The censuses include only those items for which an image was available. Any item for which no image was found is not included.
The color images viewed on a computer screen may not be representative of the actual color.
NOTE: Every effort is made to exclude fake items from the censuses. The inclusion of an item is not a guarantee of authenticity. An authentication service must make that determination.
A census is only as complete as the information available at the time it was compiled. There will always be another item to add to a census. It may not show up this week, or next month, or next year, but at some point, a new item will be discovered to add to the list.
These censuses are different from most censuses compiled in the past because each entry is accompanied by an image of the item, many in color, some in black and white and some only partial. While the image may not be of sufficient resolution or quality to determine a postmark date the features of the item provide the means to tell similar covers apart and to determine if an item is listed or not. This is particularly helpful if more than one cover has the same postmark date and address.
Sections of a Census
- Description – describes and illustrates the different types of items represented in the census.
- Notes – provides additional details such as a brief history, suspect provisionals, information on fakes, and references.
- Mini Census – presents in tabular format a basic census. It includes the postmark date, addressee name, town, and state, and a census number.
- Last Name Index – provides a list of the last names of addressees with identifying information. Useful for quickly determining is an item is new or included in the census.
- Full Census – detailed description of every item in the census. This normally includes the address, provenance, source of information, and an illustration.
Descriptions of Individual Items
- Date – A date (normally the postmark date). This is obtained either by examination of an image or from descriptions in the source. Dates are given as “Illegible” when the postmark date cannot be determined, as “Unknown” if the date portion of the postmark is missing, and as “No Postmark” if there is no postmark
- Description – A description of the cover and its markings. This may include details from the source or sources that are not apparent in the image.
- Address – The full address is given as written on the cover with line breaks designated by a slash (“/”). In some cases, the address is taken from an auction description. In such cases the address is in brackets.
- Provenance – Provenances are given if the item appeared in and was illustrated in a named collection sold at auction, in a book, periodical, an exhibit, or website. A table of all named collections and exhibits can be found in the Provenances Section
- Source – These are the sources of information for individual items. Sources are given by an abbreviation. The information following the abbreviation is additional information giving more specific information on where the image of the item can be found. When a public source is not available a private source is used. These are identified as “Private.” Sources are listed in the following order: authentication services, books, journals, exhibits and auction catalogs. Within each group they are arranged in chronological sequence. Color images are indicated by an asterisk after the source. A table of source abbreviations can be found in the Source Abbreviation Section.
- Census Number (CN) – The number in brackets that follows the last listed source. This number can be useful in referring to and identifying an individual item.
Version Number – the number (v) following the date in the lower left corner of each page. The first census is v1.0. As corrections and additions are made the version number incremented.
To aid the user each census is bookmarked in the left panel.