OMG, I just found a "treasure chest" in my parents' home.

[no_hypocrisy]

My mom passed away 2-1/2 years ago and I'm in the house, putting things in order, cleaning, etc.

On the floor of a storeroom, I found a plain box with not clippings, but the actual newspapers, intact and in good condition of these headlines:

8/3/69 - NY Times Magazine - Cover - "The Moon: A New Frontier"

8/28/64 - NY Times - "Warren Commission Finds Oswald Guilty And Says Assassin and Ruby Acted Alone; Rebukes Secret Service, Asks Revamping"


12/6/63 - Life Magazine - "Mrs. Kennedy, Caroline, and John Jr. Wait to Join Procession to the Capitol"

11/29/63 - Life Magazine - President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

11/25/63 - NY Times - "President's Assassin Shot to Death In Jail Corridor by a Dallas Citizen (no, not GHWB); Grieving Throngs View Kennedy Bier"

[oldtime dfl_er]

1. wow

I would say the last one, if in good condition, would be the most valuable. Talk about a "primary source"!

http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/1097640

[CoffeeCat]

2. Wow, how amazing....

I'm sorry about the loss of your mother. It's been more than two years, but it must be difficult.

That is amazing--finding those original publications. Those are historic documents.

They are probably valuable, as well.

What a nice treasure to find--and to remember your mother. She must have enjoyed news and politics.

Thanks for sharing your great find!

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Y'know, it isn't the money value that makes me elated.

It's the fact that my mom took the special care to put these newspapers away for "the kids" because she understood their historical value in the future.

Looking at The Times in 1964 and today, there is such a gulf of difference in journalism and reporting.

[FreedomAngel82]

18. Wonderful

:) I save stuff all the time too. It's nice to have so you can look back on it and save the truth and things like that. :)

[hholli11]

3. I suggest you have them looked at...

and consider putting them in plastic to prevent further aging. Even if the real value of the mags is minimal (and I am certainly no expert) the political value of such a find should warrant a little shadow boxing for the home office. :)

[enlightenment]

4. If you want to keep them safe,

try not to touch them with your bare hands -- the oils on your fingers are deadly to the paper. Go and get some archival quality plastic sleeves (if they are fairly small) or an archival quality box (if they are complete papers). You can store them together in a single box if there is room -- you might want to get some tissue (archival quality, of course) to put between them.
Wear cotton gloves if you plan on looking at them. Take care of them and they'll be around for your children and grandchildren to treasure.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Thank you so much!

[enlightenment]

13. My pleasure, you're welcome.

Try this website for supplies -- Gaylord is great supply house.

http://www.gaylord.com/archival_supplies.htm

[Carni]

15. I have a question for you - I have a book of county records

It has handwritten entries in it from the early 1800's.

My Grandparents bought it at a yard sale in the 1960's (strange but true)

It is a huge leather book (probably weighs 30 pounds)and it says Record Hillsdale County pioneer Society on the spine.

I have been able to cross reference some of the entries in the book on google with the original settlers to the area it covers.

Is there any place for me to find out the value of a book like this?

I hate to give it up but if it was truly valuable or of significant historical significance I would want to make sure it is preserved properly!

You sound very knowledgable about preserving these things--any ideas?

[grasswire]

19. I would contact the historical society...

...in the location. Or the local museum. They might want to buy it from you. Or you could donate it to a local entity -- it sounds as if it could be important for genealogical research purposes. As far as selling it goes, it's always possible to get a bid on eBay for something like that. Maybe, maybe not.

[Carni]

24. I'll try that thanks eom

[enlightenment]

27. I agree with grasswire,

do contact the local historical society -- or, if there is a local university or college, go to their library and ask them if they would accept it as a permanent donation. If they don't have the facility to protect it or if they are very small, they may decline.
Records like those are extremely useful, not just for genealogists but also for historians (of which I am one). If you donate, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped contribute to a greater understanding of our past (the official speech) and usually a nice recognition that you donated the text (the unofficial, but more realistic version!)
Do consider it. In the meantime, try to keep it out of direct sunlight (fades the ink faster), cover your hands when touching it, and maybe, if you have time, transcribe those portions that are really faded. If you choose to keep it, or wait to donate or sell, those portions may fade to nothing before too long and will be lost.

[Carni]

28. As amazing as this may be the writing isn't faded

It's hard to read because it's in old style pen and ink (or whatever was used then)and the handwriting is kind of hard for me to read but amazingly enough it's not faded.

I looked at some of the entries again and it appears they started in like 1835 or around that time period.

In the very front of the book is an alphabetical index and in each alphabetical section names are referenced and then the page number is listed where the bio is on the individual person.

Funny thing is after the index the whole front section of the book is blank (after the index)Then on about page 168 the entries begin with text about the people.

They list birth dates married to dates and then some writing about the person (in some cases there is nothing about the person in some cases there is a lot written about the person listed)

I notice the entries are all written in 1st person--was that common? I am just trying to figure out if people submitted info about themselves to the Pioneer society (registers or whatever) or did someone go around interviewing settlers... how did that typically work? (the handwriting in all the entries is the same so one person must have entered all this info)

It really is fascinating to read but the book is so large it's hard to handle
(and I am sort of afraid to handle it)

One person references being in the battle of 1812 and then being imprisoned in England!

[enlightenment]

30. It sounds like it may have been a town project,

perhaps for some sort of anniversary of the town's founding or such. It wasn't uncommon to ask people to submit information about themselves in cases like that.

Don't be afraid to look at the book! If you feel it is very fragile, try this: Find a comfortable table and chair set-up (for you). Put a couple of books on the table and prop a regular bed pillow on them, so you have a slight angle (again, this is for your comfort). Put the book on the pillow. Open the pages carefully; if they are very fragile, try using a wooden tongue depressor to turn them rather than trying to lift them with your fingers (which are in gloves, right?!). Actually, the tongue depressor is a good idea in any case . . .
If the book won't stay open to the page, make a couple of safe holders: stitch up a small cloth tube, maybe 1.5 inches by 6 inches, and fill it with sand -- but not tightly; leave a little wiggle room. Sew it shut. Lay the tube on the page to keep it open. You don't have to touch and it won't hurt the book.
I started using the little tubes after a trip to the British Library reading rooms -- I figure if they'll let me look at 18th century books using those tools, the tools must be pretty safe!

If you can't get to your state historical society, consider taking a few digital pictures of the book and sending them to the society - with explanation, of course. They may be able to tell you much more about what you have.
Enjoy -- it sounds like a fascinating read!

[Carni]

31. Thanks for all these tips

I will do that and I think the photos are the way to go when I contact them.

[fed-up]

21. Check here for similar Record books

http://search-completed.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&catref=C6&frpp=50&%3Bsspagename=h%3Ah%3Aadvsearch%3AUS&fcl=3&from=R10&satitle=county+records&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&fsop=3%26fsoo%3D2&fgtp=&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&fis=2&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=

Be sure to put genealogy, county name, state, record book in the title and list as many names as you can

Value depends on what records are covered, does it have bibliographies as well as statistical info?

Price can range from $50-500

http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/submitRare.cgi?author=&title=county+record&keyword=&isbn=&order=PRICE&ordering=DESC&dispCurr=USD&binding=Any+Binding&min=&max=&timeout=20&match=Y&StoreAbebooks=on&StoreAlibris=on&StoreAmazon=on&StoreAmazonUK=on&StoreAmazonDE=on&StoreAmazonFR=on&StoreAntiqbook=on&StoreBiblio=on&StoreBiblion=on&StoreBibliophile=on&StoreBibliopoly=on&StoreBooksandcollectibles=on&StoreHalf=on&StoreILAB=on&StoreMaremagnum=on&StorePowells=on&StoreStrandbooks=on&StoreZVAB=on


I am leaving, but will answer questions later tonight

[Carni]

25. Thanks very much!

This will be very helpful :)

As to the bio's yes, it has them and apparently in the people's own words.

Some of them are quite a trip!

[abluelady]

7. My Husband is That Type of a Saver

Our chldren will be amazed at what they will find. I have always "nagged" my husband to toss those items away, thinking what a mess for my kids to deal with. Now I will stop nagging and hope my children find them as valuable as you did.

He was a reporter in the '60's and 70's so the written word was and still is very valuable to him.

[jimshoes]

8. You can buy any of them on e-bay

for a relatively small dollar amount. It's not so much their inherent cash value but the perspective of the time . It's like taking a trip backward in time to get a feel for what happened on those history changing days. Read them I'm sure you will enjoy.

[justabob]

9. Since others have mentioned monetary value

They are far more valuable for the care mom took preserving them than any monetary value. I worked at a used book store that bought this kind of stuff for the "Nostalgia" section, and they are not terribly valuable because a great many people saved papers from the JFK assassination and related stories... supply/demand. That may just be here in Dallas, but I imagine the same holds true elsewhere. I'd get them checked out, but don't be surprised if they aren't a gold mine dollar-wise.

[otohara]

10. My Mom Left Me A Beautiful Photo of JFK & Jackie

It's a famous photo - 8 X 12

[fed-up]

11. You can buy "boards and bags" at your local comic book store or

search ebay for

bags boards -(surf,surfboard)

http://search.ebay.com/bags-boards-surf-surfboard_W0QQamp;sspagenameZhQ3ahQ3aadvsearchQ3aUSQQcatrefZC6QQf

I also have boxes and boxes of newspapers that my mother saved some going back to WWII. One day I will put them in archival quality holders...

[peacebird]

12. my mom gave me a chest full of newspapers and magazines from the 50's

when dad died.

i saved the year retrospective from Time, Life, People, and SPorts Illustrated every year from 1982 when my son was born til the year he turned 18. they're fun to look back at every now and again. hopefully one day he will share them with his kids (in the far far future - i'm not ready to be a a grandma yet!)

[pansypoo53219]

14. sadly

my grandmother saved mostly crappy newspaper stuff. and clippings. so many clippings, but ebay has saved the landfill a bit. the most interesting things have sold. S&H stamps???? people collect those?

[no_hypocrisy]

16. You mean "Green Stamps"? I remember them. We licked

pages of those annoying stamps into books and I still have the roller skakes (with a key) that we got in exchange for like 40 books.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Nice

Keep those for sure!

[grasswire]

20. if you plan to store these for archival purposes...

...be sure to store them unfolded. Eventually, folded paper will disintegrate.

And, as a dealer of vintage papers, I also feel that the dollar value is minimal. A few bucks at most for each.

But it's a great batch of stuff to find and keep for your family!

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Exactly. I meant treasure chest in the figurative term.

Some things can't be measured in money.

[maveric]

23. I found similar treasures while cleaning out my parents house.

Many newspapers from the JFK assasination. NY Times, Boston Globe, Boston Record American, Boston Herald, Manchester Union Leader and my Dad'a paper The Haverhill Gazette. Many Life, Look and Time magazines for 1948-1971.

Plus I found an old cedar chest with immigration ID's and papers from when my G.Grandparents came over from Sicily, and my dad's memoirs from the Korean War(which he NEVER talked about).

I love to open up little time capsules like that.

[Jara sang]

26. Wow, that is cool.

[LastDemocratInSC]

29. I buy newspapers for my grandsons on their birthdays

My two grandsons, ages 7 and almost 2, will have a treasure trove such as yours by the time I'm finished (they'll have to tell me to stop).

My oldest grandson was born on September 11, 1998 and the edition of the New York Times that I bought for him on September 11, 2001, before the terrorist attacks, was the one that contributed to so much of the debris falling from the World Trade Center. The stories on the front page that day were about such ordinary things ... little did anyone know (except * and his administration) that so many things would happen that day.

I'll keep buying papers for them on their birthdays for many more years. I also have papers from Nixon's and Agnew's resignation days and I love reading the advertisements - especially for the movies - they are real memory makers.

[Hidden Stillness]

32. This Tells You the Way Things Really Were

Many people of that generation saved Life Magazine issues commemorating various historical incidents or news events, (my Mom had many, and I used to read the magazine sometimes as a kid--it was a great magazine), and it reminds you again, even after a generation or more of corporate media propaganda, how loved the President and Jackie Kennedy were, that there were millions of families who saved newspapers and magazines from that week--the assassination, the funeral, the murder of Oswald, special issues on the Kennedy Presidency and "Camelot," etc. A few years after my beloved Mom died, I happened to find a group of Life Magazines, and there were several on the terrible Kennedy assassination and aftermath, and even that issue from, I think it was 1969, when Life printed that incredible, very somber issue listing the names and pictures of every soldier who had died in Viet Nam up to that point. (That was the source of "Nightline" 's special program a while ago, so protested against by Sinclair and etc., listing the names and pictures of the Iraq war dead.)

Other kinds of paperwork can become valuable artifacts of an era, and really tell you what life was like. I remember when my Uncle died--who also never threw anything away--family members went through some of these personal papers, and found a fascinating, documented trail, during World War II, of trying, for four years, to get a replacement part for a tractor on their farm. Even though farming was designated an "essential" job or industry, you still could not get this needed part, because of the war effort, and everything being needed for the troops. There was application after application, proof that the part was needed, the request being routed through several government agencies for approval--and never approved. The materiels were needed for the war. Finally, at the end, as the war wound down, it was approved. Otherwise, people either just had to repair vehicles over and over, or use some other means to accomplish what they wanted. It was a fabulous, first-hand source on these things, as lived. They never, by the way, complained. We used to be all in this together.

Sometimes, going through the papers, books, magazines and newspapers of a loved person who has died, is wrenching, and wonderful. You get to know them yet again, and it is almost like experiencing some of these things with them--not to mention the primary-source historical value of many of these things they saved.