'Kleagle Mask’ KKK postal cancel, Union Mills, Pennsylvania
Dublin Core
Title
'Kleagle Mask’ KKK postal cancel, Union Mills, Pennsylvania
Date
c. 1870
Type
Still Image
Publisher
National Postal Museum at the Smithsonian, on loan from Stampvestors LLC through Columbian Stamp Company
Source
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/freedom-just-around-the-corner/the-ku-klux-klan
Description
Per the National Postal Museum, "Most U.S. postmasters were not issued standard devices for canceling stamps until the 1890s. Prior to that, they were purchased from vendors or homemade. A number of hand-carved KKK-themed cancels were used by the post office at Union Mills, Pennsylvania in 1870. They serve as a reminder that the Klan had adherents in the north as well as the south."
"This cancel depicts an early style of homemade KKK mask. Stamp collectors refer to it as a [K]leagle mask after the title given to Klan recruiters, but that word was unknown in the 1870s."
"This cancel depicts an early style of homemade KKK mask. Stamp collectors refer to it as a [K]leagle mask after the title given to Klan recruiters, but that word was unknown in the 1870s."
Creator
unknown
Contributor
Ku Klux Klan
Collection
Citation
unknown, "'Kleagle Mask’ KKK postal cancel, Union Mills, Pennsylvania," Rethinking Violence, July 24, 1870, accessed July 24, 2026, https://www.rethinkingviolence.com/items/show/1079.