Collecting A Piece of History

Reported by: Jennifer Denman

(Springfield, MO) -- As President-Elect Barack Obama puts together his administration, others are putting together their own pieces of history.

The major news magazines, like Time and Newsweek hit store shelves Friday and just as quickly, were gone.

Bookstore employees say as soon as Barack Obama was elected, the calls started coming in for copies. Some just want to read it, others to frame it, but most just want a keepsake to show generations down the road that we were a part of history.

Early Friday morning, Borders employees starting calling customers who had reserved their copies.

"It's a first for America and it's something everyone is talking about. I think this gong to be great and I think it will be a collectors item," says Gary Selby, Borders General Manager.

The shelves are stocked, but many of these hot commodities are already spoken for.

"Everything we have is pretty much reserved," says Selby.

Other bookstores like Barnes and Noble say they too will carry the magazines and hope publishers send in more than the usual lot. For those who are lucky enough cash in on their copy of history, they couldn't be happier.

"Oh my gosh, yes, we were looking yesterday (Thursday) for some of these and I told my best friend we have to go hunt these down," says Debby Lassley, a Springfield resident.

"We have a story to tell and it was a grassroots operation," says Claire Wirt, a Springfield resident.

"This is just an historic election something some of us thought we would never see and we just want a commemoration," says Janet Martin, a Springfield resident.

It's not just the magazines creating a collectible frenzy, stores are selling out of Obama books, playing cards and, on a lighter note, Obama and McCain punching bags.

On eBay the newspaper are selling for $20. But for Claire Wirt and her daughter, the items have a meaning beyond money.

"The biggest worth they have to me is she was there and a part of history and I wouldn't give them up for the world," says Wirt.

Collectibles bound together in a time that will forever be remembered.