100+ Post Offices Celebrated the Eclipse with a Souvenir You Can Mail for

... And the Word from Wyoming

From Lincoln City, Oregon to McClellansville, South Carolina, post offices from—literally—coast to coast commemorated the eclipse of a lifetime last week with limited-time pictorial cancellation stamps for application to letters and postcards. Most of these post offices were in communities that experienced eclipse totality.

Post offices in more than 125 communities have special postmarks that are still available, for the 30 days beginning August 21. Idaho is best represented, with 29 post offices offering the cancellations, every single one of which was in the eclipse's path of totality (100% total eclipse by the moon). Oregon ranks second with 23 post offices, all but one of which experienced totality. (Union, Oregon, according to my sources, experienced a "mere" 99.4% sun coverage.) In Missouri and Wyoming 17 post offices have special cancels available, and Nebraska ranks next with 12. Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, and Illinois are also represented among 'totality' post offices.



A handful of other post offices, dispersed around the country, experienced the eclipse more modestly but joined in the fun. Of these, a postmark available in San Diego represents the "least eclipsed" post office to make an offering. (To be fair, it is on behalf of a science center.) Among other outliers is Union Pier, Michigan, at 86%, among the closest to the eclipse in the state's far southwestern corner (a mere 283 miles from totality). In Mississippi a postmark representing Stennis Space Center (77%) can be had by mailing to the Postmaster in Jackson (84%). And this time around, what happens in Vegas (71%) doesn't have to stay there; mail your envelopes or postcards to: Postmaster, 1001 East Sunset Road, Las Vegas, NV 89199-9998 for their commemorative cancellation.

The Postal Bulletin from Aug. 17, 2017 provides a list of [nearly all] operations offering the cancellations; link here. It includes instructions for submitting your items for cancellation as well.

About 70 post offices are offering a 'standard' pictorial cancellation of this design:



However, many different designs are available. Some of my favorites include maps, featuring the eclipse's geographic arc, that tie the event more to the place. For example, Dawson Springs, Kentucky; Herculaneum, Missouri; and Stapleton, Nebraska:



Others highlight local scenes or monuments, for example: Jefferson City, Missouri; Hyannis, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Gering, Nebraska:



[Note: Please excuse the image quality above. The images stem from the Postal Bulletin, which never offers a very good resolution for these.]

In Nebraska several offices opened temporary units in parallel with nature's festivities: In Beatrice the postmark was "available Aug. 21 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Homestead National Monument of America." In Gering: "8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Five Rocks Amphitheatre." Scottsbluff: "8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Landers Soccer Complex." And Seward: "Aug. 21 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Temporary Post Office at Junto Event Center."

The Word from Wyoming

Perhaps my favorite set of cancellations comes from Wyoming, where many participating offices made a special effort to marry the celestial with the terrestrial by including their community's particular location on the planet by way of latitude and longitude coordinates, and time and duration of totality. Simple and to the point, many of these daters resemble a post office's "standard" four-bar cancellation device—literally, as illustrated below, a date stamp with four solid bars sticking out the right side for the purpose of cancelling a stamp. For these special postmarks, the bars are replaced with four lines of text featuring specific eclipse information for the community: the time of totality (in Mountain Daylight Time); the latitude; the longitude; and the duration of totality.

Here is an illustration of four-bar cancellations in regular use, and as interpreted by way of two of these eclipse postmarks, from Lander and Powder River, Wyoming:



Curious as to how this set of designs came to be, I checked in with Corporate Communications for USPS's Western Area and Colorado/Wyoming District, which did a nice job of promoting their impressive assortment of pictorials. Here are stories they posted re: Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Wyoming.

They referred me to Antoinett ("Toni") Benthusen, Postmaster of Powder River, Wyoming post office (a PTPO, for those who are into that kind of thing). Powder River, located 40 miles west of Casper, has a population of "approximately 17 (not counting the dogs and cats)." The community is located on U.S. 20/26, one major route for those traveling between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Yellowstone / Jackson Hole area.

Here is the Powder River post office, photographed in 1997 by Postlandia friend John Gallagher. (We also have another photo, taken last year, by Jimmy Emerson.)



Toni provided some insights into the pictorial design process:

"I got the idea for my design from Julie Greer, Postmaster of Upton, WY. She suggested using the four-bar dater and replacing them with the Coordinates for Powder River..." Coordinates and other eclipse information came from eclipse2017.org.

One step in the pictorial creation process is copyright management, by way of artist's release: "When I went to fill out the paperwork there was an Artist Release form which either I needed to fill out as the Artist, or have the person who created the artwork fill it out. So, I called Julie and asked her if she would sign the form as the Artist. She said no, that I was the Artist; she only gave me the idea and then I ran with it, making me the Artist. WOW was I blown away, me an Artist?! I couldn't believe it!!!!!"

At this point "other offices (7 in all) started calling me and asking if they could use my design." And they needed help by a bona fide artist. "Would I help them with the paperwork since I had already done mine, and gotten approval to use the design for my stamp? I was so honored that they wanted to use my design and that" Corporate Communications specialist "David Rupert thought enough of it to use on a release." [See links, above.] "He then asked me to create a flyer with all the [participating] offices in Wyoming, and their addresses," for distribution to their customers. Here's a snippet from the flyer featuring several of the unique designs representing the state:



Toni recounts her experience at the Powder River post office last Monday:

[W]e sat just a few feet north of the center of the path of totality. This gave us a crystal clear view of the Eclipse, and what a spectacular event it was! The 20 or so people who chose to park off the edge of the highway were ecstatic about their choice! Immediately after the event a lady from Italy, who is currently living in California, came in to mail a backpack full of extra things she didn’t want to haul along on her trip. When she saw that I was selling the Eclipse Stamps and sleeves and doing the Special Cancellation she went outside and spread the word to everyone out there who all came in and bought me out of sheets of stamps and sleeves, and then bought envelopes to collect and send. I did 160 special cancellations that one day, which for my office is Huge!

I have since restocked my office with Eclipse stamps and sleeves so anyone interested can still purchase them from me or any other offices who still have them in stock. And it’s not too late to get the special cancellation postmark until September 21, 2017. Just send your cards and/or envelopes bearing First-Class postage stamps inside another larger self-addressed stamped envelope to any Post Office who are doing the special postmark.

I was very impressed by how calm and nice everyone was during the days before and after the event! ... The business people in Casper and Riverton interviewed on TV said ... they were very pleased with the amount of customers they had. So...

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING THIS ONE OF THE FONDEST MEMORIES IN MY LIFE!

Finally, here are three photos from the day in Powder River, courtesy Postmaster Toni: getting ready for the big day, with glasses and special shirt for the occasion; viewers in from out of town, in front of the distinctively Wyoming cowboy-signed post office; and an image of the eclipse in progress, through a pinhole projected against the blue collection box.







See USPS eclipse photos at USPS Link. Data for the Postlandia map, top, from Vox.

Celebrating a Century in Merrill, Wisconsin

USPS and the local community teamed up last week to celebrate the Merrill, Wisconsin's historic post office building centennial. The building, located at 430 E. Second Street, opened April 17, 1917 and is still in service.

This photo of the facility was taken by Postlandia friend John Gallagher in 2005:



To commemorate the occasion the Postal Service and Merrill Historical Society set up displays and exhibits featuring historic artifacts and photos at the post office. A press release [somewhat rearranged by yours truly] describes the following special activities undertaken on Saturday, April 29:

Retired Letter Carrier Ron Behm was outside the post office building with his dog sled team as a reminder that mail didn't always arrive in a motor-powered vehicle. Postmaster Joelle Nelson and [Milwaukee-based] Lakeland District Business Development Specialist Dave Janda were available inside the Post Office to share the many ways the US Postal Service has changed and the services they currently provide. ... Behind-the-scenes tours of the Post Office led by retired postal employees were given to participants in the Merrill Historical Society's 2017 History Hunt. The event also took participants out to the country to visit the current/former locations of 12 rural post offices and learn about some of the area's colorful history.

The Merrill Historical Society uploaded several images from the 2017 History Hunt, of which I snagged a couple. Loving that birthday cake!





The History Hunt took people to society-proclaimed "obscure places" in Lincoln County, all of which housed post offices a long time ago:

• Champagne (1878—1887)
• Chat (1884—1911)
• Corning (1879—1902)
• Cotter (1903—1910)
• Doering (1903—1939)
• Dudley (1880—1881)
• Dunfield (1904—1909)
• Finn (1899—1903)
• Heller (1890—1921)
• O'Day (1910—1912)
• Schultz (1901—1911)

Wisconsin's WJFW reported from the event, led by Postmaster Joelle Nelson, who has worked at many Wisconsin post offices over the years: "A trip to the back rooms reveals locked passageways for postal inspectors to secretly observe employees through fake vents. Upstairs, an empty old safe with a huge iron door stands open. Glass cases in the lobby house pictures and items from 1917, 1967, and years in between. Nelson's favorite feature is a giant glass skylight in the main lobby." Tours today can be arranged by contacting the Post Office at 715-539-3287.

The building's cornerstone declares the building's construction start date to be 1915. A handful of additional photos of the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), can be found here. The building's NRHP registration form notes: "The postal lobby is unique among the Wisconsin post offices surveyed; it has a cofferred ceiling with an octagonal skylight. The design of the skylight is enriched through the addition of geometric tracery. Modern lighting fixtures have been installed in such a way as to minimize the Impact on the cofferring. The lobby retains other original features, including its original tile floor, marble wainscot, and marble door surrounds. The walls and ceiling are of plaster."

I, for one, have never seen a century-old post office with an octagonal skylight. I also can't recommend the two-minute video story at WJFW highly enough. Please go watch!

The building's National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) form provides more details about Post Office history in the town: "The Merrill Post Office was built in 1915 to the designs of the Office of Supervising Architect. It was the first federally owned post office in Merrill. Prior to its construction, the post office was housed at various locations. The first post office hi Merrill was located in the Jenny Hotel, owned by Cyrus Stowbridge, the first Postmaster. Prior to the construction of the current building, the post office rented space in the Masonic Temple."

You can get a physical souvenir of the Merrill post office building's 100th anniversary: a Postmaster-autographed postal card with limited-edition pictorial cancellation applied on the day of the event. Some copies of the item are available for $10 from the Merrill Historical Society. Here's part of the item in a scanned example:



The Merrill Historical Society continues to commemorate the occasion, with an exhibit that opened May 13:

A new exhibit featuring an overview of the U.S. Postal Service, including some history on railroad postal cars, opened May 1st at the Merrill History & Culture Center, 100 E. Third Street. According to exhibit chairperson Pat Burg, the exhibit also tells the story of some of Merrill's early Letter Carriers and Post Offices. A small model train layout in the lower level will showcase the interesting way that railroads came to be part of the mail delivery system. The Society plans to create a Merrill postal time capsule to be opened 50 years from now. For further information on the dates and times for the exhibit, or to loan items for this exhibit, please contact Merrill Historical Society at 715-536-5652, or see the website at www.merrillhistory.org.

Getting Festive—NOLA's Pop-Up Post Office

In May 2014 Judy Walker of the The Times-Picayune reported (quite nicely) on the pop-up post office that appears at Jazz Fest and several other events around New Orleans. Technically it's a USPS Mobile Unit, a fully-loaded truck that can sell items of philatelic interest such as stamps and commemorative covers though it handles full packaging and shipping services as well.

My lovely girlfriend Amy reports that the Mobile Unit was open 11—5 during all seven days of Jazz Fest (which included two Sundays!) this year. Here are a couple of photos from one of the rainier days down by the Gulf:





A special pictorial cancellation is available for each day of the event. This is a proud addition to my postmark collection!



Can't make it down for the big event? Walker reports that "you might recognize these folks if you are a customer at the downtown New Orleans post office on Loyola Avenue, their regular place of work." Though other celebrations in the area also receive a postal presence: "The mobile unit sets up for Jazz Fest, Essence Fest, the Voodoo Experience, and, sometimes, at large conventions ..."

Read the full article to find out about some of the more interesting items that get mailed at the Mobile Unit.

Nice Touch: Fort Worth, Texas

Last summer outgoing mail processing operations were consolidated from the Jack D. Watson Post Office building -- also known as the Fort Worth Main Post Office and Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) -- to the North Texas P&DC in nearby Coppell (about 18 miles northwest of downtown Dallas).

Here's a photo of the Fort Worth facility:


Actually, USPS's plan for originating mail in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex resembled a game of musical chairs among the three P&DCs it had in the area: Dallas, Fort Worth, and North Texas. Here's USPS's explanation from a news release posted last February:

... the Postal Service has made the decision to move all incoming mail processing operations from the Dallas Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) to the Fort Worth Processing and Distribution Center. Once the transfer is complete, the mail processing operation of the Dallas P&DC will cease.

All outgoing, or originating mail-processing operations now handled at the Fort Worth P&DC will be moved to the North Texas P&DC; however, the Fort Worth P&DC will continue to process mail destined for delivery in parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

The Fort Worth P&DC will handle destinating, or incoming mail for 3-digit ZIP code areas 760, 761 and 764, as well as 751, 752 and 753, mail previously handled at the Dallas P&DC. In addition to 750 and 754 mail, the North Texas P&DC will now handle incoming mail for 762 and 763 ZIP areas currently processed at the Fort Worth P&DC.

Outgoing / originating mail is that which you've placed in a mailbox; it's mail that has been entered into the mailstream. Destinating mail is that which has been processed and is nearing delivery.

Quote this fine article by Fort Worth's Star-Telegram: "The plant is not shutting down; it is part of an operational plan to shift outgoing mail to Coppell," Bolen said. "If you mail a letter, it will go to Coppell, and if it's local, it will come back to Fort Worth, where it will be sorted and processed."

Here's the front entrance for the building, leading to the retail area:


Now, what about that Dallas mail, which was slated to be shipped to Fort Worth to replace the Fort Worth mail that got shifted to North Texas instead? Dallas mail processing presently remains in Dallas -- a victory, one advocate for the cancellation of the proposed change says, in "a fight for first-tier mail services in North Texas." (Read more here.) So, when originating Fort Worth mail processing operations were moved to North Texas, there was no Dallas mail to take its place. So, August 10, 2012 was the last day of the Fort Worth, TX mail-processing postmark.

So here's where the nice touch comes in. As revealed in the pictorial postmarks announcement in the Aug. 9, 2012 Postal Bulletin, the Postal Service created a pictorial cancellation in honor of the last day of cancelling operations at the Fort Worth P&DC. That has not happened since I started collecting cancellations from around the country. Since I was in the area at the time, I decided to check it out for myself!

I handed over a couple of stamped items to be cancelled with the device. The staff was also nice enough to also give me an item handed out to Fort Worth plant employees that afternoon: a stamped #10 envelope postmarked with the same cancel. It might not be everything, but it's still a class act. Here's a close-up:



As postmarks go, this was crystal-clear and impeccably applied. The postmark design itself is beautiful, and resembles [at least the northern half of] the Jack Watson building. (Perhaps the building before some additions?) If you compare to the two photos I've provided and the satellite image below, you can definitely see the resemblance.

February Pictorial Postmark / Post Office Tour

Featuring a handful of postmark images and information from U.S. Postal Bulletin #22357. In one of our most recent posts we visited a wonderfully remote corner of the country with Valentine, Texas. Valentine offers a pictorial postmark for which people submit their mail for cancellation from around the world.

For those who might be a little less well-off romantically speaking, there's an apt pictorial postmark available from northeast Oklahoma by way of the Broken Arrow post office. This 20,000-square-foot post office building has been occupied by the Postal Service for 30 years.



The Broken Arrow Station postmark can be sent for at the address at right, and is available for 30 days as of February 14.



USPS introduced its Rosa Parks stamp with two first-day ceremonies in Detroit on February 4. However, Rosa Parks Station pictorial cancellations are available from both Oklahoma City and the small town of Newtonville, New Jersey, which lies 45 minutes southeast of Philadelphia. Why there? The pictorial is sponsored by the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey, which lies in Newtonville. The pictorial postmark is available for 30 days beginning February 9.



The Newtonville post office is rather isolated for a New Jersey operation: the closest post office lies nearly seven miles away. The post office building is rather nondescript, sharing residence with, well, an actual residence!



However, the sign along the road is distinct and nice:


One of the nicest pictorial designs I've seen in a long time comes courtesy the Tucson post office, or, more precisely, the Postal History Foundation in Tucson, discussed in this previous entry. If you think that state appears to contain the states of Arizona and New Mexico, well, there's good reason for that!



The Campton, NH and Plymouth, NH post offices are offering pictorial cancellations tied to the release of the White Mountain National Forest quarter (February 21). Campton and Plymouth both lie near the southern end of the forest. The Plymouth post office is a large WPA building with interior mural.





Until next time!

Valentine, Texas

It's February 14th, and we know what that means. We get to either discuss the joys of love, the lack thereof, or discuss some post office related to the name Valentine. I stand by my decision.

If you'd like to view the definition of the middle of nowhere, you need not look much further than Valentine, Texas. The town, according to its 'City Limits' sign, maintains a population of 217 people. Located in the state's southwest panhandle along U.S. 90, the town is closer to Mexico (25 miles from the Rio Grande) than from any neighboring town (the arts community of Marfa -- 35 miles -- or the I-10 motel stop of Van Horn -- 38 miles). In fact, these distances place Valentine far enough away from any other community that its post office must remain open at six hours a day according to USPS's POStPlan. By the new terminology it becomes a "Part-Time Post Office" (PTPO) that reports to the local postal District (in this case, Rio Grande). If the distance were less than 25 miles to either post office then Valentine's would have been reduced to a two-hour operation. In fact, the Valentine post office was threatened with closure under USPS's ill-fated Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI) back in 2011.

Here's a satellite view of the situation:


Welcome to Valentine:


The most interesting facet of the landscape lies about halfway between Valentine and Marfa to the Southeast. Ten miles out a massive, round object protrudes from the horizon, one so unexpected that you wonder if you've teleported the 200 miles north to Roswell. As it turns out this is one of ten U.S.A.F. Tethered Aerostat Radar System sites along the southern borders of the United States. Located at sites from Yuma, AZ to southern Florida and Puerto Rico, these blimp-like objects rise and scan for aircraft and surface-level intrusions from abroad. Who knew?

Marfa TARS:


Beyond this (and an art installation just west of town known as Prada Marfa) the land is peppered with ranches. Train tracks parallel U.S. 90 and bisect Valentine. The landscape is flat though hills are visible in the distance. As we might say in urban areas, the sky is big.

Here's a view east of town:


I was pleased to find a beautiful stonework Public Library in Valentine. The building has been maintained beautifully (though, to be fair, it was dedicated in 2009) and even pays homage to the main branch of the New York Public Library with two lions out front!



You can read more about the Kay Johnson Public Library and its dedication here and here, respectively.

The Valentine post office was established Jan. 22, 1886. Here the post office is a big deal. Heck, the Valentine post office is big all over the place. The post office offers an annual pictorial cancellation with which senders the world request their Valentine's mail to be postmarked.

Valentine, TX post office:


Valentine's 2013 pictorial features two 'love birds' sitting on a ranch landscape fence. To order a cancel (whose requests must be received within 30 days), send your request and items to be postmarked to the address at right.

Unique Stop: Postal History Foundation

I spent two afternoons at one post office. But this isn't your average P.O. The Postal History Foundation (PHF) in Tucson, Arizona (est. 1960) is an institution that's more than worth a visit for a postal buff.





Many stamp collectors recall that two of the best USPS Philatelic Centers in the country lied in Providence, RI and Tucson, AZ. These were located within each city's respective main post office and had all the stamps you could want, and more. They would feature frequent pictorial cancellations as well. These are now gone, though my father obtained a postmark from Tucson's "Old Pueblo" Philatelic Center before it closed:



Without a dedicated philatelic staff, something unique has happened: present-day Tucson pictorial cancellations are now serviced, instead of by USPS, by a Contract Postal Unit (CPU): namely, the Postal History Foundation's. Longtime readers might recall that there was an 11-11-11 pictorial cancel available in Tucson. Look closely at the image, and you can see the address is that of the PHF. Here's a cancel I received back in the mail―beautifully struck, as you can see.



Effectively, the PHF is now the Philatelic Center for Tucson. But I'd realized none of this when I walked in. I just went to visit a CPU and get a cancel for my collection. The PHF maintains a Postmark America-style permanent pictorial, as well as a couple of standard round daters. The stamp selection was impeccable (read: much more thorough than that of nearly any 'standard' post office), and I bought a sheet of the U.S.S. Constitution stamps.



But the PHF had much more, so I was lead around the floor of the foundation and library. I spent most of my time with the amicable and knowledgeable Paul Nelson, and took photos so you can take a tour along with me!

Look―I'm the Naco Postmaster!


Naco is a Mexican border town about 100 miles southeast of Tucson. The old interior structure, including P.O. boxes and window, is at the Postal History Foundation. They preserve many postal artifacts there, which I'll let you visit and discover for yourselves. Or you can view their website here. But you're allowed in the back, and I found it loads of fun.

The primary work room was decorated with many enlarged stamps along the walls. Around the room there were two primary clusters of tables, each of which contained work stations at which volunteers sorted stamps -- cancelled or mint -- and other materials for the foundation, much of which is available free of charge to educational institutions around the country. There were about four volunteers for most of the first afternoon I spent there.

Beyond this there is a reading room with art exhibits and two libraries stacked with goodies, including every issue of Linn's Stamp News ever publishe, as well as archives of other philatelic publications, postal references, and other history books.



In the museum there are older donated stamps available for at or below face value; I bought $40 worth. Here Paul told me about the PHF's many youth education initiatives. If you donate your cancelled stamps to the PHF, they will make packets available to teachers to help teach kids about anything from history to transportation. They make these themed sets of stamps available to teachers absolutely free. I think it's a great cause.

Tucson's got several other interesting postal facets to it. But those will have to wait for another post.

12-12-12 Postmarks

Howdy, folks! It's the last triple-date of the century here on Earth, and the U.S. Postal Service has made available a handful of "12-12-12" pictorial cancellations for those interested in obtaining one. (Of course, you could always get a "DEC 12 2012" postmark anywhere today, but that's not quite the same, is it?) If you're interested in any of these special cancels, please mail the postal card / envelope with the stamp to be cancelled, along with a request to the appropriate postal official, to the address shown at the right. Requests must be received within 30 days. The following information about these commemorative cancels was made available in the most recent Postal Bulletin.

The first commemorative cancels comes courtesy of (what appears to be) the Western Pennsylvania District office, located with the Pittsburgh Main Post Office.


Several post offices in South Dakota are offering 12-12-12 cancels of their own. They're particularly nice as the pictorials present a map of the state with the towns accurately located therein. The instructions for obtaining any of these cancels is the same as above.



I visited one of these offices, that in Buffalo, back in 2008, while heading toward the Geographic Center of the 50 States.

Buffalo, SD post office


Hope you enjoy!

11/11/11 Postmarks

For the philatelist in you, you might think it fun to obtain a cancel commemorating this once-a-century mathematical treat. Unfortunately, as Veterans Day is a federal holiday, very few post offices are actually open and thus few Nov. 11, 2011 hand-cancels are actually available.

Here are some ways to get 11/11/11 cancels. The first four methods are date-specific -- that is, they can only be done on 11/11/11 itself. The last way could be accomplished after the fact.
1. Find a post office that's actually open. I'm thinking the Main Post Offices of New York and Chicago as well as a few scattered Air Mail Centers. Even offices open seven days a week in rather large cities, such as in Philadelphia, are closed on Veterans Day. Some post offices in malls are required by lease to be operational during all mall hours, seven days a week; but Veterans Day generally trumps even that.

2. Accept a potentially horrible spray-on cancel from the local processing facility of your choice. That is, just put a letter in a mailbox today. Mail it to yourself. Admire the wonder that is overnight delivery, especially because some postal executives would rather not have it around for too much longer.

3. Go to a Contract Postal Unit (CPU). If you're anywhere near a city in Ohio, Michigan, or Iowa, you're especially in luck because Meijer stores and some Iowa regional super-supermarket chains have CPUs at each of their locations. You can use the USPS Locator to see if there are any contract facilities near you. Most sizable towns/cities have at least one, and since they're not staffed by USPS workers they should be open today. Note: This is always an iffy proposition, because the workers / manager there might have no idea what you're talking about, and/or they might have been instructed not to cancel anything with their dating devices. It's not their fault.

4. Pop in at the nearest USPS processing center Bulk Mail Entry Unit -- assuming there's a visitor or bulk mailer entrance so you wouldn't get arrested for trespassing. I believe these are open on federal holidays. See if you can plead with them to get an 11/11/11 cancel. There might be a non-bulk mail-specific dater lying around that could be used for this.

5. The most recent Postal Bulletin details several 11/11/11 pictorial cancellations, which one can request through the mail for 30 days. Some are Veterans Day-specific, others are coincidental. But for pure numerals, they can't be beat. Instructions are shown in the (rather large) graphic.



Groton, CT is a philatelic stalwart. Combine a local Naval Sub Base and an active local philatelic society to obtain frequent pictorial cancellations. The 30th anniversary of the U.S.S. Ohio is also being commemorated on a pictorial on our other coast in Keyport, WA! Collect them both!

The Ocala, FL pictorial is the only one that overtly commemorates Veterans Day, though Abbot, ME's Monument Square Station cancel could be seen as related to the date, given its Honor Roll Dedication. Normal, IL's post office sesquicentennial postmark and Tucson, AZ's centennial Steam Train Station postmark are coincidental to the date, but I'll still mail for them anyway!

Yours in collecting,
-- Evan K.

Philatelic News: Pictorials in the Berkshires

Announced in the Philately section of the most recent Postal Bulletin: Two post offices in western Massachusetts are hosting pictorial cancellations for 30 days. I visited both post offices the first week of this year.

Chester, MA


The quaint and photogenic town of Chester, along the banks of a small river that flows through a valley in the Berkshires, is hosting a postmark commemorating 170 years of railroading in Chester:



To mail for this postmark, send philatelic material along with SASE to the address above.

North Adams, MA
A great vacation spot in the Berkshires, North Adams was revitalized a decade ago when a consortium of curators decided to occupy the abandoned Sprague Electric factory and found the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). It's a wonderful museum with changing exhibits every year. A featured exhibit occupies a football field-sized factory floor room. I'm not a fan of all contemporary art, but this place is always worth it.

The North Adams post office is featuring a pictorial commemorating its 100th anniversary. Below, the office and the cancel, which can be mailed for by sending philatelic material and an SASE to the address listed.





See the resemblance? (Despite the fact that the postmark was drawn from a different corner of the building.) I particularly enjoy the old truck to the left and the new truck to the right of the building.

Bonus:
Fairfield, Ohio, the fantastic post office covered in this GP blog entry from November, is has its own pictorial beginning May 31.