Counties E-L

Juniata County

Written by on August 26, 2021 in Juniata with 0 Comments

From the U.S. to Farther India and Back Again

Written by on September 15, 2020 in Exhibits, Lancaster, Presentations with 0 Comments

From the U.S. to Farther India and Back Again: A Five-Month Journey of a Baptist Missionary Cover presented by Dr. Charles DiComo.

S.S. Tahiti

Written by on July 12, 2020 in Exhibits, Lancaster, Presentations with 0 Comments
S.S. Tahiti

A presentation on the S.S. Tahiti by Dr. Charles DiComo.

The Development of Perforations on U.S. Postage Stamps During the Toppan, Carpenter Era: 1855-1857.

Written by on June 25, 2020 in Lancaster, Presentations with 0 Comments

Scranton, PA

Written by on June 6, 2020 in Lackawanna with 0 Comments
Scranton, PA

Though anthracite coal was being mined in Carbondale to the north and Wilkes-Barre to the south, the industries that precipitated the city’s early rapid growth were iron and steel. In the 1840s, brothers Selden Theophilus Scranton and George Whitfield Scranton, who had worked at Oxford Furnace in Belvidere, New Jersey, founded what became Lackawanna Iron & Coal, later developing as the Lackawanna Steel Company. It initially started producing iron nails, but that venture failed due to low-quality iron. The Erie Railroad’s construction in New York State was delayed by its having to acquire iron rails as imports from England. The Scrantons’ firm decided to switch its focus to producing T-rails for the Erie; the company soon became a major producer of rails for the rapidly expanding railroads.

In 1851, the Scrantons built the Lackawanna and Western Railroad (L&W) northward, with recent Irish immigrants supplying most of the labor, to meet the Erie Railroad in Great Bend, Pennsylvania. Thus they could transport manufactured rails from the Lackawanna Valley to New York and the Midwest.

Figure 1 Fancy cancel of the Scrantonia Rail, a cross section of the product that brought prosperity to Scranton. Both letters authored by Selden T. Scranton in June of 1850. Date lined from the Lackawanna Iron Works. Scrantonia was the first name for the post office from 1850-1851 certainly better than the local name of Shallow Hollow.

Figure 2 Cover date lined January of 1851 with the 34 mm CDS “Scrantonia

Figure 3 By 1852 the official name was changed from Scrantonia to Scranton. Interestingly, the solution for the Post Master was to have the last 2 letters removed from the 34 CDS resulting in the frequently encountered off centered town name marking.

Jacobson – Litiz to Bethlehem

Written by on April 3, 2013 in Featured, Lancaster, Northampton with 0 Comments
A 5 cts. 1847 from a small Pennsylvania town.  Alexander [THE UNITED STATES 1847 ISSUE: A COVER CENSUS] records this cover and one other 5 cts. 1847 cover from Litiz. According to the Official Record Book of the Post Office Department [July 1, 1847 - June 30, 1851], 200 5 cts. stamps were delivered to Litiz.

A 5 cts. 1847 from a small Pennsylvania town.
Alexander [THE UNITED STATES 1847 ISSUE: A COVER CENSUS] records this cover and one other 5 cts. 1847 cover from Litiz.
According to the Official Record Book of the Post
Office Department [July 1, 1847 – June 30, 1851],
200 5 cts. stamps were delivered to Litiz.

Shock – Lancaster to Columbia

Written by on April 3, 2013 in Featured, Lancaster with 0 Comments
A 5 cts. 1847 from a small Pennsylvania town.  Alexander [THE UNITED STATES 1847 ISSUE: A COVER CENSUS] records five 5 cts. 1847 covers from Lancaster. This cover is not among those listed. According to the Official Record Book of the Post Office Department [July 1, 1847 - June 30, 1851], 1,600 5 cts. stamps were delivered to Lancaster.

A 5 cts. 1847 from a small Pennsylvania town.
Alexander [THE UNITED STATES 1847 ISSUE: A COVER CENSUS] records five 5 cts. 1847 covers from Lancaster. This cover is not among those listed. According to the Official Record Book of the Post
Office Department [July 1, 1847 – June 30, 1851],
1,600 5 cts. stamps were delivered to Lancaster.

Top