Front page nostalgia: Vintage newspaper collectibles offer rich insights to Spokane history
The black and white photo caught my eye at a local yard sale. A sly smile graced the face of a 1920s-era newsboy as he clutched his stack of papers. Perched against a downtown Spokane fire hydrant, his shirt was ragged and torn. Vintage autos sat parked behind him on the street. They say a picture paints a thousand words, and this one was a historic goldmine.
As print newspapers continue to navigate the slippery slope of survival in a digital age, I’m clinging tight to my archaic collection of Spokane Expo ’74 sections, 1980s sports clippings and odd carrier-related collectibles. Stashed inside plastic tubs in a not so climate-controlled storage room, I’m hopeful these newspaper dinosaurs will at least outlive my childhood Polaroid Land Camera photos that are buried in a cardboard box beside them. So far, so good. Indeed, my 1864 copy of The New-York Times and 1974 Nixon resignation papers look as fresh and crispy as the day they rolled off of those printing presses.
Old Spokane newspapers are reservoirs of rich journalistic history.
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture is hosting, “Fire: Rebirth and Resilience,” through Sept. 28. It is an exhibit that explores the impact of regional fires as catalysts for growth. Items on display include a handful of newspaper articles and photos that capture the grit and resolve of early Spokane Daily Chronicle staff members who pitched a makeshift tent command post in order to keep operations flowing after their building was lost to the Great Fire of 1889.
According to his own account, then Chronicle editor, W.D. Knight, scrambled to locate a printing press. “He goes out and he borrows a press that night and they print an edition the following morning. It was a huge source of pride for the Chronicle, because they never missed an issue,” said Anna Harbine, who serves as Johnston-Fix Curator of Archives and Special Collections for the MAC. Harbine noted the unfiltered quality of news from that era. “You really can understand the emotions of the time in a way that only newspapers can capture … especially from those periods,” she said.
Owning a page of these bygone reporting days is exhilarating.
With 140-plus years of papers digitized and a complete set of hard copies locked away for safekeeping, a few years back, The Spokesman-Review sold huge books of duplicate newspapers to local print enthusiasts in an effort to raise money for a community journalism fund. Editions dated back 100 years. While most old newspapers hold minimal monetary value, collectors have been known to prize copies in pristine condition that contain nostalgic advertisements and stories about significant moments in history such as World War II or the sinking of the Titanic. Bold headline banner blunders are also coveted. An early Nov. 3, 1948, edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune which erroneously proclaimed, “Dewey Defeats Truman,” after the Nov. 2, 1948 presidential election recently fetched more than $4,000 on eBay.
As tools for research, vintage newspapers rock.
With a few clicks, visitors to the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum website can explore digitally archived editions of the Spokane Valley Herald that date back to 1920. “It is the primary source document for the history of the Valley,” said museum founder and director Jayne Singleton. “Preservation and access, that’s our mantra here,” she added.
Guests who enter the museum building can view a few historic print articles and photos displayed on walls along with a 1950s-era Spokane Valley Herald newspaper tube and carrier bag that hang in a back room.
The items are close to heart for museum volunteer Chuck King.
King once stuffed weekly editions of the Spokane Valley Herald into those tubes and bags himself. Raised in a family of newspaper carriers, he also followed in his father’s footsteps by tossing morning editions of The Spokesman-Review onto local porches.
“I did them both (the routes) at the same time,” he recalled. “They were big papers. It was a good workout.” King has even kept a Spokesman-Review belt buckle and coin holder his dad used for collections as sentimental souvenirs.
Like others, these days I mostly swipe and scroll to stay informed.
Worried my own online articles might one day blip into nothingness like Borden Thick & Frosty milkshakes or my beloved diet lemon Pepsi Light, I still tuck away a newsprint copy of each feature I pen as a tangible memento of that writing experience. If you are holding a copy of The Spokesman-Review to read this story, you likely understand. While the jury is still out on long-term effects of this digital era, the benefits of print newspapers are now firmly typed into stone.
Cynthia Reugh can be reached at cynthia13048@gmail.com