Bob Swanson's First World War Research

April 10, 2007

[Fort Bliss flag cancel]

My WW I Book Still Available
See Below for More Information

I have written a book that attempts to list every place in the United States and Territories where soldiers, sailors, or marines might have been stationed during the First World War. The reason for such a list is to provide source locations and checklists for postal history (letters and cards) from these military men. The book lists all fixed, land-based United States military camps and facilities that operated during the War period. There has long been a need for such a listing, as it was not known where military mail could have originated within the US.

The book is now listed on Google Books. Click on the leftmost item in the following toolbar to view portions of the book. Note that Google Books is a great way to search literature for specific information about the First World War.

The book was first published in February of 2000. Due to increased printing costs, I have to raise the price. The book is 380 pages in length. In paper form it is double sided looseleaf. ($40 US + $4 US shipping, $7US for International Priority Mail). It is also available on CD-ROM at $30 postpaid. The CD-ROM version is compatible with nearly any machine or system in current use, including PC's running Windows and Linux, as well as MAC's. The book is stored in Adobe PDF format. Other Unix systems should be able to read it as well. Other formats may be possible, email for more information.

You can now pay for this book with a charge card, using PayPal.

My e-mail address registered with PayPal is, in English:

rds <at> swansongrp <dot> com

[Replace words with characters where appropriate]

Unique features of the book include:

· Many illustrations of cancels and covers

· Extensive indexes to assist searching for specific military bases

· Additional background information covering both the War and its military postal history

· War-era listing of U.S. military abbreviations

· Listings ordered by state to assist both state and local postal history collectors

· CD-ROM purchasers get additional color illustrations not present in the printed copy

Send check or money order to:

Robert Swanson
P. O. Box 2867
Wailuku HI 96793-7867
USA

You can contact me at the e-mail address listed above. Due to spam problems, I displayed the address in simple English.

The computer readable (CD-ROM or floppy disk) versions of the book are stored in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, as used in the example pages listed here. I have observed that paper just cannot show the images as well as the computer screen. Owners of the disk-based book are allowed to make copies for personal use, including the printing of the CD contents as paper copies. Having the computer-based version of the book on a laptop machine, for instance, could be very helpful when visiting a stamp show, or poring over a dealer's stock.

An early draft of the New York chapter was published serially in several issues of La Posta early in 1997. Here is a sample draft page from the California chapter of the book [78K Adobe PDF]. (Need the free Adobe PDF viewer? Try Here... or try here...)

No postal history book is complete without illustrations, so I have several images on this website of WW I covers and collateral, as well as examples of war-rate postal history. I have started to post photographs and cover images on Flickr. Please visit that site for many color illustrations of First World War items.

I have also done general research on the dates of usage for machine cancels (and some handstamps) for all known camps in the US. My research on the American Flag cancellations has been published in Machine Cancel Forum. A new flag cancel update is now available [19K Adobe PDF], (See previous paragraphs for a link to the free Adobe PDF viewer), and may appear in print in the future. I have also gathered dates of usage for Universal machines [111K Adobe PDF], from the camps. [The free Adobe PDF viewer is available near the top of this page.]

I maintain a webpages about the troopship picture postcards, including the Jewish Welfare Board set, at this site. This list was first gathered by postcard collectors, and I have been merging other collectors' lists and keeping it all up to date, as more information comes in.

If you have any First World War postal history, I would like to hear from you. Please use our Feedback Page to do so.

Examples of Covers and Cancellations

A cover from Camp Devens (Mass)

A cover from the Aviation Branch,
Montgomery, Alabama

[American Flag] (5k GIF)
Fort Bliss, Tex., A-14 (die 1)
(American Flag Cancellation)

[American Flag] (4k GIF)
Fort Bliss, Tex., A-14 (die 2)
(American Flag Cancellation)

[Universal Dial] (3k GIF)
San Diego, Cal., Kearney Branch
(die 1) (Universal Cancellation)

Some On-Line Military History References

You can see many very nice
panoramic photographs of WW I
military subjects (among others) at the
Library of Congress site.

First World War on the Web

Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War,
a very important historical book about the First World War.

National Archives
Information about getting Army personnel records

Article About Letter-Writing in WWI

Document About American Indian Code-Talkers in WWI

Just some of the WW I Books on-line
(formerly at UKansas, now BYU)

Tennessee WW I Veterans

The full "Order of Battle" book for the U.S. Army
is available in CD-ROM format from
the GPO. We no longer have a direct link,
search for "Order of Battle".

Naval Historical Center

A First World War E-Mail discussion group

An E-Mail discussion group
about the U. S. Marines,
including WW I topics

Army Center for Military History
Their FAQ helps with finding Army personnel records.

WW I archives

New York State Archives have WWI military records