The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yFigure 5. Stamp collector Ted Light prepared this envelope for the first day of issue of the zeppelin stamp in NewYork. The New York post office forwarded it by sea post to Germany, from where the Graf Zeppelin then flew it toChicago via Brazil. The presence of National Socialists at the German American reception for Eckener prevented Lightfrom obtaining an autograph. From the collection of Cheryl R. Ganz.Jewish men to be at that moment, and said, “Let’s forgetabout autographs and get out of here.” 17The swastika experiences at the exposition forced GermanAmericans, Chicago’s largest ethnic group, to facedifficult choices of national allegiance even before the outbreakof the Second World War, to reassess their identity,and to act on their convictions. The German Group of theWorld’s Fair had tied its nationalism to the proud display ofGerman accomplishments, both cultural and technological.It had fought the display of the swastika at all fair eventsbecause it represented a political party and anti-Semitism.When the Graf Zeppelin arrived with swastikas onits fins, there was no way to prevent the Consul Generalin Chicago and the German ambassador from displacingthe German Group of the World’s Fair as the welcomingleadership of the community. German Americans inChicago were forced to make choices, not only of theirpolitical alliance but also of their identity as Germans orAmericans. By the time the fair closed in November, Chicago’sGerman societies had divided over Nazi policy andthe Jewish question. They had been able to distinguishthe differences between the symbols of the Graf Zeppelinand the swastika. German Jews in America and GermanChristians in America would, however, find themselves nolonger unified as ‘German Americans.’ 18ConclusionBy placing the fifty-cent Graf Zeppelin stamp in thecontext of its philatelic story as well as its social and culturalstory, the significance of this issue is enhanced andhas a stronger appeal to larger audiences without diminishingthe philatelic study aspects. While many collectorsresearch and study the subject depicted on a stamp, theproduction of a stamp, or the uses of a stamp, fewer collectorsask, “Why was this particular stamp or series issuedat this time (beyond fulfilling a rate need) and what impactdid it have on senders, recipients, and society?” Further,while the postage stamp was a product of the federal government,the study of ephemera can reveal informationabout the organizations, corporations, or individuals whoproduced these paper objects intended for brief use beforebeing discarded.
n u m b e r 5 5 • 4 5Examining cause and effect can inspire collectors andresearchers to ask new questions and, as a result, can offernew insights. As for me, thinking outside the traditionalphilatelic and collector box has allowed me to understandnot only how the United States government and post officehelped subsidize this 1933 flight but also the role ofthe Graf Zeppelin and the fifty-cent stamp as symbols ofprogress and goodwill during tough political times andeconomic strife.Notes1. For an understanding of ways to study a subject internally,externally, or in context, see John M. Staudenmaier,Technology’s Storytellers: Reweaving the Human Fabric (Cambridge:Society for the History of Technology and MIT Press,1985).2. David M. Henkin, The Postal Age: The Emergence ofModern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 2007).3. This special triangular flight to Chicago was an extensionof the ninth and final 1933 transatlantic crossing of the GrafZeppelin. After flying from Germany to Brazil, the Graf Zeppelinmade stops in Miami, Akron, Chicago, and Akron beforereturning to Friedrichshafen, Germany by way of Seville, Spain.Although the Graf Zeppelin was the 127th design of the ZeppelinCompany, it was their 117th airship constructed.4. For an expanded study of this story, see: Cheryl R. Ganz,The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress (Champaign,Ill: University of Illinois Press, 2008).5. Peter Fritsche, A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation andthe Popular Imagination (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,1992); Henry Cord Meyer, Airshipmen, Businessmen and Politics,1890–1940 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press,1991); and Guillaume de Syon, Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship,1900–1939 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,2002). For “airmindedness” see Joseph J. Corn, The WingedGospel: America’s Romance with Aviation (Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Press, 1983, 2001), 12.6. “Hoheitszeichen der Luftschiffe,” Reichsgesetzblatt 77(8July 1933):457, Graf Zeppelin files, Dieter Leder collection,Meersburg, Germany.7. Chicago Tribune, 26 Oct. 1933, 4; and LZA 016/385-6Fahrtberichte LZ127 [logbook], 1933, Archiv der LuftschiffbauZeppelin G.m.b.H., Friedrichshafen. Wilhelm von Meister, interviewwith author, Peapack, N. J., July 1976. Chicago DailyNews, 26 Oct. 1933, 4–5; and “Mid-Week Pictorial,” New YorkTimes, 4 November 1933, 7.8. Chicago Daily News, 26 Oct. 1933, 4–5; and “Mid-WeekPictorial,” New York Times, 4 November 1933, 7.9. Meister interview.10. Memorandum of conversation between Secretary Hulland the German Chargé, Herr Rudolf Leitner, 14 September1933. Acting Postmaster General to Cordell Hull, 18 September1933, National Archives, College Park, Maryland.11. The artists at the Bureau of Engraving and Printingused a 1929 photograph of the Graf Zeppelin from its landingat Mines Field in Los Angeles on the World Flight. At that timethe zeppelin carried no government flag on its fins. Stamp DesignFile, National Postal Museum Library, Smithsonian InstitutionLibraries, Washington D. C.; Graf Zeppelin postage stamp files,Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Washington, D. C.12. Chicago Daily News, 26 Oct. 1933, 1. On 26 March 1931the Reichspost and Luftschiffbau Zeppelin agreed to the ZeppelinCompany’s share of the postal revenue: 5/6 of the total fees paidfor mail carried by the airship. John Duggan, “Income from Carryingthe Zeppelin Mail,” Zeppelin 12(February 1997):12. For arrangementsof the United States fees for this flight, see E. R. Whiteto F. W. von Meister, Stamp Design File, National Postal MuseumLibrary, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D. C.13. For further information on Graf Zeppelin postal flights,see John Duggan and Jim Graue, Commercial Zeppelin Flights toSouth America (Valleyford, Wash.: J. L. Diversified, 1995); MichelZeppelin Specialized Catalogue (Germany: 2003); and Sieger ZeppelinpostSpezial-Katalog, 22nd edition (Germany: 2001).14. James Farley, Postmaster General, to Cordell Hull, Secretaryof State, 23 October 1933, National Archives, CollegePark, Maryland.15. For further information about the security issues, seeHugo Eckener, Im Zeppelin Über Länder und Meere: Erlebnisseund Erinnerungen (Flensburg, Germany: Verlagshaus ChristianWolff, 1949); Ganz, The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair; and J. GordonVaeth, Graf Zeppelin: The Adventures of an Aerial Globetrotter(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), 161–162.16. Invitation and Zeppelin Tag Fest Programm, Cheryl R.Ganz collection, Chicago, Ill.: (Chicago) Sentinel, 9 November1933, 13.17. Theodore Light, interview with author, tape recording,Morton Grove, Ill., 25 October 1993.18. The swastika clearly inspired racial pride and patrioticobedience in Nazi followers, but it antagonized or embarrassedmany German Americans, who, in 1933, formed one of the largestethnic groups in Chicago. For further information on the GermanAmerican reaction to the Graf Zeppelin visit to Chicago, seeGanz, The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. For more informationon German Americans, see John A. Hawgood, The Tragedy ofGerman-America: The Germans in the United States of Americaduring the Nineteenth Century – and After (New York: G. P. Putnam’sSons, 1940); Melvin G. Holli, “German American Ethnicand Cultural Identity from 1890 Onward,” in Ethnic Chicago: AMulticultural Portrait, ed. Melvin G. Holli and Peter d’A. Jones(Grand Rapids , Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995);and Leslie V. Tischauser, The Burden of Ethnicity: The GermanQuestion in Chicago, 1914–1941 (New York: Garland, 1990).
Page 1 and 2:
Smithsonian InstitutionScholarly Pr
Page 3 and 4: smithsonian contributions to histor
Page 5: ContentsLETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF
Page 9: AcknowledgmentsThe symposium would
Page 12 and 13: 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t
Page 20 and 21: 1 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 25 and 26: “Little Colored Bits of Paper”C
Page 27 and 28: n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 7as something
Page 29 and 30: n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 9protest came
Page 31 and 32: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 1nals I revie
Page 33 and 34: WWI Philatelic Censuses of East Afr
Page 35 and 36: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 5Table 1. GEA
Page 37 and 38: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 7Figure 5. MA
Page 39 and 40: Explorations in the Official Regist
Page 41 and 42: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 1receipts. De
Page 43 and 44: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 3TABLE 2. Pop
Page 45 and 46: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 5different ge
Page 47: Introduction to the Second Symposiu
Page 59 and 60: “Food Will Win the War”: Motor
Page 61 and 62: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 1business tha
Page 63 and 64: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 3support for
Page 65 and 66: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 53. “Postal
Page 67: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 7“Farmers W
Page 81 and 82: Picking Up the Pieces: The Aftermat
Page 83 and 84: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 3and U.S. adm
Page 85 and 86: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 5September, 1
Page 87 and 88: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 7Figure 9. Th
Page 89: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 9“B.C.O.F.
Page 101: Introduction to the Fourth Symposiu
Page 104 and 105:
9 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
1 0 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 112 and 113:
1 0 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 114 and 115:
1 0 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 116 and 117:
1 0 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 118 and 119:
1 0 8 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 120 and 121:
1 1 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 122 and 123:
1 1 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 124 and 125:
1 1 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 126 and 127:
1 1 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 128 and 129:
1 1 8 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 131 and 132:
“Why Is a Raven Like a Writing De
Page 133 and 134:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 3and prepai
Page 135 and 136:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 5Figure 3.
Page 137 and 138:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 7Figure 5.
Page 139 and 140:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 9A Final No
Page 141 and 142:
America’s First Carrier Service:T
Page 143 and 144:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 3Figure 3.
Page 145 and 146:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 5The glazed
Page 147 and 148:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 7Intercity
Page 149 and 150:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 9The End of
Page 151 and 152:
The U.S. 1847 Issue:Stamps That Cha
Page 153 and 154:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 3the positi
Page 155 and 156:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 5stamps as
Page 157 and 158:
From the Pulpit to the Post: Anti-
Page 159 and 160:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 9The allege
Page 161 and 162:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 5 1Individual
Page 163:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 5 337. Archiv
Page 166 and 167:
1 5 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 168 and 169:
1 5 8 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 170 and 171:
1 6 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 172 and 173:
1 6 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 174 and 175:
1 6 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 176 and 177:
1 6 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
show all

The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?