Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

[Scott Sheets]

Hello all,
I am trying to find information on packaging and or how newspapers/magazines were marked and mailed to soldiers in the field. Chesley Mossman refers to having a subscription to the Eclectic Magazine, and mentions receiving it numerous times I his diary. Wondered if these were expressed by the publisher, or if sent in the mail, how they were packaged. I've been searching newspaper archives, etc. but have yet to se anything with a recipient on it.

[Marine Mike]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

How about a note to the National Postal Museum of the Smithsonian in Washington DC?
Here's a link: http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Thanks for the link Mike. I'll see what they know.

[Craig L Barry]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

From the Library of Congress

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89038091/:

The Soldiers’ Journal was printed weekly, for a price of five cents per issue, or two dollars per year. The eight-page issues included poetry, miscellaneous articles about battles and major war figures, letters from soldiers, camp and personal intelligence, as well as hospital, sanitary, supply, and special relief department directories. During the Journal’s s short life, the paper’s distribution grew to more than twenty thousand subscribers, including Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Finally discontinued in June 1865, the Journal was sold with proceeds from the sale donated to an orphanage.

[Scotty017]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

In William Ray's (7th WI) diary, he describes getting a subscription to the Grant County Herald. This was a local, weekly paper. Reading between the lines, it sounds like his papers were supposed to be mailed directly from the newspaper company. I would infer this for two reasons. First, the description of his mother paying for the paper and the postage sounds like it was all one transaction. Second, he complained about not getting half of them, which I would assume wouldn't be as much of a problem if his mother was picking up a copy and mailing it personally. As to how they were mailed, that is another interesting question which I don't know the answer to. I copied the original spelling and punctuation.

Well I got a Grant Co Herald last night and find some verry interesting news for it brings the news from home in a manner. I had ought to have them evry week for mother signed and paid for it and paid the postage for it to come to me. But I do not get more than two a month instead of four for they are a weekly paper. And they are one dollar and a half a year. And it costs at the rate of fifty cents a year for postage to this place which makes two dollars a year. And I think I ought to get them all.

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Thanks for the quote Tyler, wounds like a good diary to read. I've seen similar things about having a subscription, just can't find any pics of a civil war era newspaper with any sort of cancelled stamp etc. on it. Gonna check with some collectors, if I find anything I'll post it.

[Scotty017]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

From Ray's account, it cost 50 cents to mail the newspapers for the year. For a weekly paper, that works out to one cent per issue. That agrees with the information on these two websites.

This page says the rate to mail a newspaper was one cent. While this page says newspapers were wrapped in plain paper for mailing. "These humble, plain looking covers are scarcer than envelopes because they were not often saved."

It sounds like simply wrapping it in paper, addressing it, and using a Ben Franklin one cent stamp would do the trick. You might be able to find some photos of originals with a little searching.

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Tyler, Thanks for the links. I hadn't thought about just looking into the postage of the items. I'd say your right about wrapping it in paper and addressing it with a 1c stamp like a letter. If I can find a photo of an original I'll post it.

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Ok, Thanks to Tyler's suggestion about postage I have been searching past stamp auctions. Started to find some information. Here is a pre war wrapper with the description. This is from stampauctionnetwork.com


"1c Blue, Ty. II (7). Horizontal pair, large margins to in, left stamp tear at top, cancelled by large "PAID" precancels in upper-case type and affixed to wrapper to Kingston Ala., some wear

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE LARGE "PAID" PRECANCEL ON ITS ORIGINAL WRAPPER. A MAGNIFICENT SHOWPIECE.


Little is known about the "Paid" precancels on the 1c 1851 Issue. The Ashbrook 1c book illustrates several varieties of actual and supposed precancels (Volume 2, pages 92-97), including the pair offered here. About this wrapper, Ashbrook notes that "the wrapper evidently originally enclosed a newspaper, and the stamps were unquestionably precancelled before they were applied to the wrapper."

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Here's one more from Seigel Auctions 2004 rarities auction. It is a newspaper wrapper for an 1857 issue of "The American Eagle" newspaper of Cleveland OH. From the listing it state's that the newspaper was still inside the wrapper. This was the only photo I could find though.

[crabby]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Scott,
I have been following this thread closely as I am interested in this type of
material culture minutiae. Great work and thanks for sharing it with all
of us.

[Scott Sheets]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

Beth,
I geek out about this kind of stuff also. I really have to thank Tyler Scott for the postage suggestion, I wouldn't have found any of this otherwise. Here are a few examples of southern papers with wartime dates.

This Page has a Houston newspaper with a narrow wrapper band for postage, and an Augusta GA paper with the postage and address in the masthead.

This Page shows a Richmond newspaper with a full wrapper

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

I believe that the reason Ray is only paying a penny for his paper and the sample wrappers show two 1c stamps is that the penny rate is for the first three ounces, with each additional ounce running another cent. Check out the postal rates starting on p. 202 (the rates for overseas mail get really interesting):

http://books.google.com/books?id=8LYTAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA213&ots=hnoJF4-XZC&dq=postal%20rates%201861%20newspapers&pg=PA202#v=onepage&q=postal%20rates%201861%20newspapers&f=false

[Scotty017]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

I believe that the reason Ray is only paying a penny for his paper and the sample wrappers show two 1c stamps is that the penny rate is for the first three ounces, with each additional ounce running another cent. Check out the postal rates starting on p. 202 (the rates for overseas mail get really interesting):

http://books.google.com/books?id=8LY...papers&f=false

But it also says that if the postage is paid "quarterly or yearly in advance" (seems to be the case in Ray's account since it sounds like his mother pre-paid for the entire year's subscription) then the rate is cut in half. I've looked at copies of the Grant County Herald on microfilm and it is possible it would have weighed less than three ounces, but the pre-paid rate is another possibility.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Newspaper/Magazine Subscriptions to Soldiers

You're certainly right about that. I was just curious about the two Franklins on the examples and wanted to track down a source that would explain things. I hadn't realized what "drop letters" were before or how complicated overseas mail could get. Makes things now seem almost simple. :)