I have personally visited the website of Baxley Stamps many times in the past. It seems to be quite the reputable source of wondrous items lost and found.
In this case, I was seeking - without much success - a copy/image of the actual receipt Commodore Perry received in 1853 from the envoys of the Emperor of Japan avowing their reception of a letter written by U.S. President Fillmore.
(Perry wanted official proof to bring back with him to show he had performed his duty of delivering the warm wishes of his country's president to the leader of Japan.)
Now... while I have presented a newspaper article (by retyping it myself) that ran a letter from a crew member aboard the Japan Expedition, it seems that full blown letters of that self-same trip to the Orient are actually quite few in number.
Either few crew members wrote home of their trip to China, Singapore and Japan, or, as I am more inclined to suppose, many letters simply did not survive the ravages of good housekeeping, but poor archiving.
Having once held a position as a Records Officer Level 2 when I was summer student between the ages of 14-16, involved in microfiche-ing gold mine maps owned by the Ontario Government, and arranging for the transfer of sensitive Ministry of Housing documents - I know how important it is to maintain an archive of records, whether for legal or historical reasons.
It's why I used to research comic book and Big Little Books lore, for fear that one day such data could be lost.
As such, in the case of correspondence between ship members of The Japan expedition and home, the fact that so few examples of letters are known to still exist is a shame.
Whatever. Baxley Stamps has quite a few Perry correspondence letters available for purchase - I believe they are still available. But rather than simply just take a photo of the envelope, this company provides some decent detailed information without showing the exact letter contents - and, despite not liking that, I do agree with them, of course.
Click HERE to see that fantastic website and the letters from people aboard Commodore Perry's Japan Expedition.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/perry_correspond/ten_letters.shtml
In this case, I was seeking - without much success - a copy/image of the actual receipt Commodore Perry received in 1853 from the envoys of the Emperor of Japan avowing their reception of a letter written by U.S. President Fillmore.
(Perry wanted official proof to bring back with him to show he had performed his duty of delivering the warm wishes of his country's president to the leader of Japan.)
Now... while I have presented a newspaper article (by retyping it myself) that ran a letter from a crew member aboard the Japan Expedition, it seems that full blown letters of that self-same trip to the Orient are actually quite few in number.
Either few crew members wrote home of their trip to China, Singapore and Japan, or, as I am more inclined to suppose, many letters simply did not survive the ravages of good housekeeping, but poor archiving.
Having once held a position as a Records Officer Level 2 when I was summer student between the ages of 14-16, involved in microfiche-ing gold mine maps owned by the Ontario Government, and arranging for the transfer of sensitive Ministry of Housing documents - I know how important it is to maintain an archive of records, whether for legal or historical reasons.
It's why I used to research comic book and Big Little Books lore, for fear that one day such data could be lost.
As such, in the case of correspondence between ship members of The Japan expedition and home, the fact that so few examples of letters are known to still exist is a shame.
Whatever. Baxley Stamps has quite a few Perry correspondence letters available for purchase - I believe they are still available. But rather than simply just take a photo of the envelope, this company provides some decent detailed information without showing the exact letter contents - and, despite not liking that, I do agree with them, of course.
Click HERE to see that fantastic website and the letters from people aboard Commodore Perry's Japan Expedition.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/perry_correspond/ten_letters.shtml
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