Reference Spotlight - University of PEI Archives & Special Collections
Our Library received a fun reference question this past month that we thought to be of general interest.
The Question: Why does the 1890 postmark on this cover read “SASK”?
A university archivist from the University of Prince Edward Island reached out with a question stemming from a fonds they recently processed. This fonds (the Penzie Macneill fonds) consists of twenty-four letters written by Lucy Maud Montgomery to her cousin, Penzie Macneill, who lived in Cavendish, PEI. The majority of the letters were written by Montgomery in 1890 and 1891 when she lived with her father and stepmother in Prince Albert (then in the Northwest Territories, now in Saskatchewan). Macneill addressed her letters to Montgomery: “Prince Albert, N.W.T.” throughout 1890 and 1891. Though Saskatchewan didn’t become a province until 1905, the 1890 postmark on the cover below reads “SASK.”
Photo Credit: University of Prince Edward Island Archives & Special Collections
Our Answer: Provisional Districts!
In 1870, the Northwest Territories were transferred from the Hudson’s Bay Co. to Canada. There were post offices in this region starting in the 1870s, with Prince Albert being one of them. In 1882, Canada split the Northwest Territories into 4 provisional districts: Alberta, Assiniboia, Athabaska, and Saskatchewan.
Before 1882, the postmarks on letters coming from Prince Albert would exclusively read “N.W.T.” but after the provisional district of Saskatchewan was created, they could read “SASK” or“SASK.” like the 1890 postmark on this cover. What is particularly interesting here is that while the “SASK/SASK.” round postmarks were used starting in 1882, this post office was still using the “N.W.T.” broken circle postmark for several years into the 1880s. So letters from the mid-late-1880s from the Prince Albert post office may read “N.W.T.” “SASK” or “SASK.”!
Do you have any philatelic reference questions? Feel free to email us at library@greenefoundation.ca and we will be happy to assist with your research needs.
To learn more on the history of Saskatchewan Territorial Mail, check out Harold Kellet’s 2018 exhibit: Saskatchewan Territorial Mail: 1846 to 1905 (available in our library!). It was a key reference text for us in answering this question.
We also recommend perusing the University of PEI Archives and Special Collections website (https://library.upei.ca/peicollection/archives), especially their repository of digitized PEI material (https://islandarchives.ca/).