Okay, so thanks to Pew, we know that only 23 percent of Americans plan to keep their hot-ticket November 5 newspaper editions for posterity. If you’re in that 77 percent of people, though, who didn’t get papers on the 5th, or who didn’t didn’t have time to wait in line to buy the reprints on the 6th, or who think that everyone seems to be making way too big a deal over this pulp and ink stuff — well, don’t despair! You, too, can Own A Piece of History, courtesy of your ever-entrepreneurial newspapers of record!
For a price, of course.
The New York Times Store is currently selling reprints of its iconic OBAMA papers for $14.95 (though “FREE Ground shipping within the Continental United States is included in the purchase price”!). If your tastes run higher-end, the Store also offers a framed, 18-by-24-inch version of its November 5 paper for $184.95 (sorry: regular shipping rates apply!). If you prefer a more practical Piece of History, you can buy a pair of “Obama victory” ceramic mugs–“each mug holds 15 ounces and has a C-shaped handle,” yay!–one featuring the November 5 paper, the other featuring NYTimes.com’s election-night home page ($24.95). And if you prefer a wearable Piece of History, “preserve the date with a special front page reprint of the final edition of The New York Times on Nov. 5, 2008, which boldly reported Obama’s decisive victory over John McCain on a t-shirt.” Said shirt can be yours if you can spare $32.95 and 5-7 business days!
Over at The Washington Post‘s Wal-mart of headline paraphernalia online store, the November 5 Commemorative Edition Paper is a relative steal at $9.95. So is the array of Obamabilia t-shirts. You can buy the image of the paper’s November 5 front page silk-screened onto: men’s t-shirts ($21.99), women’s t-shirts ($21.99), kids’ t-shirts ($18.99), organic cotton t-shirts ($22.99), hoodies ($32.99), baby onesies ($15.99), tote bags ($18.99), and mugs ($15.99).
Sweet. History and shopping. Can’t get more American than that.
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.