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A Study of the Machine Cancels of Berlin , Kitchener , Kitchener-Waterloo -
N2C 2E0 & N2E 2C0, 1907-1992, by Robert D. Vogel. Conestoga Press, Thornbury, 2004;
pp. xviii + 154, spiral bound; price CDN $29.95.
Bob Vogel's book on the machine cancels of his beloved Berlin/Kitchener is now available.
It represents a tremendous amount of work on his part, and shows what can be done with
a narrow subject range in a limited geographical area. The time period covered ranges
from the introduction of machine cancellers in the city in 1907 to the cutoff year of 1992,
when first-class mail was last cancelled at the Trillium mail facility in Kitchener.
The book begins with an overview of machine-cancel terminology, and an introduction which
shows illustrations of impressions made by all the types of machines used in Berlin/Kitchener,
with details of their manufacturers, and when the particular machines(s) arrived in the area.
These range from the earliest (International) right up to the modern international
Peripheral Systems (IPS) machines; this reviewer was previously unaware that the latter
company is in fact a recent incarnation of the former. The book then continues with a
section on the proof impressions, with illustrations, of the slogan obliterators found in
the Proof Impressions Books at Library and Archives Canada.
The main body of the work consists of a chronological listing, with illustrations, of each
different hub/obliterator combination used in the city, along with the earliest and latest
known dates of usage. As with any listing of this sort, it represents a challenge to the
reader to improve on these dates. Interspersed among these listings are historical highlights
of the city's post office and mail delivery system – when street delivery began, lack of Sunday
mail treatment, when the post office changed its devices from Berlin to Kitchener , etc.
As well, contemporary newspaper articles related to the area's postal services are reproduced.
Slogans are next reproduced in alpha numeric order according to the Coutts classification
scheme, with a number of very attractive covers illustration the "Special Slogans" section,
in which a thumbnail sketch is also given of the event which inspired the particular slogan.
A section entitled "Post Offices" shows illustrations of the major buildings used in that
capacity in the city, as well as archival photographs of letter carriers of times gone by.
The book ends with a section reproducing selected historical newspaper clippings about the
Berlin/Kitchener post office between 1886 and 1992.
Work on his book has obviously been a labour of love for the author, with no stone unturned
for information. It provides a capsule history of the affairs and concerns of the Berlin/Kitchener
post office during most of the 20 th century. For the collector of the postal history of the
area it gives a complete picture of what is available in the way of machine markings of those eras.
For the person contemplating a similar study of other cities, it shows what information is
available if you look hard enough, and just how much work it takes to pull it all together.
Robert C. Smith
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