The first published hobby article, 1935....noted here

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I am going through some more old hobby publications loaned to me by my good friend John Esch.. This article I will be quoting is from the Sports Fan, March-April, 1981. This is one of the newest publications loaned to me so far. I found an interesting article, extremely lengthy, written by Lionel Carter. A short while back I believe someone on the board had asked what Lionel had ever done for the hobby? It seems as though not only was he just about the most prolific writer in the later 30's to 70's, on card collecting and the hobby, but also wrote the very first article ever published on card collecting, even before Jeff Burdick. Here is an excerpt from the 3-4 page article.....(there are a few typos in the article and I left them the way they were written.....)<br /><br />" As the managers of the various baseball card teams became older, they also became more adult and dropped such childish hobbies as collecting baseball cards; or perhaps they became more adult they became less interested in cards and more interested in girls. Anyway, I ended up as not only without girls but the only card collector in town. "In town" I mean in Colfax Ill., POP 892. I didn't know another card collector anywhere. No hobby papers, no dealers, no conventions, and no collectors. Was still into stamps at this and a regular subscriber to that fine weekly stamp publication, The Kaw Chief Stamp Journal out of Lawrence KS. When the editor decided to add a monthly section about other hobbies, I wrote to him offering my services as a baseball card expert. Thus it was in 1935, that the first article on baseball cards was published. In fact it was the first article on any type of cards, beating by a few months an article on cigarette cards published in the December 1935 issue of Hobbies Magazine. The special section didn't generate the advertising envisioned by the publisher and folded after a year. Surprisingly, although it brought a few cards to my attention, it never put me in contact with another collector. I don't know how I found Edward Golden of Norton Heights Conn., unless it was through an advertisement in the old Grandstand Manager, but Eddie put me in touch with Jeff Burdick in those early months of 1938 and a whole new world of card collecting opened before me."

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Posted By: <b>joe brennan</b><p>Great read Leon. TY<br><br>In Rememberance of James W. Brennan Sr. 1924-1982. Dad, thanks for everything you did for me.

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Posted By: <b>peter ullman</b><p>great stuff...keep it coming!<br /><br />pete ullman

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Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>Thanks for the article.<br /><br />Peter C.

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Posted By: <b>Rob</b><p>Is there a place where reproductions of some of these early hobby publications can be purchased? I enjoy the reading, thanks Leon!<br />Rob<br /><img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I wish there were a place where we could just buy all of the old publications already copied. I don't know of any place like that. As you are in the hobby continue to ask friends if they have old publications and if they would mind if you make a copy for yourself. Usually if you are polite, and are really in it for the knowledge, and not to make a profit off of them, they will let you do it. I promised my friend I would never reproduce any of the ones he let me copy.....they are for my personal use only....He knows how passionate I am and had no issue.....good luck....also, I will try to post some more stuff like this soon. Even though only a few respond I am pretty sure a lot of folks like reading this old stuff. I thought this was particularly neat as it mentioned the very first published card hobby article.....regards

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Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>Well I've found a library that has the December 1935 issue of Hobbies Magazine, but they want to know the name of the article before they'll copy it. And they want some money. I'm going to send them money and an SASE, whatever I get I'll scan and post.<br /><br />Frank.

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Posted By: <b>Alan</b><p>I wonder if some antique/book shops that carry old magazines, newspapers, and publications might have this kind of stuff ?

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>Maybe you can tell them it was concerning baseball cards and was written by Lionel Carter? That should peg the correct one.....I would love to read it.....

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Posted By: <b>Joseph</b><p>SCD, of all places, actually wrote (not too long ago) about an earlier and no doubt more widely read article about tobacco cards. In the May 4, 1929 issue of The New Yorker, Arthur Folwell--in a article entitled "A New York Childhood - Cigarette Pictures"--writes about his youthful experiences collecting these little gems. Wonderfully whimsical piece, it has a picture of an Allen & Ginter Glasscock, a discourse on "Gold Coin" ballplayers, and pays homage to Old Judges ("There has never been anything like the Old Judge ball players"). The article, which basically ends in scope before the turn of the century, covers all types of cigarette cards, but it's obvious the writer is a baseball fan.<br /><br />I have a PDF of this piece, which I'll be happy to send along...<br /><br />

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>Neat stuff.....Please do send a pdf to my email. I would love to read it. Back in 1981 I am sure Mr.Carter had no clue of the other article. It's freakin' amazing the way info flies now compared to even 20 yrs ago....None of us would have near the collection, in the time it takes to assemble one, without today's technology, imho....regards

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Posted By: <b>Tom Boblitt</b><p><br />Hobbies Magazines from the 1930's that Burdick had articles in......I'd be glad to copy them all for a few bucks postage and copying fees......email me if you want a copy.....

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Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>With the lightning fast spread of information, vintage cards may become interesting to a greater segment of the population. Then we'll get more scans. <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />Peter

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Posted By: <b>Alan</b><p>If there's no copywrite issue, maybe the collectors that have these could make copies & make them available for others at the National. Just a thought.<br /><br />Alan

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Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>Hey Leon,<br /><br />Did Lionel Carter write the one in the 12-1935 Hobbies Magazine?? The way I read that initial post, Lionel wrote one before one appeared in HM, but it didn't say it was before his own article in HM...<br /><br />Frank.

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Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I don't know if he wrote one in the later magazine....he mentioned he wrote one before that but I am not sure it said the exact one he wrote the first one for. Also, Joseph was nice enough to send me the earlier article too, circa 1929....very cool....info in the hobby is always getting updated and that's a good thing.... I know of a ton of stuff that has been updated in the last several years....