Future History

Getting my mits on a commemorative copy of the Washington Post's election special edition was my obsession this week -- especially after someone swiped Wednesday's newspaper from our driveway. The Post is now selling "limited edition" copies online for $9.95, although I bought a copy for $4 from a vendor at a Metro station this evening. The Post also is selling front-page reproductions on T-shirts and coffee mugs, as well as fancy reprints that are suitable for framing.

I understand the urge to keep a little piece of future history. Screen grabs of historic homepages just don't have the same impact, although I am happy I still have this series of three washingtonpost.com homepages from election night 2000. The images were snagged at 3, 3:30 and 4 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 8 (use controls at the bottom of the window below to advance the slides).....

Election Night 2000

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My copy of this Wednesday's print edition will go into a stash of consequential front pages that I have saved since at least the mid-1980s. Among them....

* "FBI's No. 2 Was 'Deep Throat'" (Post, June 1, 2005)

* "Presidential Cliffhanger Awaits Florida Recount" (Post, Nov. 8, 2000)

* "Clinton Impeached" (Post, Dec. 20, 1997)

* and "Space Alien Meets With Ross Perot" (Weekly World News, July 14, 1992)

I was always surprised that last story didn't get more pick-up.

How did other newspapers present Tuesday's election results? The Newseum here in Washington has posted a collection of hundreds of front pages from around the world. (Thanks for the link, Bill Schrier.)

UPDATE (11/9/08): Speaking of instant history and historic Web pages, my friend Mark Potts over at Recovering Journalist posted a set of "Obama Wins" screen shots from major online news sources -- on election night, no less.