Rick Brown, not unknown in our little world of newspaper collecting, is embarking upon a project and seeks your help.
Rick published “Collectible Newspapers” for many years and created the Newspaper Collectors’ Society of America along with producing several projects which remain valuable to our hobby today, including the “List of Common Reprints” found on our [...]
The “Sentimental & Masonic Magazine” from Dublin, Ireland, July, 1792, has an interesting article headed: “General rules for Behaving in Mourning”. It may have been written partially tongue-in-cheek, but you can decide.
Jim Wheeler, one of our “rare newspaper” friends, recently sent us an e-mail with the following recommendation for our summer reading list:
The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison, by Edward J. Larson & Michael P. Winship, ISBN 0-8129-7517
This book essentially condenses and annotates Madison’s notes taken throughout [...]
The San Francisco “Daily Herald” newspaper dated March 30, 1854 has a brief report headed “Not Dead” (see below). It is reminiscent of the more famous–although much later–quote by Mark Twain in 1897 in which an illness of his cousin was confused with him, prompting him to write: “…The report of my illness grew out [...]
The first settlement in present-day Michigan was in Sault Ste. Mari in 1668, yet it was about one hundred years later before the first printing press arrived in the territory. Detroit was founded in 1701 and it was here in 1809 when the Rev. Father Gabriel Richard brought with him a printing press upon which [...]
The first “Minnesota” newspaper has the curious distinction of never being printed in Minnesota. Dr. Andrew Randall, a U.S. government employee from Ohio engaged in a geological survey of the Minnesota district, decided to become a printer. He returned to his home town of Cincinnati, purchased printing equipment, and produced in Cincinnati the volume 1, [...]
The “Bradford Reporter” newspaper from the small town of Towanda, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1863, contains: “The Story of Two Bullets” which provides a somewhat poetic analogy to a hopeful conclusion to the Civil War.
The following appeared in the May/June issue of “The History Channel Magazine“. Given its focus I thought it worth sharing with our collectors:
“The ‘Cherokee Advocate‘ became the first newspaper published in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on Sept. 26, 1844. Published weekly, in both Cherokee and English, it provided Cherokees with information about their people and [...]
A People at War
Civilians and Soldiers in America’s Civil War
Carol Sheriff and Scott Reynolds Nelson
384 pages; Paperback
Editorial Review - Library Journal vol. 132
In a crowded field of books on the Civil War era, Nelson (Steel Drivin’ Man ) and Sheriff (The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817–1862 ), historians [...]
“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” — Benjamin Franklin
This short essay will show how the principles of the American Revolution spawned a new era in American society as seen through the prism of the manufacturing and consumption of alcohol in North America. Additionally, how those Enlighten concepts of [...]
The government wants to regulate and in some instances start taxing blogs and other websites. Great! More government cuz you know it does such a good job regulating and taxing and dealing with oil spills and hurricanes…. yea, more government can’t wait for government run health care! But I digress.
Read these news stories:
FCC set to [...]
Please post your comments if you have some useful input!!
[Note Civil War soldiers referred to what we know as land mines as either "land torpedoes" or "sub-terra" shells or mines.]
Fellow reader Drew Armstrong notified me of an “unknown object” that was found near Palatka, Florida, and the St. John’s River. The object appears to from [...]
As those of you who have been visiting here for the last, what, 4 years note that the emphasis has changed from the “American Civil War” to United States history in general. As you also may know for several years now I have been placing my Civil War focus over at SoldierStudies.org which is [...]
It took place 100 years ago and was much bigger than the current BP spill [though it still needs to be totally played out.] It is known as the “The Lakeview Gusher” and began in 1910 when an oil line in California failed and exploded releasing a geyser of 90-100,000 barrels of oil [...]
I am embarrassed to admit that I myself did not even remember until today that the Anniversary of one of the most important World War 2 events had just passed. The largest amphibious landing in history and one that almost failed. Yet the warriors of our second Great Generation (I tend to count the Founders [...]