Collecting Historic Newspapers: Historic Events

Video Transcript

"History; now there's some historical events that are obviously more valuable than others, and you can remember what those events are. Think back to High School or Elementary School; when you talked about history. What were the events that marked your lesson plans; that were mentioned? Those are the historic events; those events that were the changers of the way the world works. Those are the ones that are worth the most; in terms of headlines. This one here is not a hugely valuable headline, but it is an action taken by FDR. It says; "FDR to limit salaries, wages, farm prices," which is interesting, and that's a bit of history there, and there might be someone who just wants to collect; who collects farming, who collects FDR. An important thing to notice is this Herald Express; I think this was probably the forerunner of the Herald Examiner. Don't quote me on that; I'm not sure, but it looks that way. Also; one thing to notice here is that it's got some real tearing, and some loss. Most of these newspapers go for ten to fifteen dollars a piece; unless they're really, really; like Lincoln gets shot, and you have the original from the day that was published. These are very reasonable to collect, and this one has Hedy Lamarr on the cover; "Sues over ecstasy film that gave Hedy Lamarr fame." Hey, they're already fighting in the motion picture industry. They were probably doing a couple writer's strikes at the time, too. This is an example of an event that isn't astronomical; in terms of historical value, but has some great historical value based on cultural history and political history, and ...folds; let's talk for a quick minute about folds. The best thing is if you can keep your papers flat. You know how they come; they're folded when you get them. This one was folded like that for a long time. So if you want to save an historical newspaper, flatten it out, put it in some plastic, and keep it flat; because otherwise, it's going to end up like this. You can see where you have the browning in the center, and the creasing; seriously decreases the value of what might have been a fifteen or twenty dollar paper into a three, four, five dollar paper. So, condition; as always; Expert Villagers, is the number one thing to look at with any collectible; especially paper."