Inside A Vintage Newspaper
02.11.08 By Derek DahlsadWhile there are those who collect the newspaper, in its entirety, those yellowed, crumbling pages of an old paper have something to offer other collectors as well.
Advertisements are a huge part of what keeps a newspaper afloat, and collectors will find all sorts of items marketed in 
newspapers. Because newspaper broadsheets are much larger than even the Life- or Look-sized magazines, making up for lack of color with size.
Newspaper ads tended to be for less glamorous items than the glossy magazines offered. Daily- wear clothes, food and housewares, and locally- produced items. As a “local collector,” some of the biggest finds are the addresses — while I do have some old city directories, unless I know what I’m looking for it’s unlikely to run across a particular business. In the newspaper, the ads jump out at you.
That’s not to say bigger-scale advertisements don’t appear — local car dealerships advertised the new years’ cars, electronics shops advertise the newest toys, and department stores get out the word about new styles straight from New York. Depending on the publisher and the product, the ad 
seen in the small-town newspaper may be identical to the one in the New York Times, distributed as part of the media kit by the manufacturer. The local business gets to add their name, but the rest is the same no matter where the ad is published. If you’re a hardcore collector, that might be a detriment: Take the 1956 Chrysler to the left. If you went looking for ads and the only one you found was identical to this, you’d keep one, maybe a couple — until you found that unusual one, the one that diverged from the main path, and showed the car in a different light. Newspapers can bring that far better than pulling an ad from a magazine.
Advertisements aren’t for everyone — and, remember, the newspaper isn’t all about the ads. Collectors of all kinds can find articles referencing their passions, although it might feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Newspapers with entire sections devoted to a topic — like sports or local news — will fare 
better than something with a less newsworthy collection, but it all depends on the newspaper and the time. If the fun is in finding that rare and unusual article, then jump right in. A nationally-relevant article can be easier to find than you think. The AP (and other) news- wires did their best work when their articles were repeated by smaller papers across the country. An article may have only been run once in a single paper, but it could appear any of number of places, on any day after its release, in any paper.
Media collectors have something to find in a newspaper to augment their collection. Book reviews, music reviews, advertisements, and schedules all appeared in newspapers. I can almost guarantee that your favorite movie, on its first week in theatres, had a large, visually-striking 
advertisement in the newspaper. In a small-town library, I’ve even seen the local newspaper’s review of a book taped inside the front cover, to help readers decide if it’s worth checking out. The Times ran larger ads for books, but back when local bookstores were more important to a community, they ran ads for local signings and launches like any other event. Bands had to announce their concerts, plays had to let the public know when auditions are, and both radio and television released their broadcast schedules to the public. Newspapers put out pages and pages of information, relevant to their readers and advertisers, every single day — it’s foolish to assume that it loses all value once a new stack of neatly folded papers is dropped off for the paperboy at 4am the next morning. There’s always going to be something neat to be found inside an old newspaper, if you’re lucky enough to find one, and have the time to go through it.
These scans came from the October 21, 1955 Fargo Forum and the October 22, 1955 Moorhead Daily News.
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Article Tags: ads, Advertisements, AP, newspaper, The Times, vintage================
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October 25th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I have a complete newspaper that my grandmother saved “Dewey Defeats Truman” I am looking to sell. Would you be interested? If not could you maybe suggest where I might go to sell this. Thank you in advance for your help.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Good morning. I have the Wall Street Journal from 12/31/99 and also 01/01/00. Do they have any value? Thank you.