Amidst the Devastation, A Look at Haiti through It's Airmail Covers
By Alexander Haimann, Collections Specialist, Smithsonian National Postal Museum
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the tiny Caribbean nation of Haiti. Aside from the destruction of homes, businesses, municipal buildings and related infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of Haitians are believed to be seriously injured or dead from the earthquake and its aftermath.
To learn more about how you can help the relief efforts for the victims of the January 12, 2010 earthquake click on the CNN List of Relief Funds.
A Look At Haiti Through It's Airmail Covers
Almost eighty-four years to the day before the recent earthquake struck Haiti, the envelope (cover) featured below was sent by airplane from Cap-Haïtien (located on the northern coast of the country) to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A January 13, 1926 Cap-Haïtien date stamp cancel is above the typed address along with three more canceling the three Haitian postage stamps at the bottom left of the cover. Two pictorial airplane "AVION" postmarks also cancel the three stamps.
Haiti did not issue specially designated Air Post stamps, for the purpose of paying the postage on mail traveling by airplane, until 1929. The two different postage stamps used by the sender on the above cover were issued on September 3, 1924 as part of a series of five stamps. The 20-centimes violet blue stamp depicts an old map of the West Indies with Haiti featured in the center. The 10-centimes carmine stamp portrays Christophe's Citadel. A United Nations designated World Heritage Site, the 19th century Citadel is located in northern Haiti, approximately seventeen miles south of Cap-Haïtien, where the above cover originated.
Next week marks the 45th anniversary of the first airmail flight out of Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport located in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. The event cover (shown above) was sent from that airport on the first day of airmail operations on January 22, 1965. A special inaugural event postmark (close up featured below) cancels three commemorative stamps issued by Haiti to mark the opening of the airport in December 1964. The stamps feature Madonna of Haiti above the main terminal of the new international airport.
The Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport Today
News about the Port-au-Prince international airport following the January 12, earthquake as reported by the U.S. Department of Defense: "U.S. Air Force Special Operations Forces have been manning the airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince since about 8 p.m. yesterday (January 13), conducting airfield operations in addition to recovery and rescue efforts, said Air Force Lt. Col. Brett J. Nelson.
"Within hours of our arrival last evening, we established airfield control and have maintained that control conducting 24-hour operations at Port-au-Prince airport,” Nelson, the commander of the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, 720th Special Tactics Group, said during a conference call with reporters today.
A Brief History of Haiti
Following Christopher Columbus' 1492 discovery of Hispaniola, the island on which present day Haiti is located, Spain dominated the island for over one hundred years. In the 1600s, the French began settling part of the island and in 1697, Spain ceded France the western area of the island (the area of present day Haiti). In 1804, the same year France sold the United States the Louisiana Territory, the population of slaves in Haiti rebelled against the French. The slaves' successful revolt led to the establishment of the first black republic to declare independence from a European power. Haiti is the second oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, behind the United States. In the twentieth century, Haiti experienced prolonged periods of conflict, foreign occupation and political turmoil. Currently the United States is by far Haiti's largest trading partner.
To learn more about how you can help the relief efforts for the victims of the January 12, 2010 earthquake click here: CNN List of Relief Funds.
About the Author
Alexander T. Haimann, Collections Specialist & Web Projects Developer at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, collects and writes primarily about the stamps and postal history of the U.S. during the first one hundred years of stamp production (1847-1947). Additionally, he develops internet based education projects and exhibits for the National Postal Museum. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Stamp Dealers Association, the Chair of the American Philatelic Society’s Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship and the publicist for the United State Philatelic Classics Society. His national and international society memberships include the American Philatelic Society, United States Stamp Society, Collectors Club of New York and the Royal Philatelic Society London.
