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CNMI postal history featured in Rotary meeting
Postage stamps and how they can show a place’s history were the talking points in the Rotary Club’s meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan last Tuesday.
Steven Connor, founder of the new Mariana Stamp and Coin Club, speaks of the CNMI’s postal history during the Rotary Club of Saipan’s weekly meeting last Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)
The club’s guest speaker for their weekly meeting was Steven Connor, founder of the new Mariana Stamp and Coin Club.
In Connor’s presentation, postage stamps could be seen as little trinkets of history that traveled from one place to another.
“[Stamps] are little artifacts that are part of history, that some information can be gleaned from these relics,” Connor said. “You’re able to see these and understand a little bit more of history by looking at this. It’s a different layer of history that you can look at.”
Using old stamps to illustrate his point, Connor showed the relationship the CNMI has had with the Philippines, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. throughout its colonial history, through World War II until the islands became a trust territory of the Pacific and when it became a Commonwealth.
“Governments can fight, governments can have war but the postmasters are dedicated to helping keep the lines of communication,” he said.
At the time, stamps were accorded a measure of respect, he said. “Stamps were looked at like somebody’s flag. Don’t trample on my stamp, don’t trample on my flag.”
One stamp even showed an original figure of Pagan before a part of it was “shaved off” by the Japanese who wanted to build an airfield.
Connor also showed how stamps were able to display the culture back then as well as the mood of the times toward the colonists.
The presentation, which is part of Connor’s paper on the postal history of the CNMI, is a preview of his presentation at the 3rd Annual Marianas History Conference that will be held in September.
“We’re promoting the premise that [stamps] can be a primary tool for historical research,” Connor said.
He is inviting members of the public who are interested in stamps and coins to attend their organization’s first meeting on Aug. 1, 10am at the Joeten Kiyu Public Library.
Stamp collecting is called philately; coin collecting is called numismatics.
