Here's why journos should keep old memos from the boss

William F. Thomas was editor of the Los Angeles Times for 17 years, retiring in 1989. That was before email, and for most of that time the newsroom used typewriters. If the editor wanted to reply to a reader or send a note to the newsroom, it was typed and he signed it. There would have been hundreds or thousands of these pieces of paper generated during the Thomas era. And guess what, a memorabilia dealer is featuring for sale on Amazon a "Bill Thomas autograph" on Times stationery. Asking price: $37.56.

Thomas' son, the outdoors journalist Pete Thomas, told me "my dad will get a kick out of it....It looks like one of hundreds of thank you notes he must have written over that span." Here's a tip to protential buyers: It's only $24 on eBay.