Readers of the Feb. 2012 Gaslight News and this blog may recall the articles about the many and varied incarnations of Riverton post offices. In the course of researching the articles, I crossed paths on the Internet with Doug D’Avino of the New Jersey Postal History Society (NJPHS), and we commiserated on the difficulty of coming up with fresh newsletter content. We concocted a bargain in which he helped us by providing some facts and a vintage photo and we sent him our long-play version of Special Delivery–Riverton’s United States Post Office for use in his organization’s newsletter.
Jean Walton, the NJPHS Secretary, just sent me the link for their 60-page May publication. This prodigious award-winning quarterly journal explores the many aspects of New Jersey postal history. This issue includes a wide range of articles, both long and short, touching upon the broad range of our State’s postal history.
Our article is only a fraction of this fascinating issue which investigates a variety of themes including: From Guadalcanal to the Garden State; Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey; Early Scouting Post Cards Posted in New Jersey; NJ Central Hauls the Mail; Titanic Mail Clerk John Starr March, and much more.
As the interests of the NJPHS and some readers of of this may intersect, I bring this to your attention should you want more details about their organization, meetings, and projects. Click here for membership information.
Here’s one of their projects…
If you have a postcard depicting any New Jersey post office not already displayed on the Post Offices of New Jersey photo gallery, look on page 64 (actually the fourth page; this issue starts with page 61) of the May 2012 NJPHS journal.
And one more…
The NJPHS will hold its annual meeting over this Memorial Day Weekend at the Annual Exhibit of the North New Jersey Federated Stamp Clubs, Inc. (NOJEX 2012) on Sunday, May 27, 2012, in Secaucus, NJ. The three-day event is appropriately billed as “A World Series of Philately Exhibition.” Details here.
Finally, I find that collaborating with persons across the miles often helps fill in missing pieces of our own history puzzles. In communications with Jean Walton, layout editor for the NJPHS, she told me about a man who inquired of their organization last May hoping to find the story behind a Mosler safe he had acquired.
“I have an Mosler antique postmasters safe from the late 1800’s. Please help me find out information about it, ” he implores.
He adds:
It is about 5 1/2 ft tall x 3ft x 3ft. It weighs thousands of pounds. I think it may have been painted by a famous painter. The inside has the signatures of the old postmasters. I think it may have been painted by a famous painter. The inside has the signatures of the old postmasters. It says iverton, NJ Was there ever an iverton post office or was it originally Riverton? I am trying to put together the history of the safe. Is there a list of old postmasters? The safe is very interesting and I thought your association would be interested in knowing about it. Please write back Thank You – GK
Jean was unable to give a definitive answer at the time, other than to offer that it was indeed from Riverton. She kindly passed along to us what she knew and hopes that we may succeed in getting an answer. It is nice to know that I am not the only one with a lot of incomplete open files of information that I mean to get to one day.
If any reader has a clue about this safe, please send your thoughts. Seeing that list of postmasters would help narrow down things, but I have not yet been able to contact the person I only know as “GK.”
I love a good puzzle, don’t you. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
