THE POSTMARKS & POSTAL HISTORY OF THE CAROLINE, MARIANA & MARSHALL ISLANDS FROM 1944
Introduction
The Postmarks & Postal History of the Caroline, Mariana & Marshall Islands from the end of the Second World War to the present date is an aspect of recent postal history rarely mentioned in mainstream philatelic publications.
The definitive book on the subject is A Postal History/Cancellation Study of the U.S. Pacific Islands by Robert T. Murphy published by the American Philatelic Society in 1984.
Articles appear from time to time in Pacifica the Journal of the Pacific islands Study Circle. The web page can be found at http:/www.pisc.org.uk.
More recently Mekeels have published a series of articles by Steve Pendleton.
The only substantial article published in the last 10 years that I have been able to trace is A Postal History Study of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia & Palau by Terence Hines published in the January 2000 edition of American Philatelist the Journal of the American Philatelic Society.
To see the website of the American Philatelic Society please see http://www.stamps.org.
A website by Professor Dirk H.R. Spenneman covering aspects of the Marshall Islands Postal History, mostly during the German period, can be found at http://marshall.csu.edu.au. This site also covers Wake Island Clipper Mail and the Pan Am Flying Boat Service during the 1930's.
The U.S. Pacific Islands Bulletin is published three or four time each year. With the help of readers it attempts to list all the postal markings used in the Caroline, Mariana & Marshall Islands since 1984 when Robert T. Murphy's book was published and to detail any new discoveries for earlier periods.
The Bulletin also covers the recent postal history of American Samoa, Guam, Midway Island, Wake Island and Johnston Island as well as the postmarks of the U.S. Coast Guard LORAN Stations on some small Japanese & U.S. Pacific islands during the 1970's and 80's.
Each Bulletin consists of four to six A4 sized pages. Copies are sent by mail to anyone making a contribution to cover the cost of postage and copying- currently – UK £0.63: U.S. Surface Mail $2: U.S. Air Mail $3: Europe €1.50. For further details e-mail uspibulletin@hotmail.com. Most back issues of the U.S. Pacific Islands Bulletin can be seen at
www.jrsportfolio.com/phila/index.htm
For Historical Photographs o the Caroline, Mariana & Marshall islands see http://www.micsem.org/photos.htm
Dealers known to carry material from the U.S. Pacific include Steven Zirinsky. Steven stocks an extensive range of modern commercial material as well as older material. E-mail Steven at szirinsky@cs.com
The Index site also often carries material from the U.S. Pacific particularly from the 1940's see http://www.mayoph.com
This site is under construction – additional pages with examples of postal markings from the area will be added later in 2009