New York Times July 15 1969

Remember a few weeks ago when I bought a bunch of old newspapers from the flea market? I've started going through them, and enough of you seemed interested that I'll post about them once in a while. There were a few random newspapers from important events (Calvin Coolidge death, FDR death, Israel/Egypt peace treaty, last issue of the Long Island Press) but by far most of the papers dealt with the moon landing. There were a few Newsdays, and an almost complete two-week run of the New York Times.

I've started with the Times. I knew it would be interesting to read these old newspapers, but I expected the Times to be a little less fun. However, I am really enjoying it. I've read two papers so far, easily spending an hour over each one. It really does feel like a little trip into 1969, reading about the news, sports, entertainment, business, etc. My interest in the past is not some kind of Polyanna "the past was so much better" delusion. It's more like peeking into a bit of an alternate dimension. I don't spend much time on the big conflicts like Vietnam or civil rights, and even the moon stuff is only of superficial interest to me. It's all the little things that I read carefully and enjoy.

I didn't want to stop and keep taking pictures of everything that interested me, and I know this isn't the preferred topic for most readers, so I will keep these posts pretty brief, with just a few things that I decide to share, plus always the baseball news of course.

Front cover. The astronauts getting ready to launch are the big story, but I was interested in the one about three retailers extending store credit to welfare recipients, given my interest in retail history. The three retailers were EJ Korvette, A&S and Gimbels. All three are long gone.

Another defunct retailer, Best & Co. I found the ad for Peanuts toys in a space theme more interesting than the actual space articles.

A little bit about collecting, I figured that was relevant for a collecting blog.

Finally, the baseball news. In 1969 the surprising Mets and Cubs had a tight, intense pennant race. Mets lost in Chicago to the delight of the Bleacher Bums, the relatively new contingent of hardhat-wearing Cubs fans.