The Civil War… 150 years ago today… August 17, 1861

August 17, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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:

This week’s edition (for August 17, 1861) has more prints of some  leading officers in the war, including Generals McDowell & Mansfield, and Flag Officer Stringham and Col. Blair. Sometimes war-related prints include prints of famous places I’ve never seen, such as the print of Boston soldiers marching off to war, in front of the famous Faneuil Hall. There are some follow-up prints concerning the Battle of Bull Run, including a print of “A Fire Zouave Relating His Experience of the Battle of Bull Run in the Street at Washington.” Their uniforms are fascinating.

Speaking of uniforms the doublepage centerfold is a great display of 23 different types of uniforms worn by the Confederate Army–an interesting array of costumes! There is an interesting full page print of a: “Stampede of Slaves From Hampton to Fortress Monroe”, but the most sickening print I’ve seen this far is a full page of: “The Rebels Bayoneting Our Wounded on the Battlefield at Bull Run”. Such brutality!

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Filed under: Harper's Weekly, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Yankee
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The Traveler… the passing of a signer… the sentencing…

August 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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In today’s travels, I found the Salem Gazette of August 16, 1811 carrying a very small notification of the death of the Honorable William Williams. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This also stated that he continued through life as a Washington federalist.

The back page featured a small “Anecdotes” article. One item had what some may consider as a very cruel and unusual punishment. “A Corregidor debating to what death to condemn a man who had committed a great crime, because it appeared to him that hanging was too little for the offence, his clerk, who had a scolding wife, said “Had we not best marry him?”.

~The Traveler

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Tombstone was about to fade away…

August 13, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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Having offered several Tombstone newspapers from its brief heyday in the late 19th century, I thought you would find this article from the “Prescott Journal-Miner” of Arizona, July 8, 1930, interesting.  Having visited Tombstone about 3 years ago I can assure all that it does survive, albeit primarily as a partially reconstructed tourist attraction. It’s a fun town to visit if ever in Southern Arizona:

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The Civil War… 150 years ago today… August 10, 1861

August 10, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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:

With all the battle action to report it is interesting that the front page (of my August 10, 1861 issue) is taken up with a literary piece. But there is much inside on the Battle of Bull Run, including a full page: “Retreat of our Troops from Bull Run, by Moonlight…” and a very dramatic full page print: “Charge of the Black Horse Cavalry Upon the Fire Zouaves at the Battle of bull Run”. This print shows very hot hand-to-hand combat. It must have been not only brutal, but very confusing with every foot filled with charging soldiers. Yet another print shows “Carrying in the Wounded at the Battle of Bull Run”. I can only imagine the total carnage.

Elsewhere is a nice half page print of: “Sandy Hook Hqts. of Col. Stone, on the Upper Potomac”.  And if I thought last week’s centerfold was dramatic, this one has to be even better. It’s a large print showing hundreds of soldiers, a few on horseback, with dead and dying soldiers . Smoke and bursting bombs fill the air, yet the gallantry seems incredible as the soldiers charge in very close quarters. I notice several Negro soldiers as well. And if this was not sufficient, there is yet another very dramatic full page print of the: “Gallant Charge of the 69th Reg….Upon a Rebel Battery at the Battle of Bull Run”.

There is a very nice full page “Map of the Seat of War in Virginia” showing from Washington, D.C. to Staunton, Va. & the site of the Bull Run battle. There there is a “Balloon View of Fortress Monroe & the Mouth of the Chesapeake”. I didn’t realize that the fort is connected to the mainland by a very narrow strip of land. I can see what it is important in the protection of the harbor.

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Filed under: Civil War, Collecting Newspapers, Harper's Weekly, Illustrated Newspapers, The 19th Century, Yankee
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A marvelous development in engineering (?)…

August 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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:

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The end of the world… false alarm…

August 6, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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

🙂  🙂  🙂

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Common Questions, The Hobby, The Rare Newspapers Community, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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The Civil War… 150 years ago today… August 3, 1861

August 3, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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:

Women prisoners? I was astounded to see the front page print (of my August 3, 1861 issue) of two women in a cart, surrounded by guards, captioned: “Bringing in the Misses Scott as Prisoners to Fall’s Church, Va.” But the interesting article relates the fascinating circumstances which lead to their arrest. The front page also has a nice battle scene captioned: “the Death of the Rebel General Garnett at the Battle of Laurel Hill”.

Inside pages include a nice print of General McClellan, a scene of an ax wielding African-American about to: “…Attack Of The Second Mate”, and a nice full page print of: “The Battle of Carthage, Missouri”. the latter shows both the Yankees & Confederates on either side of a stream.

There is also a print of the “Camp of the First Brigade of the Confederate Army…”. I wonder how they get those prints from the other side of the battle lines? One of the most dramatic prints I have ever seen in “Harper’s Weekly” is the centerfold in this issue, captioned; “Colonel Hunter’s Attack at the Battle of Bull’s Run”. The print shows hundreds & hundreds of soldiers, in very close ranks, charging towards the Confederates in the distance. Their are bombs bursting in the air, and soldiers falling from wounds, and officers on horseback as well. It’s a very dramatic scene! There are a few other prints relating to Bull’s Run as well.

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The Traveler… Standard Oil’s dissolution… “perfectly logical”…

August 1, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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

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Ideas on how to collect Rare & Early newspapers…

July 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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!

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The Civil War… 150 years ago today… July 27, 1861

July 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 
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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 27, 1861 issue) prints of General Prentiss and Brigadier-General Williams are nice, allowing the subscribers to put a real “face” on the names appearing in the daily newspaper battle accounts. I always look forward to prints of our military leaders. The front page also has a scene of soldiers marching from Boonville, Missouri, to the Arkansas border.

A full page is taken up with a dramatic print of “The Battle of Rich Mountain, Virginia” showing a very daring charge of solders. I can only imagine the petrifying fear of the soldiers.  I also love the great full page print of a “Balloon View of Washington, D.C.” offering a perspective not appreciated from ground level. The huge dome of the Capitol is only partially complete, and the streets of the city are both perpendicular and diagonal–an unusual look which would seem to be confusing. Another print includes a “Review of the New York Troops…” in front of the White House. What a huge edifice!

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