The Newseum is closing at the end of this month. It is a special place to so many. Earlier this year, I wandered the space for hours... this thread will show all the artifacts that I want to remember 
This is a 301 year old newspaper — the Boston News-Letter — "the first successful newspaper in the Colonies"
Here's a 1740 copy of The Pennsylvania Gazette, published by Ben Franklin, and a later copy with a version of his unity political cartoon. "UNITE OR DIE"
The News History gallery has all these old "newsbooks," papers, wire service relics. There's a section of an undersea telegraph cable from the 1860s (!!!)
This 1789 front page printed the first 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution. "Article the Third," about freedom of press & speech & religion, became the FIRST when the original first two amendments were rejected.
So many front pages. I hope these will find a new home in a new building...
This is one of my fave front pages: @NYTimes covering a test of a new medium called "television." It's "like a photo come to life," but commercial use is "in doubt." Read the lede:
Here's a GI entrenching tool used by Ernie Pyle during WWII. Microphones used for FDR's fireside chats. One of the handheld cameras from the launch of CNN. And one of @Fahrenthold's famous Trump-era notebooks.
The Newseum didn't shy away from errors — "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" — and awful misuse of these powerful tools — Hitler's radio propaganda. But the exhibits balanced the bad with all the good the world's media has done.
It wasn't all that long ago when 2-inch magnetic tapes were considered an incredible technological achievement.
This camera is less than 100 years old!
I'll start to wrap this up, but there's so more to show. Like Tim Russert's iconic whiteboard from election night 2000
This memorial is a tribute to people who died reporting the news. "The names of 2,344 individuals from around the world are etched on the glass panels." Rededicated every year.
Exhibits are full of stories most people have never heard. This is the bombed-out car of Don Bolles, the AZ Republic reporter who was killed in 1976 for his stories about organized crime.
There's a lot of wisdom on these walls. Humor too. I had not heard this 1997 Jerry Seinfeld quote before: "People that read tabloids deserve to be lied to."
"Journalism is the first rough draft of history," and the Newseum explained how the drafts were produced. A much-needed public service.
"Honesty is the best Policy."
A free press can be used "to challenge the government should it grow too powerful or abusive." That's one of the reasons why the Newseum belonged on Pennsylvania Ave between the Capitol and the White House. Go visit this month if you can. We will miss it when it's gone. /end
