Carl Baird isnāt sure what heās stepped in, but he thinks itās something.
It looks valuable, smells valuable and has the hallmarks of a kitschy, historic gold mine.Ģż
Two years ago around this time, Baird happened upon an abandoned dossier with newspaper clippings and other ephemera centred solely around the life of U.S. newspaperman, philosopher and actor Will Rogers.
Across dozens of pages resembling a scrapbook, pristinely preserved newspaper clippings from upwards of a century ago speak to Rogersā life, his thoughts on the world and, ultimately, his death. Era-specific ads promoting life in the Midwest, whiskey, stoves and even cattle ranching are also found in the scrapbook.
āThis is āUSA! USA!ā beyond belief,ā Baird told the Courier. āImagine in 100 years finding a Wayne Gretzky scrapbook in Florida or Hawaii. Itās wild.ā
Bairdās apartment building near Main and 19th is slated for redevelopment in the coming months, and heās looking to purge some belongings before inevitably moving to a smaller place.
Among the items that must go is the Rogers scrapbook, though Baird isnāt sure what āgoā means just yet. Getting some money for the scrapbook would be nice, but thatās not necessarily Bairdās end game.Ģż
āI think itās a treasure. Iām not sure what youād get for this in an auction, but Iām not sure you can put a dollar value to this,ā Baird said.
Hailing from Oklahoma and born in 1879, Rogers was a renaissance man in every sense of the term. He was cast in 71 films ā both of the silent and ātalkieā variety ā and had more than 4,000 published articles in newspapers across the U.S. He frequently appeared on radio broadcasts and could be seen hobnobbing with Charlie Chaplin and U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower, before he became president.
Many of the clippings in Bairdās possession start with a headline reading āWill Rogers Said,ā followed by Rogersā musings on life.
His thoughts combine wit, satire and the kind of outlook befitting of a man who had travelled the world numerous times, eschewed politics and stood up for the everyman.
Some examples:
āWe are here just for a spell and then pass on. So get a few laughs and do the best you can. Live your life so that whenever you lose it, you are ahead.ā
āTen men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million canāt buy enough to eat.ā
āToo many people spend money they havenāt earned to buy things they donāt want to impress people they donāt like.ā
Rogers died Aug. 15, 1935 in an Alaskan plane crash alongside famed aviator Wiley Post. His death was commemorated across the U.S., as statues went up and schools were named after him.Ģż
A reported 100,000 people attended his funeral.
āI was shocked to hear of the tragedy which has taken Will Rogers and Wiley Post from us,ā Roosevelt was quoted as saying one day after Rogersā death. āWill was an old friend of mine, a humourist and philosopher beloved by all.ā
It was only in death that Rogers had some semblance of a connection to Ā鶹“«Ć½Ó³»outside of Bairdās discovery. According to an anthology of stories published between 1931 and 1956, Rogersā body was temporarily stored at YVR ā four years after it was built ā as his mortal remains were in transit back to the U.S.
Smaller planes rarely flew at night at the time, so Rogersā final voyage had to be broken down over legs. A reporter from Seattle caught wind of the story and came up to Ā鶹“«Ć½Ó³»to confirm Rogersā remains were, in fact, being secretly held in a locked hangar.
None of this was on Bairdās radar until two years ago around this time. He found the scrapbook leaning against a tree near his apartment in the pouring rain. Baird said the scrapbook would have likely disintegrated that night had he not picked it up.
He reckons the previous owner was taking it to a nearby antique store and forgot it. Or, perhaps the book was appraised as being worthless and the owner left it outside.
Baird has repeatedly contacted the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Oklahoma and received no response. The Smithsonian Institution has also turned down Bairdās offer to donate the scrapbook.
So now the scrapbook is condemned to a type of historical purgatory, and Baird doesnāt know what to do. Having it sit on his shelf does little for Baird, the preservation of history or those interested in early 20th century Americana.
āThis has to be protected, something has to be done with this,ā Baird insists. āIāve never put any thought into how much it would be worth ā I have no idea and I wouldnāt want to sell it. I want it archived to some degree ā photographed, talked about and for people to enjoy it.ā
@JohnKurucz
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