You Can't Get There From Here - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, featured weekly on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with this one (the most recent always shows up at the top).  

Everyone is welcome here!  Are you just curious, but not really looking to become a postal historian yourself?  Grab a favorite beverage and have a seat!  Are you curious, but you are a renowned expert in some specialized area of postal history?  There's a spot for you in that chair right there.  And look!  There are some fuzzy slippers if you would like to wear them.  

The thing that brings us all together here is curiosity and an interest in learning. 

Our featured item 

My, doesn't that sound formal and everything? (Our featured item)  Well, don't let that fool you - we're pretty relaxed when it comes to Postal History Sunday.  There will NOT be a test at the end.  You will NOT be required to share your favorite part of today's post.  I, on the other hand, will do my best to make this interesting and enjoyable - so here we go!

I often find that the best way to start is to look at what the cover has to show us first.  Once we do that, we can try to figure what it all means.  Maybe there is an interesting story that goes along with the piece of paper?

This is a smaller envelope that was mailed in Louisville, Kentucky (US) on December 11, 1940 according to the round postmark.  There are no contents in the envelope.  There are two US postage stamps, each denominated as representing 15 cents in postage paid.  So, the sender must have expected the cost to send a letter to the addressee in Paris, France to be 30 cents.

There are two purple markings easily visible on the front of the cover.  One reads "Return to Sender, Service Suspended" and the other says "Retour a l'envoyeur relations postales interrompues."  Translated, this means "return to sender, interrupted postal relations."  There is also a piece of tape on the right and a very hard to see, football-shaped marking at the right as well.

The back of the cover (we call envelopes or sheets of paper that held the contents of the mail a cover), shows us a bit more about the tape, which has the word "controle" printed on it.  There are some Christmas seals from the year 1940 holding the envelope's flap down.  And there are two more markings.  One is a couple of circles with a "P" in the center.  Another is a box with a patriotic slogan at the bottom.  And the third is that football shaped marking again.

Identifying things that are different from the norm

Many of us can probably come to a few conclusions based on what we see on this envelope.  But the easiest for those of us who grew up celebrating Christian holidays is that this letter probably held a Christmas card or Christmas message.  The shape of the envelope is right for just such a card.  The postmark date of December 11 lines up pretty well for someone trying to get the card to their acquaintance in France prior to December 25.  And, the Christmas Seals tend to... um... seal the deal on that line of thinking.

As a postal historian, I am attracted to two things:

1. items that clearly show the normal, most common results for mail handling
2. items that clearly show that things didn't go the way they normally do

Ok,ok.  You got me.  You could make the argument that this means I am interested in everything.  But, bear with me for a second.  

I like to find items that very clearly show me how things would NORMALLY look and then I can compare and contrast them to things that have something different going on.  This helps me to isolate the exception and learn about what is different on a piece of postal history.

Surface mail from US to Switzerland : 5 cents first ounce from Oct 1, 1907 - Oct 31, 1953

Here is a good example of a "normal" mail item in the 1930s from the United States to Switzerland.  There is a 5 cent postage stamp to pay the postage rate for a simple letter (a letter that did not weigh more than one ounce).  There is a postmark for Jackson, Michigan showing the date and time it was mailed.  There is also a cancellation marking on the postage stamp to prevent someone from trying to reuse it on a future piece of mail.  There are no additional markings on the back.

This is my example of what would be a fairly normal piece of mail.  Now we can make some comparisons with our featured item.

Difference #1 - Surface Mail vs Air Mail

Our first difference has to do with the amount of postage.  Thirty cents is quite a bit more to be paying to send a bit of mail from the US to France.  To explain this, there are two options that are most likely.  First, this could be a heavier letter that weighed more than one ounce.  And second, the extra postage could be paying for some sort of additional service.  

Since I find it doubtful that a Christmas card and maybe a piece of paper or two with a letter would weigh more than one ounce, I'll go with the second choice.

Because I happen to know that air mail services were becoming increasingly available to the general public, that becomes my first guess.  It turns out that airmail to a European destination at the time was 30 cents per 1/2 ounce.  This rate was effective from April 28, 1939 until October 31, 1946.

I think we have a winner!

Surface mail is just what it sounds like.  The mail is carried by vehicles that travel on the surfaces of the earth (waterways, railways and roads).  These routes were already well established and the costs to the postal services around the world was much less.  Air mail, on the other hand, was still pretty new and routes were still being established.

This item is discussed in more detail in this Postal History Sunday

Case in point, here is an envelope that commemorates the first flight of Foreign Air Mail (FAM) route number 18 mailed on May 20, 1939 - just a year and a half prior to our featured envelope.  Our featured item could very well have flown this very route, but we need to remember that World War II had begun and it is possible routes were in flux at this time.

Costs for airmail services were still much higher than surface mail, and there was no way air mail service was going to carry the volume of mail that surface mail carriers could.  So, it makes sense that the postage was significantly higher.  If you wanted a plane to carry this letter from here to there (and get there faster), you had to be willing to pay for that service.

Difference #2 - Censorship of Mail

The piece of tape at the left that says "Controle" and the football shaped marking are illustrating something else that is different with our featured item.  This envelope was opened by censors to check the contents and make sure sensitive information could not be gleaned from them.  After the item was checked, the envelope was resealed with the censor tape (controle) and the football shaped marking was applied to provide tracking as to where the letter was opened.

The football shape marking, if it were clearer, would read "Ouvert par les Autorites de Controle" or "Opened by the control authorities."  This marking was applied in Marseille, France - where this letter was opened and viewed.  It was common practice to reseal the item with the censor tape first and then apply a handstamp such that it was partially on the tape and partially on the original envelope/cover.  The whole point was to show that the envelope was not searched again by someone after the censors had taken a look.

Here is another example of a World War II era envelope that was also opened by a censor.  I believe this one was processed by the British.  Once again, there is a printed tape that is used to reseal the envelope.  A handstamp marking was placed on the front so that it is both on the tape and the envelope.

I am admittedly NOT an expert in mail censorship in general or during World War II, but there are many who study these areas.  This site at postalcensorship.com includes many examples of censored mail that you can view if you would like. And, if you would like to read about the formation of the censorship services in the US during World War II, this Master's Thesis by Alvin McDaniel, Jr. might be of interest to you.

Difference #3 - this letter was returned

On June 14, 1940, Germany took control of Paris (where this letter was headed in December).  A significant part of the population evacuated the city and mail services were interrupted to occupied France.  A new, semi-autonomous government for 'unoccupied France' was established with its headquarters in Vichy in July.  Mail sent to the occupied portion of France would be directed to Vichy-France, but there was no way to exchange mail with German-occupied France.  Essentially, mail for the occupied zone simply built up in Vichy France until...

In September of 1941, by order of the occupying authorities (Germany), mails were formally suspended to occupied France.  All of the mail built up waiting for a chance to be sent forward was returned to their origins.  Estimates at the time suggested between 100,000 and 180,000 pieces of letter mail were returned to the United States between September 17 and October 1 in 1941 - of which this is one such item!

The New York Times, on September 19, 1941 printed a copy of an announcement notifying the public that this mail was being returned.  And, of course, stamp collectors paid even more attention than much of the public.

from Western Stamp Collector, Oct 1, 1941

Want to learn more?  Well, you're in luck!  There is a nice two-part article by Lawrence Sherman that can be viewed here (part I) and here (part II).  In fact, I was alerted to the snipping you see above in the Sherman piece.  You may also enjoy this article that talks about the resumption of mail service in 1944 by Louis Fiset.

Difference #4 - There are Christmas seals

The original idea of selling Christmas Seals to raise funds to deal with tuberculosis (TB) appears to have surfaced in Denmark in 1904.  In 1907, Emily Bissell (American Red Cross) designed their first Christmas seal with the intent of funding an experimental TB hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.  In the present day, the American Lung Association continues to sell these seals each year (with a different design each year).

There was a problem with some people putting these seals on the front (address) side of mail.  In fact, there were instances of persons attempting to use a seal as a substitute for postage.  This article by John Hotcher, discusses the postal rule that prohibited their use on the front (address side) in 1911 - only to have that regulation removed later on.

Didn't you miss something?

What me?  Did I miss something? 

Well, of course I did.  This is me illustrating to everyone reading this that there is always more a person can learn if they want to.  Each topic above can be explored in great depth (air mail, mail censorship, returned letters and charity seals).  In fact, there are people who have expertise and knowledge of each that far exceeds my own.  But this does not prevent me from working on my best understanding with the information and resources available to me and sharing what I have discovered with you.

So, what did I not discuss?  How about this marking?

I cannot tell you with any certainty what this marking indicates or why it was applied to the back of this cover. Of course, I can make educated guesses based on my experience looking at many other covers - including others that went to France in 1940/41.  But rather than guess, I will leave the question open.  Maybe someone who reads this week's Postal History Sunday will make me (and eventually you) that much wiser.

Have a fine remainder of your day and a good week to come!