Civil Censorship Study Group

I recently came across this WWII censored cover. What jumped out at me was the IE 8070 manuscript marking on the US label. The cover has typical pencil markings applied in Trinidad on registered mail, indicating it was censored there. But there is no Trinidad label.
The addressee is The Gotchnag, an Armenian language weekly magazine. The cover was heavily delayed, taking over a month to reach its final destination. Has anyone seen anything like this before?
Ed Barrow

BarrowE wrote:

ie8070.jpg

I recently came across this WWII censored cover. What jumped out at me was the IE 8070 manuscript marking on the US label. The cover has typical pencil markings applied in Trinidad on registered mail, indicating it was censored there. But there is no Trinidad label.
The addressee is The Gotchnag, an Armenian language weekly magazine. The cover was heavily delayed, taking over a month to reach its final destination. Has anyone seen anything like this before?
Ed Barrow

Good evening.

It is not easy to understand this cover. Let's see:

The USA #5579 label censorship seems to be from New York. (1)
The I.E. manuscript note seems to be from Trinidad.

Arrivals in N. York by PAA:

1 - Dixie Clipper ... ... Foynes/Lisbon (11/Nov/1942) --> P.R./San Juan (14/Nov/1942) --> Bermuda (15/Nov) --> N. York (16/Nov). (2)

2 - American Clipper (9010) ... ... Foynes/Lisbon(16/Nov/1942) --> Bermuda (21/Nov) --> N. York (21/Nov). (2)

3 - Trip 9010 ... ... Fisherman's Lake-Natal(18-19/Nov/1942) --> Natal-Belem (19/Nov) --> Belem-Port of Spain (20/Nov) --> Port of Spain-San Juan (20/Nov) --> San Juan- Bermuda (21/Nov) --> Bermuda-N. York (21/Nov). (3)

Well, seeing the 20/Nov/1942 datestamp arrival in New York and all these timetables... what was the route of this cover? Without this kind of data it seems hard to understand the sequence of the censorship elements and even the manuscript Trinidad notes over a USA label.

(1) - BRODERICK & MAYO (1980). Civil Censorship in the United States During World War II [...]

(2) - PROUD (2008). Intercontinental Airmails Volume One [...]

(3) - WILSON (2012). The Wartime Atlantic Routes of Pan American Airways / Pan American Airways Route 9 [...]

Thanks for your input.

What about the other censor number written in pen, 6180?

My thinking was it might have been sent to the UK or Bermuda given the language. This would explain the long transit time. And then it would not be coming from Port of Spain to NY on the 20th Nov.

What do you think?

Ed

Good evening,

IE 8070 - Trinidad (1)

6180 - Bermuda (2) (3)

(1) - WIKE (1993). British Empire Civil Censorship Devices World War II Trinidad and Tobago [...]
(2) - WIKE (1993). [...]
(3) - FLYNN (2006). Intercepted in Bermuda [...] known from 15 June 1942 to 9 August 1943. Printed label "P.C. 90 / OPENED BY / EXAMINER XXXX" type CL5-1D

This said... what could be your proposal for the route and timeline?

My thinking is may have ended up at the Uncommon Languages Dept in the UK (after being forwarded first up the chain to Bermuda). This would mean the 20th November NY stamp was an arrival cancel from the UK. Do you have access to a list of those flights?

Also what was the order of events when a cover arrived in the US? Arrival CDS then Censorship, or the reverse.

Thanks again,
Ed

BarrowE wrote:My thinking is may have ended up at the Uncommon Languages Dept in the UK (after being forwarded first up the chain to Bermuda). This would mean the 20th November NY stamp was an arrival cancel from the UK. Do you have access to a list of those flights?

Also what was the order of events when a cover arrived in the US? Arrival CDS then Censorship, or the reverse.

Thanks again,
Ed

Good afternoon

Uncommon Languages Dept in the UK?

1 - Well... spanish (suposed language of the letter) was one of the languages of the rules.

2 - The attached label/censor seems to be from N. York.

3 - From United Kingdom? Maybe... however...:
3.1 - Your proposal would mean a label/censor number in UK.
3.2 - Here you have the trip without number - Dixie Clipper - NY(6/Nov/42) -> Bermuda (6-7/Nov) ->Lisbon/Foynes (10/Nov) -> Foynes/Lisbon (11/Nov) -> P.R./San Juan (14/Nov) -> Bermuda (15/Nov) -> N. York (16/Nov) (1)
3.3 - I have not timetables from Argentina on (or I guess that I have not...).

4 - I guess that after the arrival of the planes firstly was the censorship/customs duties. After that the covers were sent to the post offices/distribution to the addressees, etc.

(1) - Acc. to PROUD (2008:87) Volume One.
I did not find this flight in Aitink/Hovenkamp (2005), in TSchroots (2016) Deel 2 or Wilson (2012).

I think the sender was Armenian and the addressee was an Armenian publication. So my thinking was the contents were written in Armenian, hence being a problem for the censors in Trinidad and possibly Bermuda. As far as I know when encountering a language beyond the capabilities of a station the letter could be sent to the UK where they had more capabilities. This was the Uncommon Languages Dept. The US censors might have had problems as well...

Regards
Ed

Good evening,

And... what could be your proposal for the route, censorship operations and timeline?

My thinking for the route is:
Trinidad opened by IE 8070 (internally forwarded to Bermuda)
Bermuda inspected by 6180 (internally forwarded to UK, to the Uncommon Languages Dept)
Released by Uncommon Languages Dept and heads back to US (NY).
By this time the envelope had multiple labels and forms attached, US censor removes all the paperwork but notes the previous examiner numbers as item was registered.
This would explain the 37 day transit time and the lack of Bermuda registration marks (red number).

A couple of interesting other points:
The cover was lined with dark tissue paper which was almost totally removed.
I managed to find a 1946 copy of the Armenian newspaper, The Gotchneg (attached). It shows why the letter's may have been written in Armenian.

Good evening,

BarrowE wrote:
My thinking for the route is:
Trinidad opened by IE 8070 (internally forwarded to Bermuda)
Bermuda inspected by 6180 (internally forwarded to UK, to the Uncommon Languages Dept)

[...]

BERMUDA
"Uncommon Languages Department
1250. [...] At their peack there were 30 readers who were able to deal with 32 uncommon languages".

In History of the Postal and Telegraph Censorship Department 1938-1946 Volume I [...] (1)

(1) - I did not find a cheklist of those 32 languages inside the History. I also did not find it inside the last Augustinovic (2019) Censorship and Bermuda's Role in Winning World War II (it also contains the text above quoted).