Byrd Antarctic Expedition II cancellation mail. ANTARCTICA.

One of the 153,217 pieces of mail brought to Antarctica during the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition and mailed back to the US. Members of the public could pay 53 cents to have their mail, bearing a specially produced stamp and postmark, brought south on the expedition's ships and cancelled at Little America. Envelopes were sent from America in two batches. A representative of the postmaster general arrived in Little America in late 1934 with a cancelling machine and the second batch, set up a post office, and processed all the mail ready for return. "Cancelled mail was wrapped in waterproof paper, packed in cartons, encased in two heavy mail sacks, and locked. It was then stored in a tent outdoors, waiting to be loaded on to the next ship. Determined to cancel all the mail, Anderson slept only eighteen hours in sixteen days" ("Byrd Antarctic Issue"). This example was paid for by Sibyl Ann Schaeffer (1899-1971), of Helena, Montana, and addressed to her mother's address nearby. The enclosed letter is to her young children: "It is great fun to tell you from the 'bottom' of the World that I love you more than I can ever tell you." Accompanying the message is a typewritten poem, "Grapenut Cocktail with Cold Byrd." "Byrd Antarctic Issue", Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Stamped and franked expedition cover (93 x 165 mm), with accompanying letter on 2 onionskin sheets (280 x 215 mm), each typed one side only, first sheet with handwritten message. Light toning and marking to envelope, letters creased at edges: a very good group.