Sunday, November 11, 2018

Holding History in Your Hands

One hundred years ago today the Armistice was signed, ending World War I.

A hundred years ago it wasn't WWI, it was just The World War, the war to end all wars, and it was finally over.




Tom's grandfather, Bill Anderson, was born in 1882, and lived most of his life in Tacoma, Washington, where for most of his adult life we worked as a railroad engineer out of the Tacoma round house. Grandpa Bill and Grandma Mary were fortunate to live their whole married life in one house, and they saved things. Grandpa Bill saved newspapers of historical significance. 

Knowing that the 100th anniversary of the Armistice was coming up, Tom started digging in our attic. He saves things too.

There were three editions of the Tacoma newspaper on November 11, 1918, a night edition, a six o'clock edition, and an EXTRA!, all announcing the end of the Great War. 
These newspapers are 100 years old today.
We will be sharing these treasures with our grandchildren today, learning and remembering. 

We will be contemplating what it means to be a veteran, to have served our country for the cause of freedom.

We will also lament that it was not the war to end all wars. That is yet to be found.

We will hold history in our hands.

11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful way to share history with your grandchildren.

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  2. Those are amazing keepsakes! I hope that the day will come when we find another way to end conflict. It's not looking promising for the near future. But I will never give up hope that the angels of our better nature will one day prevail. :-)

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  3. The 100 year old newspapers are a very meaningful keep sake.

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  4. What wonderful bits of history! The Historical Museum had similar old newspapers I enjoyed reading them:)

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  5. Wow! Those newspapers are a treasure!!

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  6. Thank you for educating the next generation.

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  7. Incredible history and well preserved, these should last for many more years to assist in the education of the younger generation. Perhaps they will be the ones to end the conflicts.

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  8. Wow! What a collection! I was never a history buff and only had knowledge of WWI from dreaded history lessons. Recently I started listening to Ken Follett's trilogy of the last 100 years, starting with "Fall of Giants" and ending with "World Without End". I was fascinated, learning history through his characters and getting a very personal understanding of events leading up to and ending with semi-conclusions. "Fall of Giants" was about WWI as seen through the eyes of Russian, German, American, British, and Irish players. A time of very defined class distinctions and the strength of human spirit.

    What times are we living through now? I wonder how Ken Follett would see it, with his international eye and flair for telling history.

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  9. Wow, those papers are priceless in bringing history to life. It is one thing to hear about something but to see the paper printed the day of the event is amazing. Your grands are so lucky Tom took such good care of the papers.

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  10. Impressive that these papers are in such great shape after all these years. Beautiful thoughts and objects to share with your grandchildren!

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