From a Distance
Title: The Independent: Kansas Citys Weekly Journal of Society Publisher: Mrs. Glee Gaylord and the Creel Publishing Company Date: October 4, 1941 Discovered at: Fairway estate sale The cover...
View ArticleHarvesting the Past
Title: Twenty-Fifth Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture Date: 1926 Discovered: at Prosperos Books, 1800 West 39th Street Representative quotes: An average yield of 123,000,000...
View ArticleThe Ron Man
Title: The Counterfeit Candidate: Ronald Reagans Backdoor Socialism in California Author: Kent H. Steffgen Publisher: National Issues, Las Vegas Date: 1976 Discovered: at Mission Hills estate sale The...
View ArticleBerdella: The Movie is torture to sit through
Title: Berdella: The Movie Date: 2009 Directed by: Paul South and Bill Taft Discovered at: My mailbox at The Pitch The poster promises: Either David Cross playing George Costanza or Jason Alexander...
View ArticleAged Leathers
Title: Kansas City Town Squire Date: September 1970 Discovered: at Prairie Village estate sale The cover asks: Volker Park Jungle or Paradise? Representative quotes: You dont have to be a big...
View ArticleIn the Year 1982, Part III: Ms. Rockwell steps further into adulthood
Out of college, living with her moody friend BB, working full time at a hotel, worrying over her weight, wishing that she'd had a date to squire her to Neil Diamond, our Ms. Rockwell has, by the fall...
View ArticleIn this song, Missouri is No. 1 in the pecking order
Title: Cock-A-Doo-Dle-Do, Im From Missouri Words and music: George M. McCullough Published: 1924 Discovered: at Sentimental Journey Antiques, Olathe I like to crow like the rooster crows Because I...
View ArticleMs. Rockwell gets her diary back
For a moment, she wasn't sure. Stepping into a Johnson County Houlihan's for lunch with the Pitch writer who spent 2009 publicly invading her privacy, the woman we've come to call Ms. Rockwell crinkled...
View ArticleGeorge Leonard Herter tells you How to Live With a Bitch
Title: How to Live With a Bitch Author: George Leonard Herter Date: 1969 Publisher: Herter's Inc., a Minnesota sporting-goods outfitter now distributed by Cabela's Discovered at: Half Price Books,...
View ArticleOnce upon a time, Kansas City worked
Title: The Story of Kansas City: The City at Work Date: 1958 Publisher: Kansas City, Missouri, Board of Education Discovered at: River Market Antique Mall The cover promises: At one time, Kansas City...
View ArticleStudies in Crap finds Sex Problems in Marriage
Title: Sex Problems in Marriage Author: George W. Crane, M.D., Ph.D. Date: None printed; probably mid-20th century Representative quotes: "An alkaline douche of a teaspoonful of ordinary baking soda to...
View ArticleWho will buy these clowns?
As he paws through local thrift and antique stores, your Crap Archivist often finds himself marveling at — and purchasing — works of art that exemplify the vision and talent common to this great city....
View ArticleMuscling into a union bigwig's old mail
Title: Untitled correspondence of local union bigwig Date: Early to mid-1970s Discovered: at Overland Park estate sale Representative quote: "Since you were the one who sponsored me when I became a...
View ArticleStudies in Crap Goes to Juvenile Court
What: Reports from Jackson County's Juvenile Court Date: 1946 and 1948 Discovered: at Westport estate sale Representative quote: "The habit of stealing cars was now strongly established in Bill, and...
View ArticleStudies in Crap survives nuclear war
Title: Your Family Survival Plan Author: Miami County Public Advisory Council Date: 1968 Discovered: at A Place in Time Antiques, Olathe The cover promises: Even your Tic Tacs could be a tiny fallout...
View ArticleIn 1936, the Orpheum catered to black ties headed for mothballs
Title: Orpheum Theatre program Publisher: Lothrop Publishing Company, Boston Date: December 1936 Discovered: at Waldo Antiques By 1936, the Orpheum Theatre, on the northwest corner of Ninth Street and...
View ArticleLooking back at the KC — and the Kansas City Star— of 1942
Title: The Kansas City Star Published: Friday, May 22, 1942 Discovered: at a Prairie Village estate sale The Russians had broken through the German front. The Japanese stood poised to take Chekiang....
View ArticleStudies in Crap ogles Miss Springfield 1960
Your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. He does this for one reason: Knowledge is power. Title:...
View ArticleNew Deal foe John VanCleve woulda hated Obama
Title: Riding High! John VanCleve Writes to a U.S. Senator About Roosevelt, Communists and New Deal Congressmen Author: David Milton Proctor Date: 1940 Publisher: Brown Publishing Company, 1016...
View ArticleThe Penny Pitch was free but it wasn't cheap
Title: Penny Pitch Date: July 1980 Publisher: PennyLane Records, 4128 Broadway Discovered at: Distributed free at record store three decades back. Representative quote: Debbie LaReau of Kansas City...
View ArticleLeague of matrons
Title: Junior League Follies Program Date: 1934 Discovered: at Brookside estate sale In the thick of the Depression, the well-to-do do-gooders of Kansas City's Junior League opened a thrift shop at 504...
View ArticleWhen becoming a KC doctor meant cutting up
What: Scalpel '09 Author: Junior class of the University Medical College, 909 East 10th Street Date: 1909 Discovered: at Westport estate sale for $1 Representative quote: "Whack-a-lacka! Boom-a-lacka!...
View ArticleBefore Kansas was a red state, it was just plain dirty
Title: Graded Lessons in Physiology & Hygiene Authors: William O. Krohn and S.J. Crumbine Date: 1923 Publisher: The state of Kansas Representative quotes: "Bathing is necessary, then, because three...
View ArticleLamonte McIntyre has been in prison 22 years for a double homicide. Is he...
On the afternoon of April 15, 1994, two men were sitting in a powder-blue Cadillac in the Quindaro neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. A man dressed in black ran up to the passenger side, raised a...
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