This post is about a special piece in my collection, an Enrico Caruso signed postcard from 1918. Or course, my collection includes mostly music thematic stamps and a growing number of covers. I am also lucky to have a few pieces from famous musicians. This is one of my most special pieces that includes a historic postcard, a celebrity musician, and an interesting World War One piece of postal history. Also of interest, the postcard was once a part of the important Paul Jackson Opera Collection of ephemera.
Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873 to a poor family in Naples, Italy. He began an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer, but his talent was noted from his singing in a local church choir. After working as a street singer and performing in restaurants and clubs, he finally began singing in small theaters at the age of 18. A few years later, he made a debut at La Scala under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.
Caruso made a career as a leading tenor at the opera houses in Europe and the Americas. He was one of the first musicians to become widely recorded and built much of his fame on the international sales of his nearly 250 recordings. Read more about Caruso’s career and the 1987 US stamp here.
The Message
The post card is in Italian, Caruso’s native language. It is a short note and the handwriting is not great (and my Italian is non-existent). However, from what I can determine the note is a congratulatory postcard to the singer Giorgio Quiroli in Buenos Aires. Of particular note, he was also the husband of the operatic soprano Adelina Agostinelli (1882-1954). The postcard congratulates Quiroli and Agostinelli on becoming an aunt and uncle. The note is signed by Enrico Caruso as well as the noted conductor Vincenzo Bellezza (1888-1964). Luckily, the signatures are easily visible.
Stamp and Postmarks
The postcard is from New York on March 1 of 1918 to Buenos Aires in Argentina. This was in the midst of World War One. The cover bears a 1917 definitive two-cent rose Washington stamp. It is tied to the postcard with a rather wonderful war postmark that reads “FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR DON’T WASTE IT.”
In addition, though it is difficult to see in its entirety, there is a mark that says “PASSED BY CENSOR.” The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 gave sweeping wartime powers to the United States government. These would include censorship of the press and also of all communications, including the mail. The postmark here indicates the postcard was read by a Censor and then allowed to proceed to its destination in Argentina.
The Postcard
The other reason this postcard means so much to me is because it features The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the place of my employment. The image is a photograph taken from across Fifth Avenue at eighty-first street in Manhattan. It is an unfamiliar veiw to those of us who know the institution well. It does not yet have the completed southern wing that matches that stretching to the north. Instead, you see the facade of an older builder to the rear (the original museum), which at this point was a carriage entrance. In the distance you see Cleopatra’s Needle in Central Park. This later landmark is no longer visible from Fifth Avenue because of the present day Metropolitan Museum of Art building.
Below is an image from the Museum that shows the southern wing with the facade that is symmetrical with the north.
Take a Listen
Even a century later, it is well worth the time to look up Enrico Caruso’s recordings. They are still impressive. Here is the famous aria “O Sole Mio.” Enjoy!
