Some More 21st Century Cancels

A few years ago (January 2011) on this blog I illustrated cancels from the 2 contract postal stations in Plattsburgh, NY.  Both are operated by local banks. The clerks are actually tellers that work for the bank. Clerks are any contract stations cannot be employees of the USPS.

This summer I stopped by the stations again to see what new cancels they might have.  At one of the stations, the teller gave me the canceling device and allowed me to service my own covers.

However at the other station, the teller said she couldn't do it since the envelopes weren't addressed and wouldn't be going into the mail stream.  She said I might use the envelopes for backdating documents I wanted to mail.  I explained to her what I was doing and that I have done this at many other post offices in the past.  But she stood her ground.  Finally, she said she would call the main Plattsburgh post office and get their advice, which, of course, was "go ahead and do it.  It's OK."

One of the "joys" of pursuing cancels.

Champlain National Bank Contract Station:

Glens Falls National Bank Contract Station:

Notice that the cancel have different ZIP CODE since they are located in different sections of the city.  12901 is for the city of Plattsburgh.  12903 was formerly used by the Plattsburgh Air Force Base branch office until the base closed in the mid 1990s.  Since the Glens Falls National Bank office is located in the same area of the city as the old Air Force base the 12903 Zip was assigned to it. 

Some Unusual 21st Century Handcancels

For many years I was fortunate to have access to the mail of a fairly large internet company in northern New York.  I was really only looking for used modern commemoratives which I would soak off and sell to fellow stamp club members. By 2014 I had decided to stop asking for the mail since there were hardly any commemoratives on the mail anymore.

Of course, I would also keep my eye out for unusual cancels.  I call these unusual since it's more difficult to find hand cancels on mail because most mail is cancelled at local processing centers with their machine cancels.

The 2005 example was mail that had become creased in the machine canceler and was caught by a postal worker and hand canceled. The 2010 example probably began its life in West Chazy as evidenced by the "12992" Zip in the computer vended postage. The cancel is from Plattsburgh 12901.

 The example below was actually from a mailing that I sent as editor of the Vermont Philatelist, the quarterly publication of the Vermont Philatelic Society.  There were about 150 items in the mailing and I always include a test mailing which is returned to me.

It looks like the Plattsburgh Sectional Center decided against running the mailing through the machine and used this unusual rimless hand cancel.  A nice example of modern commercial postal history made by a stamp related organization.

Perhaps the most unusual item I found in my years of accumulating mail was this item from my hometown.  I collected the mailing about once a month early in the month.  Of course, the material sat around for a few days until I could find the time to sort it all.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this hand cancel from the Westport post office which is just 2 blocks from my house.

The next day I went into the post office and asked about the cancel.  The postmaster told me that he had  ordered a new hand cancel at the beginning of the year and when it arrived he discovered it wasn't exactly what he had ordered. He used the cancel for a day or so and then decided to return it for a cancel with a rim.  This may be the only example know.

Don't forget to check out my other blogs:

New York State Postal History (pre-1900)

Vermont Postal History

My other hobby:  photography

Rural Stations

One of the more challenging aspects of contemporary postal history is Rural Stations.   These are post offices that don't have postmasters and are under the jurisdiction of a larger post office.

It is especially difficult to find non-philatelic uses from these stations since many of them had very little postal business.  Most examples found are on postal cards sent by collectors for examples for their collections.

Pryor Heights was a rural station of Perrysburg in Cattaraugus County from June 1, 1953 to June 18, 1960 so this is a late use from the station.

River Road was a station of Tonawanda (Erie County) from June 1, 1937 through 1944.

Today, the USPS calls these types of station Contract Post Office or Community Post Offices.

2nd Liberty Bond Loan (1917)

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the US entering World War I in 1917, we should remember that wars take money to wage.  One of the ways of financing a war plus keeping prices down is to try to sell bonds.

In 1917 the 2nd Liberty Bond campaign was held in the early fall which eventually raised $3.8 billion from bonds sold at 3% interest to 9.4 million people.  These bonds were for 25 years redeemable after 10 years.

The United States Post Office Department was an integral part of the publicity for the bond campaign utilizing its canceling machines with a special slogan "BUY NOW U.S. GOVERNMENT BONDS 2ND LIBERTY LOAN".

Most postal stations in NYC used the slogan in October 1917.  The same slogan was also used at major   US cities during the same month.

From the Postal Bulletin (October 5, 1917)

NYC:  Hudson Terminal Station

NYC: Madison Square Station

NYC:  Wall Street Station #2

Brooklyn:  Station B

Rouses Point Clinton County Registered

Here's a late use of the Rouses Point / Clinton Co. N.Y. / Registered "postmark".  I have seen this used on Registered Receipt cards from the early 1890s.

Any County named postmark after 1890 is very unusual.  Seeing one from the early 1900s is almost as scarce as hens' teeth.

Camp of Instruction

Until 1995, Plattsburgh (Clinton County) had had a military presence since the late 1790s.  In the 1910s it was the training ground for future officers.  The Plattsburgh idea eventually morphed into the current ROTC program.

There has been no record of this oval handstamp used in 1916 or 1917.  However, in the historical files in the Special Collections of Feinberg Library at SUNY Plattsburgh, I found an old Camp of Instruction newspaper which says that the YMCA established a post office tent for the use of the soldiers.  Since the cancel is definitely not a standard cancel, I'm wondering if this was used at the Post Office tent before taking the mail to the main Plattsburg post office for mailing.

After 40 years of collecting Plattsburg and Clinton County, I have 3 examples in my collection, all purchased in the last 10 years. None of the 3 examples show the year date, which leads me to think that it's not an official postal marking.  But, still a marking that traveled through the mails.

Christmas Bisects

It seems that there must have been a shortage of 1 1/2c stamps in 1933.  Here are two Christmas card envelopes using a bisected 1c stamp and a bisected 3c NRA stamp to pay the local rate.

Earth Day 2013 Ink Jet

The USPS has begun using a new inkjet slogan:  Earth Day 2012 with 3 wind turbines and a sun.

I have been able to discover the date that these slogans were first used in Syracuse and Albany.

Looks like Syracuse began using the slogan on Friday, April 5, 2013 and Albany on Saturday, April 6.

Since February 2013, all mail from northeastern NY is handled by the Albany processing center.

I have access to a large amount of mailings to a regional internet service provider.  Usually I just find a few commemorative stamps, but I'm always on the look-out for these ink jet slogans.

Saratoga Mail Clerk cancel

Here's an unusual cancel that I purchased at the Crossroads Stamp Show in Quechee, Vermont recently.

The stamp was originally missed by the Saratoga Springs, NY machine cancel, but obviously was caught by the person sorting the mails. He used his device to cancel the stamp.

This is from a post card.  The Saratoga Springs machine cancel is partly exposed on the left side of the post card.

I used the retroreveal.org website to discover the wording on the complete cancel.  I haven't been able to determine the clerk's full name yet, but have deciphered the rest which reads  "MAILING CLERK".

(Postscript:  a blog reader suggests that the mailing clerk's name was J. M. Corey.)

ACUNY, NY

I wrote this article for a recent issue of Excelsior! the journal of the Empire State Postal History Society

Military/ACUNY, NY

From May 8 1917 through July 31, 1947, the post office in Plattsburg had a branch (“Military”) on the grounds of Fort Plattsburg. On August 1, 1947 the name of the branch was changed from “Military” to “ACUNY”. According to Smith and Kay, this branch existed until October 1, 1954.

The illustrated card shows a machine cancel from the last day of Military, N.Y. which was a station/branch of the Plattsburg, N.Y. post office. The next day the name of the branch was changed to ACUNY, a funny name for a post office.

Here’s the story:

When World War II ended, millions of former servicemen returned home to an uncertain future. New York State’s educational response was to establish the Associated Colleges of Upper New York (ACUNY) since the State Education Department did not feel that the existing private and public colleges in New York State could handle the estimated 100,000 veterans who would be seeking college level education.

On May 17, 1946, the Board of Regents chartered ACUNY with the goal of providing the first two years of college education for any qualified veteran who was rejected from one of the state’s four year colleges because of “insufficient housing, overcrowded classrooms and lack of instructional staff”.

Initially 3 ACUNY school were established: Sampson College near Geneva (but in Seneca County) on the site of the US Naval Training Center, Mohawk College, the former Rhoads Hospital, Utica (Oneida County) and Champlain College in Plattsburgh (Clinton County). The three schools began operation in late 1946. In 1947, the Middletown Collegiate Center opened in Orange County. Both Mohawk and Sampson has postal branches on their campuses as well.

The schools were just a short term solution to an emergency situation and by the end of the 1940s, both Mohawk and Sampson had closed. Champlain College became the first liberal arts college in the SUNY system, but in 1953 it graduated its last class. In that year it was absorbed by Harpur College, which today is one of the six colleges of Binghamton University.

My area of interest is Clinton County. Plattsburgh had a large military presence since before the War of 1812 until 1995 when the Plattsburgh Air Force Base closed under the post-Cold War Base Realignment initiatives. As a matter of fact, the PAFB was the last base considered by the original Realignment committee. PAFB was active from 1954 through 1995. Champlain College was one of the casualties due to the building of PAFB because it was situated on the former home of the Plattsburg Barracks which the Air Force reclaimed under a “recapture clause” to build PAFB.

So now you know the rest of the story: ACUNY was actually the branch post office at Champlain College in Plattsburg, N.Y.

Wells, Hamilton County, NY

It's been a while since I've added anything to this blog. Reason? Much harder to find interesting contemporary items that fit into my collection areas. However, yesterday at a stamp show in Vermont, I found this cancel at the Doubleday booth.

If you're not familiar with Anne and Elywn Doubleday and their postal history stock, you're missing one of the best dealers who does local as well as national shows. Their stock is truly amazing.

Wells is a small post office in Hamilton County in the Adirondacks. The post office was established on March 5, 1828 and is still in operation.

As you can see both "Wells" and "Hamilton County" are included in the town dial. This type of cancel was most prevalent in the 1870s and 1880s, scarcely used in the 1890s and extremely rare after 1900s.

This is not listed in David Proulx monograph that was published in 1990. This cover made the 200 mile round trip to the stamp show yesterday well worth it. Plus it has that nice star killer as well.

Plattsburgh NY Contract Stations

Contract Station #1

Plattsburgh (Clinton County) is a fairly small city in northeastern New York. However, it now has 3 postal outlets to service the 20,000 residents. There is the main post office, Contract Station #1 which has been in service for about 5 years and now Contract Station #2 which began operation on December 13, 2010. Both Contract Stations are located in banks. Station #1 is in the Champlain National Bank in the western section of Plattsburgh while Station #2 is in the Glens Falls National Bank branch in the southern part of the city.

Contract Station #2

Both Contract Stations are not really full service stations, but they do have a red circular datestamp for documents. The tellers at the GFNB told me that they expected people to use the office to mail packages. It save going the 2 miles to the main post office.

C37 from New York City

Here's a very scarce postal history item. Scott #C37 (5c coil) properly used in time frame from New York City to the Canal Zone.

The coil was issued in rolls of 500 and not sold individually at post offices. Most of the stamps were used at hotels and other places where stamp vending machines were located. Therefore most uses were non-philatelic and probably not saved.

C37 was issued on January 15, 1948. The 5c airmail postage rate was in effect from October 1, 1946 to December 31, 1948. You might think this stamp would be easy to find properly used on cover. However, in the estimation of some collectors this is probably one of the hardest uses to find of all the airmail stamps.

2 Hotel Post Offices

Two recent additions to my Essex County and Clinton County collections: postcards canceled at summer post offices. Summer post offices operated only during certain months of the years, usually May to October. For the most part they were located in tourist areas.

Hotel Champlain (Clinton County) was just south of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain. The example shown is from the 2nd Hotel Champlain post office which was in existence from 1891 to 1951. The cancel is the common 4-bar cancel used by many post offices during the era.

Whiteface (Essex County) was probably located in the Whiteface Inn on Lake Placid. The post office existed in a number of different periods. This is Whiteface #1 which was established in 1892 and discontinued in 1911.

Battle of Plattsburgh Pictorial

The Battle of Plattsburgh (Sept. 11, 1814) was probably one of the most important battles in the history of the United States. Many people haven't heard of it since it was at the same time as the Battles of Washington and Baltimore took place.

However, the American forces under General Macomb and Commadore Macdonough stopped a British advance that probably kept the northern parts of New York and New England as part of the United States rather than being part of Canada.

Every year, the BoP is commemorated by a large 3 day event. Each year, the Boy Scouts of America hold a camporee at the same time and sponsor a special pictorial cancel honoring the battle. This year's cancel shows the "Plucky Rooster" which was in a cage hit by a cannon ball, released and started crowing giving sailors of the American Fleet further motivation in their cause.

Last US Flag Cancel

Many post offices in the USA used flag cancels from the mid 1890s through the 1930s. The last flag cancel machine in use in the USA was at Sidney Center (Delaware County) in 1941. ]

Here's a last day of use of the flag cancel.

Unusual Contract Stations

I've become interested Contract Postal Units (CPUs), which are postal stations operated by private businesses under contract with the USPS.

My eventual goal is to publish a listing of CPUs in New York State. Currently, I have discovered at least 60 such offices based on information from the USPS website.

Although most mail is no longer postmarked by the CPUs, they do have cancelers available for document use and these are used to postmark covers if requested.

Valley Manor is a retirement community in Rochester. One of the amenities offered is that there is an office with postal services on site. Other CPU in the Rochester area are at RIT and the UofR, Strong Memorial Hospital and Lyell Video.

To emphasize again, these offices are operated by private business, NOT the USPS, but are part of the Postal System.

Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY) has its own postal station. It serves the 6500 students and 1000 faculty members.

Colgate University in Hamilton, NY serves 2700 students with a faculty of 300. The CPU is located in the O'Connor Campus Center commonly known as The Coop. I was surprised and pleased when I received my covers back from Colgate. They are using an unusual bicolor handstamp, probably to time date arrivals.

ACUNY, N.Y.

This "post office" in Clinton County was a branch of the Plattsburg, NY post office from August 1 , 1947 through October 1, 1954. It was originally called Military and was located on the local army base.

The information below is taken from http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/archives/acuny_content.html :

"The Associated Colleges of Upper New York (ACUNY), 1946-1951, was New York State's answer to the nationwide dilemma of assimilating World War II veterans into the educational system. The organization owed its beginnings chiefly to New York State Governor Thomas Dewey. In March 1946 the Governor held a conference of 85 New York State college presidents to evaluate the issue. Earlier studies by the State Education Department found that the existing colleges could not sufficiently absorb the anticipated 100,000 veterans seeking college-level education under the G.I. Bill of Rights.

"ACUNY was a joint venture between the state and private colleges of New York. Under the auspices of the Governor, the State Education Department, and ten college presidents, ACUNY received its charter from the Board of Regents on May 17, 1946. The charter awarded ACUNY nonprofit status and set its objective to provide the first two years of college for any qualified veteran who was rejected from one of the state's four-year colleges because of "insufficient housing, overcrowded classrooms and lack of instructional staff."

"Expediency was necessary in order to insure that the emergency facilities were established and ready to function by the fall semester 1946. The temporary Army and Navy facilities of upstate New York held enough housing and classroom space to alleviate overcrowding. The military sites chosen were the United States Naval Training Center (Sampson College, opened September 15, 1946), Rhoads Hospital (Mohawk College, opened October 16, 1946) and Fort Plattsburg (Champlain College, opened September 23, 1946). In February 1947 another center was launched in Middletown at the request of the community."

New York State Rural Stations

Welcome to the New York Postal History blog. I have created 2 blogs dealing with New York State and its postal history: this blog deals with post-1900 items. The other blog Empire State Postal History deals with pre-1900 items.

The rationale behind having 2 blogs is that most collectors tend to think either classic (pre-1900) or modern (post-1900). More are interested in the classic era than in the modern era. But there is much research to be done in the modern era.

One area that interests me is Rural Stations. Today the terminology is "CPO--Community Post Office" or "CPU--Contract Post Office". These terms can into use in the mid 1970s, before that time many smaller independent post offices were "closed" and became stations of larger post offices.

Pilot Knob was an independent post office in Washington County from 1907 to 1953. On May 1, 1954 it was established as a summer post office and rural station of Kattskill Bay. According to an article on Summer and Winter post offices by Dr. Chester Smith in the July 2000 The American Philatelist, the rural station was from 1954 to 1965 and 1966 through 1982.

Higgins Bay (Hamilton County) operated from 1938 to 1962 as an independent office before becoming a rural station of Lake Pleasant from 1962 to 1973. Dr. Smith says it was also a Summer office.

Blue Ridge (Essex County) was established in 1891 as Blue Ridge and then the name was changed to Blueridge from 1895 to 1909 before reverting to two words again. In 1963 it became a rural station of Schroon Lake. It was discontinued in 1966.

I am always interested in purchasing examples from any NYS rural stations.