Three cheers for Time Zones…
December 22, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
For those who pine for the simpler life of the past, we include an article from the Trans-Continental dated May 26, 1870 which may add a dose of reality to the rosy glasses of nostalgia. If we were to list the top 1,000 changes which have made our lives a bit easier, my guess is none of us would have “Time Zones” listed. 🙂
The Traveler… capturing Pensacola… plundering away…
December 15, 2014 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled by the means of the Boston Patriot, December 17, 1814 (shown below) to Boston, Massachusetts. There I found that under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Jackson, Pensacola, West Florida, had been captured.The first portion of the report did not have details yet, however there is a “from an Office in Gen. Jackson’s army” letter. “I write you a few lines to tell you that I am alive and well. We took the town by a coup de main the 7th,… The Baranca has been blown up, and the object intended to be effected, to wit, preventing the British from entering the Bay, cannot now be obtained, so that we shall to day return to Mobile.”
Also reported is “The Brutal Enemy!”. “We learn that the enemy have descended the Rappahannock. Accounts from there state that their ascent up there was marked by a conduct every way worthy of the infamous Cockburn, plundering and burning on both shores and almost everything within their reach… They have laid in ashes the Court-house, prison, collector’s office, clerk’s office, and a large ware-house, and scarcely a building escaped plunder or damage… they broke into the family vault of Col. Richie, and ransacked the ashes of the dead…”.
~The Traveler
They sure don’t make’em like they used to…
December 12, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
How many things can you think of that are simply not made to the same quality standards as they once were? It would be fun to comprise such a list. However, when someone makes the statement, “They sure don’t make’em like they used to”, it is interesting to note the assumption that the object in question is no longer made as well. However, as the following article from a November 21, 1858 National Intelligencer reveals, thankfully, there are a few things which buck this assumption. Please enjoy… and feel free to send on your own list of things that are actually made better than they were in the past. Let’s transform this common phrase from a negative to a positive.
Note: The Hadley Falls Dam disaster (above), in what is currently Holyoke, Connecticut, drew considerable attention in the 19th century. In 1896, a Harper’s Weekly writer reflected, “The engineer took great pride in his work, and when it was finished, and the gates shut down, he is said to have irreverently exclaimed: ‘There! Those gates are shut, and God Almighty himself can not open them!’” Yet another example of man underestimating the power of God… or perhaps overestimating his own. 🙂