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#25 – Best of the 20th century? (*revisited)
January 3, 2014 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As newspaper collectors we dream of “the event” we’d like to add to our collection. It’s the search for that issue–or issues–which make this a fascinating hobby. This is, after all, a very visual hobby. How displayable are stamps and coins? Huge headlines proclaiming a cataclysmic event or magnificent achievement lend themselves so well to display, much more so than an original document about the event.
The 20th century had a great wealth of interesting events. But what is the best? If you could only make one choice, what single headline of the 20th century would you most want to see in your collection?
I wrestle with how to approach this thought: most life-altering? most recognizable? most historic? most appealing for display? I believe the first Wright brothers’ flight is the most life-altering; “Dewey Defeats” Truman” as the most recognizable; and a great “Titanic Sinks” report as the most displayable. Some newspapers did much with the events of the gangster era, and certainly the “careers” of Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger and Al Capone are well known and significant reports would be attention-grabbers on any wall. On a more positive note there are some spectacular “V-E Day” and “V-J Day” issues celebrating the end of World War II. But limiting myself to just a single issue I would take “Titanic Sinks”. ….what’s your thought?
*The Fall of 2013 marked the 5th anniversary of the History’s Newsstand Blog by Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers. We are grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to the newspaper collecting community, and appreciate those who have participated through guest posts, comments, and readership. In 2014 we will revisit the top 25 posts (measured by activity), with the number 1 post being revisited during the first week of 2015. Please enjoy. If you would like to contribute a post for consideration of inclusion on the blog, please contact Guy Heilenman at guy@rarenewspapers.com.
A New Year’s Retrospective thru Historic Newspapers…
December 31, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Pinterest has certainly become a wonderful forum for sharing favorite pictures, recipes, ideas, and more. While most historic and rare newspapers are known more for content rather than images, illustrated newspapers, especially from the 19th and early 20th centuries, are quite striking. Below please find a link to a collection of such original newspapers centered around a New Year’s theme. Please enjoy.
A New Year’s Retrospective thru Historic Newspapers…
The Traveler… give all for son… radium for cancer… “yuletide and goodwill”…
December 16, 2013 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today’s journeys brought me to San Francisco via The Call dated December 16, 1913. The reporting of General Terrazas being willing to offer himself as a human sacrifice to General Villa for his son. This was in regards to General Villa’s treatment to the people in Chihuahua.
The back page of the issue had a report “Cancer Now Cured by Radium”. “…The power of the rays of radium over cancer is not only wonderful, it is appalling almost unbelievable…”.
The front page contains an article pertaining to the recently recover Mona Lisa painting and an interesting story of an undertaker that was arrested for beating a man that blocked a funeral procession.
In closing, the “Christmas Ship Brings ‘Yuletide and Goodwill'” relates of three passengers on the list of the Anchor line steamer California. They were the Rev. James Yule, Robert Tide and Miss Helen Goodwill.
I wish health and happiest to all. Merry Christmas!
~ The Traveler
What about three wrongs making a right?
December 6, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Finishing out our month-long tribute to the memory of John F. Kennedy, today we look at what may have been the closing chapter of the tragic death-sequence which began on November 22, 1963 with the assassination of JFK, advanced to November 23, 1963 with the shooting and death of Lee Harvey Oswald, and culminated on January 3, 1967 with the passing of death-row inmate, Jack Ruby. Many to this day are convinced that all three deaths are rife with conspiracy. Perhaps time will prove them to be correct.
Finding newspapers on the death of Ruby are quite difficult as the event was not deemed significant by most, and many institutions were no longer saving their newspapers for year-end binding – choosing instead to store them on microfiche to conserve precious storage space. However, every now and then one turns up. Please enjoy (?) the January 3, 1967 report as it appeared in The Parsons Sun (Kansas): The Death of Jack Ruby
Civil War era reflections on Thanksgiving…
November 28, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Since we are in the midst of the 150 anniversary of the Civil War, we thought some might enjoy exploring the mention of thanksgiving (holiday and otherwise) within CW era issues arranged in chronological order. The issues may be viewed at:
Thanksgiving through the Civil War
Happy Thanksgiving!
Guy Heilenman
Do two wrongs (occasionally) make a right?
November 25, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
Fifty years ago today scores of Americans awoke in their William Levitt-style home (or similar), slipped on their robe and slippers, and headed out to their front drive to pick up the morning paper. Within moments they were sipping their cup of coffee as they opened their newspaper to discover that Lee Harvey Oswald, the destroyer of American innocence, had been shot and killed. While the spontaneous emotional reaction of many may have betrayed their parent’s Biblically-charged rearing that two wrongs don’t make a right, somehow this morning’s news never found a way to fill the hole left by the events of just a few days prior – the assassination of JFK… their beloved president. This event was captured well on the front page of the same newspaper which had brought horrific news on November 23, 1963: Lee Harvey Oswald Shot & Killed
Perhaps someday we’ll know the truth behind all that occurred during this infamous week in American history.
The Traveler… the nation mourns…
November 22, 2013 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
This week I traveled to Dallas, Texas, via The Dallas Morning News (November 23, 1963). There I found the headline that saddened this great nation, “Kennedy Slain On Dallas Street”. One article headline reads “Gray clouds went away – Day Began as Auspiciously As Any in Kennedy’s Career” but at half past noon, lives would be forever changed when the first shot from the book depository rang out.
I was in first grade when this occurred, and still remember our custodian, Ralph, knocking on our window and telling my teacher, Miss Snyder, that the President had just been shot. He was on the way to the flagpole to lower it to half mast. Some events will stay vividly with you for a lifetime.
~The Traveler
AS a sidebar… Over the years various lists have circulated comparing Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The response to the uncanny similarities provided by Snopes is worth reading: Snopes on Lincoln/Kennedy Comparison
Where has all the time gone?
November 18, 2013 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Fifty years ago this week my older sister and I came in from carving Matchbox-car-sized roads through the previously well-manicured turf of our backyard to find our mother staring at the semi-snowy, partially visible screen of our black and white television with tears streaming down her face. Not being prone to such outward displays of emotion, her anguish screamed to us that something tragic had happened. This moment was emblazoned in our minds for life… and was reinforced days later when she took us by the hand to lead us on the long trek to the railroad overpass a few miles from our home to peer over the edge to watch a train draped with a flag pass under our feet. President John F. Kennedy was dead! While at the time my sister and I had no idea whether or not he was a good president (for to a child, all presidents are good), one thing we knew for sure, something vanished from people’s eyes which has yet to return – American innocence.
As we reflect on this snap-shot of innocence lost, we wonder where it all began – that is, the overwhelming common-man devotion which inspired many to “Ask not what your country can do for you…”. When did the admiration of the crowd begin? Was it when he was proclaimed a WWII hero as the Captain of PT-109, or did it spring-forth from his impact as a Massachusetts Representative with his first political election victory? While it may be hard to sort out how he had become so beloved, one thing is certain: a split-second in time along a Dallas street changed everything.
Feel free to share your “memory” of November 22, 1963.
To commemorate this historic moment (November 22, 1963), we’ve assembled a host of “assassination-report” newspapers from all over the country. They are viewable at: JFK Assassination.
Perhaps the most dramatic to be had?
November 15, 2013 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Always in the search for the most dramatic front page on the John F. Kennedy assassination, this issue of: “The Michigan Daily–Extra” of Ann Arbor, Nov. 22, 1963 (see below) just might “take the cake”. Have you seen a better front page? Feel free to share.
The newspaper rarely saved…
November 11, 2013 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
Although newspapers reporting JFK’s assassination were saved by many, one issue which would have no reason to be saved, yet offers some interesting content relating to the assassination, is the “Dallas Morning News” of November 22, 1963. Although it was the day he was assassinated, being a morning newspaper it obviously has no mention of the horrible event, but rather is focused on Kennedy’s visit to the city.
The headline reads: “Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy on Visit“. At the bottom of the front page is a map of the: “Presidential Motorcade Route”. It also includes the controversial full page notice by the: “The American Fact-Finding Committee” which is very critical of President Kennedy (see photos). This has become a rather well-know–and much desired–report in a period newspaper.
Also of curious interest–and only to be found in a Dallas newspaper–are two inconspicuous advertisements to be found on facing pages inside. One is for the ‘Texas” movie theater where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested (trivia: he was watching the movie “War Is Hell”: see photo) and the facing page has an advertisement for the “Carousel”, the night club owned & operated by Jack Ruby (see).
Because this issue had no reason to be saved, it is very rare today despite offering some great content relating to John F. Kennedy.
