Need Help Locating Original Newspaper Covering the Jenny Lind Explosion

[talesofthesevenseas]

OK gang, here's a challenge for you- I am trying to locate a copy of an original newspaper account of the explosion of the Jenny Lind on the San Francisco Bay on April 11th 1853. You might remember this is the explosion in which my 3x great-grandfather was killed. I'm donating a framed print of his photo to the historic steamboat hotel Delta King, which has a small, undecorated conference room named for the Jenny Lind, which is one of several conference rooms named for California steamers. I would really like to be able to find an original newspaper to go with it. It can be from any geographic region, the papers carried stories of the disaster for about two weeks after it happened, because people died later and word took time to arrive in those days.

I have tried rare newspaper Web sites, Ebay, abebooks and all the usual places and I'm coming up empty-handed. I've tried google searches too. I thought I'd see if you guys might be able to succeed in finding a copy. I can always print up a copy on parchment that would look OK, but I would really like to find an original for them if I can.

[hosman321]

I get all my newspapers from rarenewspapers.com. They have a search box where you can type in keywords. They get new papers in constantly.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Yes I tried them, I had bought things from them before too. I have two emails into them also but no reply so far.

[hosman321]

Darn. 

[KC]

Quite a few of this family was killed also....maybe this will help with more leads.....using different googling information.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:recMhN0fdv0J:www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/vitals/sfobibe.htm+April+11+1953+Jenny+Lind+steamboat+CA&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[Oceans64]

The New York Times does reproductions of any date 1851+  http://www.nytstore.com/Front-Page-New-York-Times-Reprint_p_103.html

Probably more pricy than if you found the real thing tho...  and I can't find anything verifying that it ever made the front page.

In short... I'm no help at all!  LOL 

This is a toughie... 

[talesofthesevenseas]

Good news, http://www.rarenewspapers.com came through on my request and I bought the copy. It was expensive, but as deeply as I've been into this from a genealogical standpoint it was worth it. $75 for the real thing, a copy of the NY Times edition from May 13 1853 which has the account and also lists my gr-gr-great-grandfather.

Now that I know how tough these are to come by and having shelled out some fairly serious bucks, I'm kind of wondering if I should do this as a loan to the steamboat hotel. Since they are a business and not a historic society/museum/etc. I would also like to be able for it to go to the Guilford Historic Society if they want to use it for an exhibit. I also don't know if the hotel is aware how terribly graphic the descriptions are, so I think I had better give the guy there a call to discuss.

[KC]

Yahoo!!!  Congratulations Talesof!  Well Done!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Just had a long talk on the phone with my Mum about this. We're going to be sending the steamboat hotel a framed, high-quality scan. Since this isn't a historical society, museum or other historic entity, there is no way to know that it would be properly cared for or even really appreciated much, and might even potentially be tossed at some point if the business failed. The scan will provide the information and since I got the NY Times account which lists my ancestor, it shows his connection to the steamer and the Jenny Lind room and accomplishes the goals without putting an artifact at risk by placing it in a place that isn't used to handling archival material. I can just see the housekeeping staff spraying it daily with Windex, LOL

[Oceans64]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

And I agree with how you are presenting this.  When I presented to the GHS I did it as a permanent loan.  I forget the wording but basically it was something that if they disband, it goes to another museum, if they don't want it they contact me...  Something to that effect. Bottom line, I didn't want it showing up on eBay again in 40 years...  Not that it would, nor would I care, as long as it benefited something and not someone.

This means something to you and as such (as hokie as it sounds) it's OK to protect it.  I think what you are doing is great!

ETA: To the GHS benefit, they offered me this option in their paperwork. Never would have thought of it on my own.   

[talesofthesevenseas]

When I donated my Rev War ancestor's shawl to the DAR Museum I too had to ask if there was any risk that it could be deaccessioned. I was assured that because of the provenance of the donation coming from the family and a previous donation of the same ancestors wedding dress by our family, and because she was a prominent female figure in history that there was no risk that they would ever do that.

[KC]

Something I have learned over time (the hard way) is......put it in writing if it is that important to you!

[talesofthesevenseas]

...And also choosing donation recipients carefully, picking organizations that are devoted to the subject. One of the earliest Ebay things I ever bought was an ancient Egyptian ring that had been deaccessioned from a museum in the midwest that had no Egyptian collection. It was part of about 40 pieces that were donated, but this museum wasn't an Egyptian museum so these pieces had been sitting in their vaults since the turn of the century.

[hosman321]

So glad you found one tales! Definitely show us some scans/pictures of it when it arrives! I also agree with providing them with a scan, hopefully they appreciate your generousity.

[fancypants]

Good solution for the issues , talesof !

Let's hope that while in the conference room they'll give some folks pause for thought !