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A National calamity… What is one to do?
April 3, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment 
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What does one do when abruptly ushered into one, if not the, most powerful positions on earth by the untimely death of the President of the United States? Today, in honor of the Easter Holiday Weekend, we reach back to 1841 to see how newly elevated President John Tyler responded when placed in this situation. The following proclamation, which begins in part, “When a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, to recognize His righteous government over the children of men, to acknowledge His goodness in time past, as well as their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful protection for the future…”, was printed in The Globe, Washington, D.C., April 15, 1841:
Happy Easter from the Rare & Early Newspapers Team
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The things we take for granted… Let there be light…
March 30, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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- Ludicrous advertising in the late 1800’s…
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Yet another discovery… I love this hobby!
March 27, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment Email This Post
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From time-to-time we (Rare & Early Newspapers) talk about one of the joys of the hobby being the unearthing of unexpected “finds”. A few weeks ago this was played out in spades as
Guy Heilenman, President, Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers
we learned that the same issue we had sold for under $50 sold at a well-known auction house for well over $5,000 – the price driven by content we did not know was present. While we do our best to discover such hidden gems before offering issues, the reality is, it is nearly impossible to find everything of historical interest and/or collectable value. Some wonder if hearing about such events bothers us. Quite the contrary. This is one of characteristics of collecting old newspapers which make the hobby so enjoyable. While not all “finds” bring financial reward, it is rare to read through a rare newspaper from cover to cover without finding something unexpected beyond the original reason for purchasing – an interesting ad, the mention of a noteworthy name, contemporary viewpoints which add depth to the key content, etc. What fun!
While we won’t mention the exact date or title (that would be too easy), we will say the issue was from the 1760’s and was not American. 🙂
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They put it in print… The Vietnam Crisis… before it was a crisis…
March 23, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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One of the attractions of collecting old newspapers is the ability to look at history with the benefit of hindsight. Many times writers were right on the money when it came to predicting events in the future; many times they could not have been more wrong. Both views offer interesting reading.
Not long ago we came across a report of what would become a scar on the military history of the United States, specifically the lengthy war in Vietnam. A “Los Angeles Times” newspaper as early as March 25, 1965, some ten years before the Vietnam War would 
officially end (Saigon fell on April 29, 1975) had a headline announcing: “VIET CRISIS GROWS“. This report notes that Red China was committed to sending troops to fight in Vietnam if the Americans persisted in their growing involvement, and that they would: “…fight together with the South Vietnamese people to annihilate the U.S. aggressors.” This is in response to the event of 3 weeks prior when the first American combat troops arrived in Vietnam, joining a force of 23,000 American “advisers”. American involvement in the Vietnam War would only continue to grow for another 8 years.
I am sure almost no one who read this newspaper in the spring of 1965 could have guessed the future complexity and duration of American involvement in Southeast Asia. This issue constitutes half of what I would call “bookend newspapers”, or a pair of newspapers which report the beginning and end of noteworthy events.
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Ludicrous advertising in the late 1800’s…
March 20, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Hofstra University maintains a Facebook page where staff from their special collections department can post interesting finds. We recently discovered the following which illustrates one of the collecting strands of the hobby: sensational (or absurd) advertising:
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- Must have been a slow news day…
The Traveler… taking important steps…
March 16, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Today I traveled to Detroit, Michigan, by the way of The Detroit News dated March 18, 1965. There I found “Russian Takes First Space Walk From 
Orbiting Ship”. This was the very first time that anyone had ever taken a walk in space, going sixteen-feet from the capsule.
Also on the front page was the reporting of “Allow Capital March, Judge Tells Alabama.” “A federal judge last night ordered Alabama officials to permit Dr. Martin Luther King’s civil rights army to march the 50 miles from Selma to this state capital (Montgomery). Moreover, the state authorities must protect the marchers…”. This was the granting of permission for the infamous Selma march which took five days to complete with thousands of people participating.
~The Traveler
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- The Traveler… the largest single arrest of Rabbis in American history…
First reference to “Ivy League”?
March 13, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Some words including names, titles, etc. are so noteworthy or common that we forget they had a beginning – a first use. According to Wikipedia, the first public use (in print) of the term “Ivy League” occurred within the Christian Science Monitor, Boston, February 7, 1935. The usage was in reference to Brown University being accepted into the “League”. A quick search on The New York Times database shows that it did not print the title until nearly a half-year later. Is Wikipedia correct? Until we see confirmation to the contrary we’ll assume their assessment to be accurate. If anyone has information to the contrary, please let us know.
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Bloody Sunday, Selma, Alabama… Great Headlines Speak For Themselves…
March 11, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the FITCHBURG SENTINEL, Massachusetts, March 8, 1965…
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- The Traveler… announcing the new President…
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The City of Boston receives noteworthy journalism award…
March 9, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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The following is a note we recently received from one of the collector friends of Rare & Early Newspapers:
Happy to report that the section “Boston Journalism Firsts” and other contents of the Boston Journalism Trail site were used to nominate Boston for the Historical Site in Journalism Award given by the American Society of Professional Journalists, the largest journalists organization in the United States. The organization gave its 2014 award to Boston, thus for the first time honoring a whole city for the totality of its contributions to journalism. The organization’s president is to present the city’s mayor with a memorial plaque to be placed in a public space in downtown Boston in 2015. Thanks for all your support over the years.
To view details:
http://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=1260
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- For a good cause… preserving our Civil War heritage…
- The Traveler… the Goree Merchants… Weales or Weasles…
The Civil War… March, 1865
March 5, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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his 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:March, 1865
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