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The Traveler… NCAA champions breaks new barrier…
March 21, 2016 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment 
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Today I traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts, by the way of The Springfield Republican dated March 20, 1966. There I found a small report “Texas Western Tops Kentucky In NCAA”, upsetting Kentucky who had won for the previous four years. 
However, the significant of this game is noted on the website: “ESPN Classics” with: “Walking toward the red “M” at center court, in their orange uniforms and white Converse All-Stars, are the five starters for Texas Western. They are all black. Until that moment, at the height of the civil-rights era, no major-college team had ever started five blacks in an NCAA championship game. In fact, until Texas Western coach Don Haskins did it earlier that season, no major-college team had ever started five blacks in ANY game. For the first time that night, on the edge of the Mason-Dixon Line, a major American sports championship would be contested by one team that was all-white and another whose starters were entirely black.” As history would tell, and as reported in this newspaper, Texas Western would go on to win.
This newspaper is also from the founding city of basketball as well.
~The Traveler
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Imagine a world without phones or the internet…
March 17, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Television, radio, the internet, texting, Facebook, e-mail… The tools we currently have available for communication are almost endless. However, there was a time not too long ago when newspapers were the primary means for disseminating information. Whereas it would be difficult for us to imagine a world without phones or the internet, the Hartford Courant explores this same concept for those living in the 1870’s through an article in their November 18, 1871 issue: “The World Without Newspapers”. The link above will take you to the entire text of the article.
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Lava flowing on the moon?
March 14, 2016 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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It can be easy to understand the limits of astronomy prior to our modern age when you read a report like the one found in “The Bath Chronicle” from England, June 14, 1787, which reports an observation by one of the more noted astronomers of the era. It begins: “Our great astronomer Mr. Herschel has lately discovered three volcanoes in the moon. The principal one, which is now burning, ejects great quantities of smoke and lava…” (see image).
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The “Long Day of Joshua” on steroids…
March 10, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Many are familiar with the Biblical account aptly named “The Long Day of Joshua” where Joshua, through the power of God and on behalf of the allied Israelite and Gibeonite armies, commands the sun to stand still in order to give them more time to complete the rout of their enemies – which results in a miraculous extension of the day. The publishers of The Kansas State Journal must have had a pretty amazing need for an even greater expansion of time as they apparently didn’t just annex hours, but entire days to the calendar in January of 1862 (see below). Oh ye of little faith. Amazing!
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The Traveler… Stamped out…
March 7, 2016 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Today, by the means of The Edinburgh Advertiser dated March 7, 1766, I traveled to Scotland where I found that they received a letter from Bristol dated March 1st containing a report of a premature celebration in England of the repeal of the Stamp Act. Although the repeal was official on March 16, early readings in Parliament of the repeal bill gave notice that it would happen soon. “Never was joy more general or citizens hearts more sensibly touched than ours on Monday last on hearing the favourable turn of the American affairs. The bells throughout the city rang incessantly…”
~The Traveler
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FACT or fiction? Ol’ Rip still alive after being entombed for 30+ years…
March 3, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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Eastland, Texas surged into the national spotlight in early 1928 when a time capsule, which had been entombed in the cornerstone of the old courthouse, was opened during the courthouse’s demolition. To everyone’s surprise out came a horned-toad lizard – still alive after 31 years! Hoax or not, a tour of the now legendary reptile included a visit to Washington, D.C. to meet President Calvin Coolidge. More can be read about Ol’ Rip via Wikipedia. The image shows the report of his “unearthing” which appeared in the New York Times dated February 20, 1928. Sadly, he would not survive another 12 months as he died of pneumonia on January 19, 1929 as reported in the New York Times of the following day.
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A March stroll thru time – 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 years ago…
March 3, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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What news was reported in the month of March – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? Such a walk back through time via 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 links 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 stroll.If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...
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Oxford girls in 1923 cannot be thwarted…
February 29, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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When we think of college fraternity life, scenes of Animal House (whether we’ve seen the movie or not) likely play in our minds as we imagine, among other things, guys relentlessly exploring ways to covertly enter (and eventually exit) woman’s dormitories or sorority houses late at night. The young testosterone-inflamed males are always the pursuers, with the estrogen-nourished females the pursued. While the burning of brassieres marking the throwing off of gender roles and stereotypes did not become popular until the 1960’s, the front page of the New York Times for January 25, 1923 had an interesting article regarding the young woman of Oxford which foretold of things to come. Perhaps the idiom “You just can’t keep a good (wo)man down” is appropriate in this instance. Enjoy.
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Cigarettes… Fitness you can…
February 25, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments Email This Post
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While pairing the concept of superior athleticism with cigarette smoking as an advertising ploy would come across ridiculous in today’s “enlightened” culture, there was a time when this was not the case. In fact, professional athletes promoting cigarettes (see the ad from a NYT, October 1, 1941 shown below) was as common in early-to-mid 1900’s as the same promoting energy and “health” drinks is today. I wonder if our children’s children will look back on today wondering how we could have been (dare I say) duped by such connections. Are health drinks really healthy? Time will likely tell.
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Before there was the Chunnel…
February 22, 2016 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment Email This Post
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For over twenty years now the English Channel Tunnel, of the “Chunnel” has carried passengers, by train, between England and France. Although being the first such connection to come to fruition, it was not the first proposed.
Such a connection between England and the continent has been proposed since 1802 but none, obviously came to reality. The November 30, 1889 issue of “Scientific American“ reports on a bridge that was conceived as a viable effort, detailed in the article: “The Proposed Bridge Over The English Channel” and illustrated with a caption: “The Proposed Railway Bridge Between England and France.”
It is difficult to imagine the success of an elevated railway stretching over 30 miles, which might explain why this concept never became reality, but in hindsight it is interesting to perceive the vision of engineers over 100 years ago.
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