[Hugh]

Here's a place where you can update other members of the club on your newest acquisition, what arrived in the mail today or just what you've been working on today. 

Here's what I've been doing tonight.

...

I've been working on this cover. I picked it up this week and was intrigued by it's unusual instructional marking. 

   

It's a May 14, 1947 patriotic cover from Muncie, Indiana to Hill Field a USAAF base in Ogden, Utah. On it there is a boxed purple hand-stamp with:

CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES ARE INSTRUCTED / TO HAVE PERSONAL MAIL SENT TO THEIR / HOME ADDRESS

Hill Field, at its peak in 1943, employed 22,000 civilian and military personnel. When this cover was sent, in 1947, the base was engaged in the preservation and storage of surplus aircraft. Following the creation of the USAF, Hill Field became Hill AFB on February 5, 1948.

This cover appears to have been sent to a civilian employee of the USAAF, OASC. Which I assume is the Ogden Air Service Command (the logistics HQ) the original name of the unit. The sender was probably unaware that, after the war, the unit name changed to the Ogden Air Material Area (OAMA) ... (in July 1946).

A bit of a puzzle is the manuscript (pencil) 'T-4' with the added number '41021' above the address. I'm assuming that it was made by a base postal worker. You can see that the base address was underlined several times, also in pencil. That was, presumably, the reason why the purple hand-stamp was applied. My guess is the T4 / 41021 was added at the same time. The civilian employee's job level and employee number?

What are you working on today?

Cheers, Hugh

[Hugh]

So, yesterday I took the day off from Stamping. Janet and I were headed out to a small concert by folksinger Connie Kaldor in a wonderful old barn north of Kingston. On the way, we stopped at the annual Kingston Symphony book sale. She likes old cookbooks, so I surprised her with a well-used copy (good 'old cookbooks' are always well-used) of The Home Cook Book published in Toronto in 1881. (I couldn't resist when I saw it had a recipe for Chow-Chow. Memories of my youth!).

   

But, here's the thing, the book had an introduction by George Stewart Jr. Janet looked him up and it turns out that George Stewart Jr., just 16 at the time, was the founder, publisher and editor of one of Canada's first stamp journals. The first issue of The Stamp Collector's Monthly Gazette was issued in St. John, New Brunswick on June 1, 1865 -- two years before Canada's confederation. At that time, stamps were still issued by the separate colonies: Canada, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

   

So, I did some more research this morning. The journal ran for 24 consecutive issues plus an 1867 supplement. If you'd like to explore them, here's an online link to every issue.

www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04686?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Here's a glimpse of an item from his first issue: 

   

The universe is obviously conspiring to ensure that no matter what we do or where we go, it finds a way to ensure that we keep on stampin' (smile)

PS -- When we got to the concert, they were giving away postcards (sigh). we truly can't get away.