In Nov 1883, Charles Aiken of Aiken's Free Museum in Colorado Springs, needed a taxidermist. In this podcast we explore his recruitment methods, the intersection between commerce & science, and how Aiken became a pioneer of #ornithology in Colorado.
open.substack.com/pub/stampden...
#philately
This article was based on my recent Display at Virtual Stampex 2026, which was just voted as joint Best Display. My humble thanks to everyone who voted!
#philately
(2/3) Forbush was writing to seek information regarding Goshawks killed on Fisher’s Island, possibly in connection to his three-part magnum opus "Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States." In 1926 he was completing Vol. II, noting his Goshawk account as written in Nov 1926.
(1/3) In Dec 1926, this postcard travelled from Boston to the natural history dealers Angel & Cash in Providence, Rhode Island, signed by (or on behalf of) Edward Howe Forbush (1858-1929), Director of the Division of Ornithology at the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture.
#ornithology #philately
D.O. Blood & Co., Type 6 Handstamp on Stampless 1848 Cover.
Philadelphia, 1848.
I can hear the courier asking the sender what the closest cross street is, and then asking around for Rev. Williams.
Goes to the a point in the Substack essay by @stampden.bsky.social about context and postal history.
Philadelphia population in 1848 being 120,000 residents
Another philatelic article is now available on my Substack. Inbetween my monthly written articles, I release social #philately podcasts.
open.substack.com/pub/stampden...
(3/3) In the same month our cover is dated (June 1897), Prof. Braun was advertising Pine Grosbeak eggs in sets in the ornithological journal The Osprey, sourced from 20 captive breeding pairs. You could buy a live pair too! This cover likely marks the source of the eggs in the Lewis collection.
(2/3) J. Parker Lewis and his son were keen oologists. In a privately printed catalogue of their collection, dated 1 January 1894, they list 573 species, 5,002 sets, 20,388 eggs, yet no Pine Grosbeak! However, a pencilled Dec 1897 amendment to the list shows Pine Grosbeak eggs now in the collection.
(1/3) June 1897 cover sent to J. Parker Lewis, 723 Walnut St, Philadelphia, from natural history dealer Prof. Carl Braun of Bangor, Maine. The manuscript note on the front: “Re – Pine Grosbeaks" points to a very specific collecting transaction.
#ornithology #philately
It's the 8 March, so let's celebrate this cover, sent 201 years ago today, to Rev. Bulwer, who discovered the petrel that still bears his name.
#ornithology #philately
In case you weren't aware, my latest Substack article, From Description to Explanation: Why Social #Philately Matters, is now available. Link below....
open.substack.com/pub/stampden...
(1/3) Shown here: an 1884 Notice of Removal postal card bearing a handstamp for the "Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club." The manuscript date “8/30/99” appears beside it. Not postally used, the card was likely used to test a new handstamp.
#ornithology #philately
(3/3) The new bi-monthly Bulletin debuted Jan–Feb 1899. Donald Atherton Cohen (pictured), who had edited the COC column in The Osprey and had been on the committee, was the club's business manager. The Cohen of "Costigan, Cohen & Co." on our postal card was his brother, Edgar; hence its use here.
(2/3) In 1898, the Cooper Ornithological Club having previously relied on The Nidiologist and The Osprey as it's mouthpiece, determined it needed its own journal to publish its proceedings, activities and research. So, on Dec 3, a committee was appointed to develop plans for a bi-monthly bulletin.
(1/3) Shown here: an 1884 Notice of Removal postal card bearing a handstamp for the "Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club." The manuscript date “8/30/99” appears beside it. Not postally used, the card was likely used to test a new handstamp.
#ornithology #philately
British Postal Guide (1902) for comparison...
As someone who values context as much as content, my preference is for the detailed write-ups. In the end, detailed work is what creates authority, and authority is what keeps serious history-minded readers coming back.
Thank you for helping spread the word. This Substack is a placeholder for now while I prepare a body of articles for launch. In the meantime, I’m publishing monthly pieces on my History in the Mail Substack.
(3/3) In his book, Modern Bird Study, Griscom argued that the “growing army of bird watchers... can really assist the ornithologist in solving problem after problem by controlled, careful, and thorough observation." A 1994 biography of Griscom was titled “Dean of the Birdwatchers."
(2/3) The shift came with Ludlow Griscom at the American Museum of Natural History. He argued birds could be identified by field marks—plumage, structure, behavior—without collecting. Observation, disciplined and comparative, could rival the specimen.
(1/3) When Frank Chapman published Color Key to North American Birds (1903), he insisted a bird be “in hand” to be identified. Field observations by amateurs carried little scientific weight; authority still rested with the gun and the specimen drawer.
#ornithology #philately
Seen today on Kotokunuma, all winter visitors (some resident as well)...
ヒドリガモ – Eurasian Wigeon
ハシビロガモ – Northern Shoveler
オナガガモ – Northern Pintail
マガモ – Mallard
ミコアイサ – Smew
オオバン – Eurasian Coot
オオハクチョウ – Whooper Swan
Kotokunuma (古徳沼) in Naka City, Ibaraki, Japan, is one of the leading wintering site for migratory swans (mainly Whooper Swans) in the Kanto region. The pictured signboard shows the annual count since S41 (Showa 41 = 1966). The numbers since H29 (2017) have been steadily increasing.
#ornithology
(3/3) The cover was likely prepared before Beck’s departure and dispatched on the next available mail ship from Tahiti. Correspondence indicates it may have enclosed financial documents relating to the schooner’s December 1921 purchase and refit, which would explain why it was sent registered mail.
(2/3) Handwriting comparison suggests the cover was likely addressed by the ornithological collector and expedition leader Rollo Beck (1870-1950). However, logs show that Beck had departed Papeete on 1 Feb aboard the France, a 75-foot Tahitian schooner recently acquired for the expedition.
(1/3) Registered cover dated 13 February 1922, sent from Papeete, Tahiti, to Robert Cushman Murphy at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The envelope bears no sender’s name but is clearly connected to the Whitney South Sea Expedition.
#ornithology #philately
(3/3) The expedition’s winter camp was at Wainwright, with the local school serving as headquarters. It was here that Muriel sent this cover. A Roman numeral “XI” on the reverse suggests it was her 11th letter, using a numbering system to alert Alfred if any correspondence went missing.
(2/3) Bailey accepted and resigned from the Bureau. Unable to take his wife, Muriel Etta Eggenberg (1895–1998), and their newborn daughter Beth, he arranged for them to settle in Iowa City, renting a house on Evans Street, near her parents and sisters to await his return 16 months later.
(1/3) In 1921, the Director of the Colorado Museum of Natural History offered ornithologist Alfred Marshall Bailey (1894–1978), the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey's first representative in Alaska, a job collecting birds and mammals for the museum north of the Arctic Circle.
#ornithology #philately
