The summer of 1969 brought several moments in time together, moments that linger in the memories of those that were alive in that summer, and moments that are recalled to younger generations in reverent tones. Perhaps the defining moment of that era, a moment that brings back memories of a happier time, was when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on Earth’s Moon, July 21, 1969 during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. While astronaut Michael Collins orbited the moon in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the lunar surface in the “Lunar Excursion Module” or LEM. They were the first human beings to walk on another celestial body – the first men to the moon, the culmination of the late President John F. Kennedy’s mission statement that America would land on the moon before the end of the decade (1960s).

People around the world watched the landing on television. Children around the nation collected NASA memorabilia, model kits, photos, magazines and newspapers about the mission, the astronauts, and their fellow space pioneers. Presented is a personal collection of two scrapbook albums commemorating the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and back. Both 12 x 15-inch scrapbook albums have brown leatherette covers with white stitching on the front covers. Both scrapbook albums have black plastic labels with white letters “Apollo XI” on the front covers.  

The first scrapbook album has a secondary black plastic label with white letters with the names of Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins. The inside front cover has an inscription and signature, in blue pen, from the First Man on the Moon, Armstrong, who has signed his name and inscribed “Apollo 11” below his signature. A loose embroidered cloth patch with the color logo of the Apollo 11 mission is inside the front cover. There are 120 interior scrapbook pages with newspaper clippings rubber cemented on each page, along with several pages on which magazine pages from Newsweek, Time and TV Guide are pasted in. The clippings in the first volume begin on June 9, 1969 and continue through July 24, 1969. This item comes with a full LOA from JSA (Y08867).

The second scrapbook album has an inscription and signature on the inside front cover in blue pen from Armstrong, who has signed his name and inscribed “Apollo 11” below his signature. The front cover is loose from its binding. The second volume has two loose letters describing the provenance of Armstrong’s signature through a family friend. Inside the front cover are three loose postcards from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One is of a Mercury Atlas rocket launch, the second of a Gemini-Titan rocket launch, and the third is of an Apollo-Saturn V launch. The three postcards are accompanied by a cut sheet from the front page of The Cincinnati Enquirer from July 21, 1969 with the headline “WE’RE ON THE MOON!”. There are 120 interior scrapbook pages with newspaper clippings rubber cemented on each page, along with several pages on which magazine pages from Newsweek, Time and LIFE are pasted in. The clippings in the second volume begin on July 24, 1969 and continue through December 13, 1969. There are two loose tabloid magazine copies about the moon landing loose inside the back cover, the August 31, 1969 issue of the Houston Chronicle Texas Today Magazine insert, and the September 7, 1969 issue of The Enquirer Magazine insert from The Cincinnati Enquirer. This item comes with a full LOA from JSA (Y08868).

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