The Shadow Man

I found this original pen and ink drawing at a garage sale over the summer.  No context other than I believe it's an illustration for a newspaper, specifically, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I have no idea what's going on here. I probably don't want to know.  The stains add a level of disturbance.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Peanuts, 1969 and Garage Sale Finds.

Houston, the Paper has Landed

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and moonwalk.  I thought I'd celebrate it with a couple copies of newspapers I've picked up from garage and estate sales over the years.  At one time I had quite a few copies of the papers from the week of the moon launch to landing, but I've cleaned them out over the years.  Below are the St. Louis Globe-Democrat's and St. Louis Post-Dispatch's take on the event along with some vintage ads celebrating the landing.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat July 21st, 1969 edition  

Sunday Funnies, November 27th, 1977

One of my earliest memories is being sprawled out on our kitchen floor on a Sunday morning reading "the funnies" while my mom cooked breakfast above me. This section from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on this date in 1977 features some familiar faces whose strips continue to today.

What was in the News, January 4th, 1917

I typically see old newspapers at estate sales.  People like to hang on to the popular headlines like "Man Lands on the Moon", "Kennedy Assassinated", "Cards win World Series" (this is in St. Louis, of course).  But occasionally, I come across a seemingly uneventful newspaper preserved for decades for some unknown reason.  Sometimes, it's the result of something else being wrapped up in it, like dishes or Christmas ornaments.  Other times, it just seems someone set it aside for posterity.  I came across two century-old issues of "The Rolla Times" (Rolla is a small town 2 hours southwest of St. Louis known mainly for the University and Engineering School there).  While there were no memorable headlines, digging into the ads and text lead to some interesting tidbits.  Warning, this is a long one.  Sorry, but I just love this stuff.

Pictures 1965

I present you the "Pitcures" section of the December 12th, 1965 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Enjoy.

Injun Summer

I found this sheet of newspaper clipped and saved from the October 20th, 1963 edition of The Chicago Tribune.  Written and illustrated by Pulitzer Prize winner John T. McCutcheon in 1907, it was reprinted annually starting in 1912 until 1992. The story is told by an old man to his grandson of his memories of when Native Americans roamed the very land on which they sit and how on a Fall evening they can still be seen through the hazy smoke of a burning leaf pile.  Full of folksy, old-timey dialect, it's also full of out-dated terms and notions that lead to complaints from the public and its eventual retirement in 1992.  Since then, there have been equal calls for it to be either returned or forgotten.  To me, despite the use of insensitive terms that quite frankly were still commonly used in my childhood (not to mention still used today by certain sports teams), I think the old man in this strip is sympathetic to the "injuns" and even laments their disappearance.

I've copied the text below to save your eyes.

In the News -- January 12th, 1942

I picked up this newspaper at an estate sale yesterday for free.  Some interesting articles and ads.  Enjoy!

This Just In

I was at the garage sale of a couple who were both elementary school teachers.  They had some old newspaper issues they said they had used for lessons in school.  I bought some of the more recognizable headlines.  Most are related to Apollo 11.  They were 50 cents a piece.  Most are complete editions including all sections.  Fun to look through and they really are a lesson in history viewed at the moment, rather than through interpretation of historians.