Well everyone, we made it. Welcome to the third anniversary edition of Postal History Sunday - also known as the 156th entry of the weekly series. Postal History Sunday is published each week at both the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog. If you are interested in prior entries, you can view them, starting with the most recent, at this location.
This week's post is a celebration. I thought I would share things in the "threes" today to symbolically represent three years of posts. But before I get started, let me remind you that Postal History Sunday is written to be accessible to anyone who has interest. There are readers who have expertise in various areas of postal history and others who simply appreciate learning something new, but are not otherwise inclined to dig into the subject. All of you are welcome and I hope you find something to enjoy.
Let's start with the question, "which three Postal History Sunday's come to mind when someone asks you for blogs you most enjoyed writing?"
Three PHS I enjoyed writing
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| These were posted in bakeries with suggested guidelines for bread prices. |
The Price of Bread is an earlier Postal History Sunday (April 2021) that has a great deal going for it. First of all, the item that started my interest on the topic didn't look terribly special on the outside, but the contents (shown above) really grabbed my attention.
This paper was posted in bakeries to show that they were following voluntary price guidelines for bread that were established by the government and based on the price of the grains used to bake bread. Voluntary price controls was a fairly new situation in France and free trade for bakers was established in France in mid-1863. Prior to that, there were taxe officielle that set prices for bread and these controls were actually a tool that was used to maintain the peace in France.
Discovery of this item led me to search for other examples and I took great delight in exploring the topic of official and unofficial price controls for bread. This post is an excellent example of starting with the postal history and using it to explore the social history connected to it.
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| A triple rate letter from the United States to France |
The first one is an example of my writing about an area in postal history (and social history) with which I had less familiarity. The next one is an illustration of a PHS that features materials and a topic area I know extremely well. Let's Send a Letter to France (Oct 2022) represents an effort where I feel as if I was able to find some of the best words to explain a relatively complex topic - mail from the United States to France in the 1860s.
This time around, the focus for me was entirely on word choice, topic ordering and illustrations. I did not have to also manage a research process at the same time I was navigating the writing of the blog. I can truly say that this blog was a joy to write because it was a celebration of years of learning and accumulated experience that I had an opportunity to share with anyone who felt like reading it.
My third example of an article I really enjoyed writing is the offering titled Did Garibaldi Delay the Mail? (Nov 2022) that featured an exploration of the cover shown above. This particular cover has been a long-term puzzle for me as I have sought the best explanation for why it doesn't seem to follow the patterns shown by other covers from the US to Rome during the same time period.
This particular entry afforded me a chance to put into words where my research had taken me. The effort of trying to explain the problem and present the surrounding information was incredibly valuable to me as I continued to dig into the problems presented by this cover. The conclusions I share there may not be my absolute final solution, but I feel much better about those conclusions after the effort required to write this Postal History Sunday.
Three tidbits I take ridiculous amounts of pleasure in having discovered them for a Postal History Sunday
There is an island near Bingen where an old tower still stands - and it bears the name Mäuseturm - which is translated as "the Mouse Tower." This name may actually be a alteration of the name based on a High German word that made reference to this being a watchtower.
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In the present day, is known for its connection to a legend that features the Archbishop of Mentz who treated the peasantry cruelly, murdering many of the poor to prevent them from eating too much of the food that was in short supply. Archbishop Hatto fled to this tower to escape an army of mice, who pursued him there - he was then devoured by the mice as God's judgement for his wicked ways.
This little piece of information in Dominoes (Jan 2022) has become my "go-to" odd fact when someone asks me for an example of strange things I have discovered as I research Postal History Sunday entries, but it's not the only one.
To give you a bit of background, my Bachelor's Degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science. So, imagine my geeky delight when I discovered that the recipient of the letter featured in Foolish Desire (Feb 2023), Erastus DeForest, is credited with the initial discovery of the chi-square distribution (for those who know some statistics). Four of his papers (published from 1866 to 1871) are listed in this Catalog of Scientific Papers compiled by the Royal Society of London 1877 (vol VII).
And finally, one more factoid that I still take delight in learning as I researched Night Flight (Apr 2023).
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If you have ever been in the country and well away from towns or cities, you might have an idea how dark it can get. Now imagine trying to fly a plane at night without any light to guide you.
Three covers I actually acquired because I wanted to write a Postal History Sunday about them
As a rule, I have always had an attraction to items that I think will have an interesting story to tell. But, I will readily admit that I have added a couple of items to my own collection because I wanted to research and write a Postal History Sunday about it. The great news about that is, a great story doesn't necessarily require a huge price tag!
Shown above is an example of an item that attracted my attention because of the potential story I could uncover. The key is the part of the address that reads "Friends Ambulance Unit" (FAU) and I was able to write the PHS entry titled Friends in Need (May 2022). While I actually acquired this before I was writing Postal History Sunday, I did pick it up because I saw the potential.
J.R. Little was among those involved in the FAU from its very beginning, and he coordinated acquiring and delivering resources to the FAU across the English Channel providing care for the wounded in World War I. An old envelope providing a window into a much bigger story is something I really enjoy.
Unlike the first cover, the one shown above was picked up specifically because I wanted to write a Postal History Sunday about it. And, in fact, it only took me a couple of weeks to accomplish that task.
Quarantine! (Aug 2022) is an article where I was able to do some detective work to ascertain that the writer was Dr. John Swinburne, who was appointed to the post of Health Officer for the Port of New York in March of 1864 - one month prior to the sending of this particular letter. The Health Officer was responsible for the Quarantine Station and the processes of quarantining and dealing with persons arriving at the port who were suffering from infectious disease.
Then there is this flashy item that had a connection to my home state and the railroad company that I saw frequently as it maintained a schedule through my home town as I grew up. It was very inexpensive, but the personal connection motivated me to purchase it and hunt down the story behind it.
Trains of Thought (Dec 2022) was refreshing because it was simply fun. It's a good example of the balance I am hoping I can manage to maintain over time with Postal History Sunday. Sometimes it can be enjoyable to really get into the details of postal history (rates, routes, etc) and other times it's better to keep the topic lighter. Remember, I am hoping people with all levels of interest in postal history can find something to enjoy here.
The three most popular Postal History Sundays
I have had people ask me periodically how much traffic Postal History Sunday gets. My answer is that online metrics have real limitations when it comes to translating visits to actual readership levels. But, you can get a sense for overall trends and which articles have gotten the most attention.
According to the metrics supplied by Blogger, here are the three most visited Postal History Sunday entries!
These are all entries from 2021, which does not mean there were more readers at that time than there is now. Remember, once an article is published, it is available to be read from that point on. So, it makes sense that older posts have more visits - especially if there are links from newer Postal History Sundays (or other places on the internet) that point to them.
Three items I am looking forward to writing about
Today's Postal History Sunday is not just about what has been, it is also about what we hope will be in the future. I have several topics I hope to write about in the future - assuming I can find the time and energy to follow through. I thought I would share three items I hope to write about soon.
Here's an envelope that carried seeds through the mail from the James J.H. Gregory seed company in (probably) 1870. My personal connection to growing vegetables and farming, combined with my affinity for postal history, makes this an excellent target. I've combined farming topics with postal history a few times with some success. So, it feels like it is about time to keep things balanced by going that direction again soon.
Here's another one that is very different from the normal Postal History Sunday. Anyone who has been a collector from childhood - and it doesn't matter what that collection is - will have some soft spots for items that caught their eye when they were younger. For example, many kids find it easier to be attracted to stamps featuring animals instead of those that illustrate historical figures or events.
The giraffe in the stamp shown above is part of a series I remember appreciating when I was younger. So, it's pretty neat to have an envelope that used one of those stamps to pay the postage.
And, of course, there needs to be at least one 24-cent 1861 item in here. The cover shown above, in combination with a couple of other covers, provides an opportunity for a great story that I have been working on for some time. But, like so many stories of this sort, it's going to take some time to get it right. But, we'll get there one day - and hopefully you'll be there to enjoy it, just as I'll enjoy writing it.
Thank you so much for joining me today. We'll be back to a more "normal" PHS next week. But, until then I hope you have a fine remainder of your day and an excellent week to come.
Some bonus material
Tammy and I spent the last few days in Cleveland, Ohio to attend the Great American Stamp Show, sponsored by the APS (American Philatelic Society). This show is held yearly and is the largest conference / bourse style gathering in the United States.
I had the opportunity to speak with several other people who enjoy philately (stamp collecting) and postal history and was honored to receive several compliments for Postal History Sunday. One of the most common compliments was that, while I did not write specifically about the parts of the hobby they focus on, they still found PHS to be entertaining, accessible, and even useful. One person told me that they knew that, even if they knew nothing about the topic going in, I would not abandon them in the process of exploring it.
Thank you all for your kind words and the support it gives me. Keep the questions, suggestions and corrections coming. Feel free to tell me if something wasn't clear and I'll certainly try to explain things in another way.
There were many exhibits at the show. In fact, there were so many that there was no way a person could easily find the time to enjoy them all. However, I identified a couple that I wanted to explore a bit more deeply, including the fine exhibit about the Grand Trunk Railway by James Allen. This exhibit shows items for a rail line that interests me because some of my postal history from the 1860s relied on it to get from place to place.
I also had the pleasure of talking with Mark Thompson about his Women of the Black Heritage Series exhibit. Mark received a gold award for the first time with his exhibit and he is to be congratulated for his efforts. Each woman featured on these postage stamps has the equivalent of a Postal History Sunday article in this exhibit and I applaud him for his careful work in honoring these outstanding people.
And a big thank you to Chip Gliedman for the personalized "tour" of his Postal History Map of the United States. It's a gleeful approach to collecting and sharing postal history items in a way that could resonate with most anyone. His idea? Find a really neat piece of postal history from each state in the nation and put them in their place on a map. Everything from a cover partially burned in the crash of the Hindenburg to an item with connections to the Choctaw Nation.
And that's all I've got this week. I hope to see you again next week for Postal History Sunday.
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