USA - National Air Mail Week Covers/Cachets - May 15-21 1938

Springfield, Illinois
May 19, 1938

If I had a home state collection, this cover would be included as Springfield is the capital of the State of Illinois. 

I am laughing because I thought that was just me!   Happened a lot when I was beginning to explore Japan material that was non-Scott listed.

I try to justify it by saying it's simply the "tuition" cost of learning about an area.  (But I don't always buy that argument, even from myself!)

Washington, DC
May 20, 1938

Here is a cover postmarked at the District's Flagship Station that was flown from the Nation's capital. Notice that the sender marked the face of the cover at upper left with the annotation "Mailed on airship open for inspection May 15-21 inc." Further, the cover's recipient had apparently moved from Davenport to Aledo, Illinois.

The cover's reverse reveals that the envelope was American Airlines stationery -- it contains the sender's name and address, an American Airlines national air mail week event cachet, and a Davenport, Iowa receiving mark.

Don't you wish all cancels could be as clear & legible as this one?

Westerly, Rhode Island

This was sent to my great-grandfather (who originally had the collection that I started with). When my grandmother passed away 10 years ago I found this tucked away in her file box under "Miscellaneous Family Stuff".

I have encountered only a few printed cachets such as this one. I just bought a lot of NAMW covers and so will be scanning some soon.

Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 16, 1938
National Air Mail Week Slogan Cancel

I suspect that this slogan cancel went into use prior to the start of the National Air Mail Week campaign.  The key piece of information for me is that the slogan cancel states that there were 100 Minnesota NAMW towns/cachets.  That gives me a goal to reach for.

Minneapolis, Minnesota
April 23, 1938
National Air Mail Week Slogan Cancel

I finally got through the lot and found this slogan cancel from April 23, and so this is my earliest one.  I have a couple from Saint Paul as well.

Little Falls, Minnesota
Morrison County
Printed NAMW Cachet

One of the odder items in the lot of NAMW stuff I got was this Little Falls cachet printed on glossy paper.  Little Falls is the birthplace of Charles Lindbergh and they will never let you forget it.  

South Saint Paul, Minnesota
Dakota County
First Flight

If you aren't familiar with South Saint Paul (which means most everybody) the "Hook-Em-Cow" epithet might seem quite odd.  For many years until about 15 years ago, South Saint Paul was home to massive stockyards as it was a major rail stop.  In 1916 a booster club was founded called the "Hook-Em-Cows" whose main purpose was to aid in the revitalization of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival/Ice Palace which since 1885 was a festival held in the dead of winter (January/February) whose main feature was an edifice of some kind constructed entirely of ice.  The Winter Carnival also features various contests and a treasure hunt for a large medal or coin the finder of which these days gets several thousand dollars as well.




This is one of the larger ice palaces from 1986 at 128 feet (39 meters) tall.

Thank you René.  To be honest, I live in South Saint Paul.  

We are farther north than many Canadians.

Almelund, Minnesota
Chisago County

Apparently at least in some locations a courtesy cancel on a cacheted envelope was provided for.  Almelund is home of the Land O' Lakes brand which I am pretty sure will only be familiar to those in the region as I doubt they sell nationally.

Antonio (smauggie), I can add that Land O' Lakes brand is also available in Arizona and California, as it is the brand of butter my wife usually would buy in our home.  So, I think it must have expanded since its local beginnings.