Conveyor Systems
The Strickland Collection — Butterfield Overland Mail & Pony Express Centennial Covers
The Strickland Collection — Butterfield Overland Mail & Pony Express Centennial Covers
Couldn't load pickup availability
In 1958 and again in 1961, three collectors in Long Beach, California — Keith G. Mullen, John A. Strickland, and Nellie Strickland — systematically requested postmarked covers from every post office along the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail, from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. What they assembled is believed to be the most complete collection of this material in existence.
This reference document catalogues all 520 covers across 202 post offices and 8 states, presented with full cover images alongside state, city, date, event, and recipient for each piece.
Researched, scanned, and compiled by Paul Sullivan, Woodstock, Ontario.
What's inside
Introduction
The full story of how the collection was discovered, who built it, and how first-day cover requesting worked in the pre-internet era
520 cover images
Every cover photographed and presented in a clean 2-column grid, sorted by state (east to west), city, then year
Two reference indexes
All 202 post offices listed by stop number and alphabetically — essential for identifying unmarked covers
Statistical appendixes
Cover counts by state, by year (1958 vs 1961), and by recipient — Keith Mullen, John Strickland, Nellie Strickland
The collection at a glance
520
covers
202
post offices
8
states
92
pages
This is a living document. If you hold a cover from the 1958 Butterfield or 1961 Pony Express centennials not represented here, the author welcomes contact. The route should be complete. · rackrunner@ymail.com
Who this is for
- Collectors of Butterfield Overland Mail or Pony Express material seeking to identify, date, or value covers
- Postal historians researching centennial participation across the Southwest route
- Anyone trying to determine whether a cover in their possession is represented in — or missing from — the known record
Digital download details
Delivered as a single PDF file. Compatible with any PDF viewer on desktop or mobile. Print-ready at letter size. Updated editions will be made available to previous purchasers when new covers are identified and added.