Bob Swanson's First World War Research

July 15, 2010

My WW I Book Now Available from Lulu.com

Follow this link to Lulu.com to order the book in paperback or electronic media.

I have written a book that attempts to list every place in the United States and Territories where soldiers, sailors, or marines might have been stationed during the First World War. The reason for such a list is to provide source locations and checklists for postal history (letters and cards) from these military men. The book lists all fixed, land-based United States military camps and facilities that operated during the War period. There has long been a need for such a listing, as it was not known where military mail could have originated within the US.

The book's full title is: Domestic United States Military Facilities of the First World War 1917-1919 .

Besides the print-on-demand listing above from Lulu.com, the book is stored on Google Books, at this URL. There is no link on Google Books for ordering the book. Please visit that site for a book preview. If you wish to order, return to this page, and use the Lulu.com link above. [Note that Google Books is a great way to search literature for specific information about the First World War (or any subject for that matter).]

Note My Current Situation

Please note that I no longer live on Maui, and receive mail and email somewhat inconsistently. In the past, I attempted to fill orders for the book by getting copies made at the local "copies-r-us", or making CD-R's (and more recently, emailed the book contents). Now, it is much simpler to use Lulu.com. Their website handles all of the ordering, printing (if desired), shipping, and billing.

If you wish, you can still contact me by plain mail at:

Robert Swanson
2040 W. Main St., #210-2016
Rapid City SD 57702
USA

You can contact me at the e-mail address:

rds <at> swansongrp <dot> com

Due to spam problems, I displayed the address in simple English.

Unique features of the book include:

· Many illustrations of cancels and covers

· Extensive indexes to assist searching for specific military bases

· Additional background information covering both the War and its military postal history

· War-era listing of U.S. military abbreviations

· Listings ordered by state to assist both state and local postal history collectors

· Electronic media purchasers get additional color illustrations not present in the printed copy

The electronic media versions of the book are stored in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, as used in the example pages listed here. I have observed that paper just cannot show the images as well as the computer screen. Owners of the electronic copies of the book are allowed to make copies for personal use, including the printing of the PDF file contents as paper copies. Having the computer-based version of the book on a laptop machine, for instance, could be very helpful when visiting a stamp show, or poring over a dealer's stock.

An early draft of the New York chapter was published serially in several issues of La Posta early in 1997. Here is a sample draft page from the California chapter of the book [78K Adobe PDF]. (Need the free Adobe PDF viewer? Try Here... or try here...)

I have also done general research on the dates of usage for machine cancels (and some handstamps) for all known camps in the US. My research on the American Flag cancellations has been published in Machine Cancel Forum. This website has a copy of the most recent flag cancel update [19K Adobe PDF], (See previous paragraphs for a link to the free Adobe PDF viewer), and may appear in print in the future. I have also gathered dates of usage for Universal machines [111K Adobe PDF], from the camps. [The free Adobe PDF viewer is available near the top of this page.]

I maintain a webpages about the troopship picture postcards, including the Jewish Welfare Board set, at this site. This list was first gathered by postcard collectors, and I have been merging other collectors' lists and keeping it all up to date, as more information comes in.

If you have any First World War postal history, I would like to hear from you. Please use our Contact Information Page to do so.

Examples of Covers and Cancellations

Cover from Camp Devens, Massachusetts
with Odd Fellows Logo

A cover from the Aviation Branch,
Montgomery, Alabama

Customs Mark on WW I Foreign Mail [Flickr]

First World War Images

War-Rate Postal History

First World War Images [Flickr]

Some On-Line Military History References

You can see many very nice
panoramic photographs of WW I
military subjects (among others) at the
Library of Congress site.

314th Field Artillery Information

314th Field Artillery Roster

First World War on the Web

Scott's Official History of the American Negro in the World War,
a very important historical book about the First World War.

National Archives
Information about getting Army personnel records

Article About Letter-Writing in WWI

Letters from WW I

Document About American Indian Code-Talkers, including in WWI

Just some of the WW I Books on-line
(formerly at UKansas, now BYU)

Tennessee WW I Veterans

The full "Order of Battle" book for the U.S. Army
is available in CD-ROM format from
the United States Government Printing Office.
We no longer have a direct link for the CD listing,
but you can search for "Order of Battle" on their website.

Naval Historical Center

A First World War E-Mail discussion group

An E-Mail discussion group
about the U. S. Marines,
including WW I topics

Army Center for Military History
Their FAQ helps with finding Army personnel records.

WW I archives

New York State Archives have WWI military records