Help Needed - US Postal Censorship In Ww One

During World War One, the US established postal censorship stations at New York, San Francis and several sub-offices, New Orleans, Key West, Seattle, San Antonio Texas with numerous other sub-offices in Texas and Arizona, and Honolulu, HI. Additional offices were established in Cristobal, CZ, San Juan PR, and Manila, Philippine Islands.

A series of Examiner numbers were assigned to each censorship station. I know that New York was assigned Examiner numbers 1-500, and New Orleans appears to have been assigned numbers in the 1100 series. The 900 series numbers were assigned to Cristobal, CZ, and the 1800 series was assigned to Manila, PI.

I am looking for a source which defines the allocation of all of these Examiner numbers to each of these stations. I believe that this information can be found in the following article by Wilfrid Broderick:

"Handstamps of the US Civil Postal Censorship-WW1", which appeared in the War Cover Club Bulletin, Aug-Sept 1975, Vol XVI (16) No 6, pp 7-10, BUT I don't have easy access to a copy.

Before I order a copy from APRL, I thought I'd inquire if anyone had a copy of this article they could provide me, or if they know of another source with this information. OR can just provide a table with the information.

I would also like to hear from anyone who collects and/or researches this material. My particular interest is the material which was handled at the offices along the border with Mexico (i.e., the Texas, Arizona, and California stations), but I also have a casual interest in all such censored mails.

Thanks,

Mike Ludeman

Interesting question, Mike. I'll see what I can find.

(Do me a favor first though, please. Would you mind changing your 'all caps' in the topic heading? The 'powers' don't like it.)

Is this helpful? It's a start at least.

http://www.bisected-dwi.dk/413495086

New York

There are a result serial no.:

1-500, 601-700, 801-900,1001-1100, 1201-1300 set from 5000 to 5099.

Office opened on Nov. 3, 1917, and closed June 20, 1919 (the last weekly repeat)

The US labels are very similar to the UK - but the American label is almost always says "Opened by the censor. No" and then printed with a circle no.

http://www.vicstamps.com/displays/2...2010oct.html

USA declared war on Germany on 06 April, 1917. The Censorship Board first met on 19 October, 1917. It was decided to censor the mails of Spain, Latin America and the Orient.

Thirteen censor stations were set up in seven American cities, four American territories, Shanghai, China and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. New York opened in December, 1917, San Francisco, San Antonio, Honolulu and San Juan in February, 1918.

Seattle and Manila were the last to open, in June, 1918. Blocks of censor numbers were assigned to each censor station with Key West being assigned numbers 1701 to 1800 and Manila 1801 to 1900.

For reasons unknown, censor stations continued to operate into the summer of 1919, long after 11 November.

[qutoe]... For reasons unknown, censor stations continued to operate into the summer of 1919, long after 11 November ...[/quote]

The Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany on 28/June.

KGB:

Thanks for this link.

This information tends to imply that the Examiner number ranges listed were all used at New York, and while this may be correct, I'd like to find something more definitive. I looked at his website but this was all the detail he provided, and did not identify his source.

I have compiled a small database of covers (about 150 thus far) but except for a few registered covers that identify the point of entry/exit from the US, its not easy to determine what office might have actually censored a particular letter. That is one reason I wanted to locate the list of Examiner numbers.

Using my small set of data, I can see that the Examiner # 1401-1500 and 1501-1600 both were found on covers from the Orient, so these were probably assigned to San Francisco and Honolulu, but that is only an assumption.

Similarly 1101-1200 are found on covers from Central America and several were back-stamped or addressed to New Orleans, so again, I have assumed that these numbers were used at that office.

Covers originating in Mexico tend to have 700, 800 and 2100 series, so those are likely candidates for the Texas and Arizona censorship. Those with the 2100 series tend to have Arizona transit markings so I can suspect they passed across the border there.

A lot of empirical analysis but few facts! I just know there is something definitive out there! It is just waiting to be found.

Thanks,

Mike

I've located a copy of the article, and have obtained a copy of the relevant page from Theo Van Dam's book.

I am still looking for a source which might identify which of the San Antonio Examiner numbers were assigned for use at the San Antonio sub-offices of El Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Brownsville, TX and Naco and Nogales, AZ.

Thanks to those of you who responded

Mike

Mike, I`ve looked about a bit and have not yet found the information you`re seeking. I`ll keep trying, though, as I find the subject to be quite interesting. Somewhere there is a publication regarding censorship for the war period, or perhaps just memos, but the information is there to be located. The biggest frustration I`ve had in searching is running into such complete records for World War Two. My hopes raise ... and then I see they are talking about the 40s!

Here`s an interesting article about WWI civil mail censorship in the Canal Zone with information relevant to your more general study: http://www.canalzonestudygroup.com/Issue142.pdf

KGB:

Thank you for that reference in the Canal Zone Philatelist. I am a member of the Canal Zone Study Group and have been through many of their publications, but appeared to have overlooked that one. I noticed several pieces of information which was quite new and informative to my interests.

The best reference for this area is apparently Theo Van Dam's "The Postal History of the AEF: 1917-1923" Second edition, 1990 and the two supplements from 1991 and 1993, which are as large or larger than the original publication. I'm looking for a copy locally that I can borrow first and examine to determine if I want to spend the purchase costs. It's not so much that I'm cheap, but just getting old and at a point where I need to downsize the literature section rather than grow it... Besides, this is more of a minor interest than a primary collecting area.

You are quite correct that there is a tremendous body of literature on the censorship during World War II, which is one reason I have been so frustrated with the lack of material describing the operations during World War I.

Also, if you will send me your email privately, I'll send you a copy of the data I have put together thus far. Since you find this topic interesting, you might enjoy reading some more. I don't have enough posts to email you.

Mike