The Passport in America: The History of a Document (48 page)

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34
. Douglas L. Stein, “Passports and Sea Letters: Protection Documents for American Ships, ca. 1789–1860,”
The Log of Mystic Seaport
44 (1992): 18–20.
35
. U.S. Passport Office,
United States Passport
, 220.
36
. Alan Rogers, “Passports and Politics: The Courts and the Cold War,”
Historian
47 (1985): 497–511; Ken Lawless, “‘Continental Imprisonment’: Rockwell Kent and the Passport Controversy,”
Antioch Review
38 (1980), 304–11; Wen-chu Torrey Sun, “Regulation of the Foreign Travel of U.S. Citizens” (PhD diss., Claremont Graduate University, 1993).
37
. Robertson, “Documentary Regime.” For a discussion of problematization, see Michel Foucault, “Problematics” in
Foucault Live (Interviews 1961–1984)
, ed. Sylvère Lotringer (New York: Semiotext[e], 1996): 416–22; Chris Russill, “For a Pragmatist Theory of Publics: Advancing Carey’s Cultural Studies through John Dewey… and Michel Foucault?!” in
Thinking with James Carey: Essays on Communications, Transportation, History
, ed. Jeremy Packer and Craig Robertson (New York: Peter Lang, 2006): 57–78.
38
. Kelly Gates, “The U.S. Real ID Act and the Securitization of Identity,” in
Playing the Identity Card: Surveillance, Security and Identification in Global Perspective
, ed. Colin J. Bennett and David Lyon (London: Routledge, 2008): 218–32.

C
HAPTER
1

1
. Naomi W. Cohen, “The Abrogation of the Russo-American Treaty of 1832,”
Jewish Social Studies
25 (1963): 3–41.
2
. House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Termination of the Treaty Between the United States and Russia: Hearings
, 62nd Cong., 2nd sess., December 11, 1911, 6.
3
. Josh Lauer, “Money as Mass Communication: U.S. Paper Currency and the Iconography of Nationalism,”
Communication Review
11 (2008): 115.
4
. Ibid.
5
. For the origins of letters of introduction see Valentin Groebner,
Who Are You? Identification, Deception, and Surveillance in Early Modern Europe
, trans. Mark Kyburz and John Peck (Brooklyn, NY: Zone, 2007), 157–64.
6
. Shipley to Consul [Edinburgh], February 8, 1934, RG 59 138/3256, National Archives.
7
. James Blanchard, “Passport Troubles,”
New York Times
, August 26, 1931.
8
. Seward to Asboth, March 27 1867, No. 27, RG 59 MS. Inst. Argentine Repub. XV 275, National Archives.
9
. Flournoy to Walsh, February 21, 1920, RG 59 138/1233, National Archives.
10
. Dorothy Williams Potter,
Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770–1823: Indian, Spanish and other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina
(Baltimore: Gateway 1982).
11
. 1 Stat. 118: Rev. State 4062.
12
. It is frequently noted that the first U.S. passport was issued to Francis Maria Barrere on July 8, 1796. This is the oldest known extant passport. As Barrere sent it in for renewal, it is clearly not the first issued document. For a description of this passport see Gaillard Hunt,
The American Passport: Its History and a Digest of Laws, Rulings and Regulations Governing its Issuance by the Department of State
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1898), 77.
13
. U.S. Passport Office,
The United States Passport: Past, Present, Future
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1976), 35.
14
. Circular to Diplomatic and Consular Officials, July 13, 1931, RG 59 138/2976a, National Archives.
15
. Baynard to Straus, May 10, 1887, quoted in John Bassett Moore,
A Digest of International Law
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1906), 3:1004.
16
. Brist to Flournoy, January 5, 1923, RG 59 138/1740 Box 598, National Archives. See also Batum to Secretary of State, April 27, 1912, RG 59 138/2 Box 590, National Archives; Everett to Ingersoll, December 7, 1852, RG 59 Diplomatic Instructions, Great Britain XVI 178, National Archives. For a discussion of a similar concern about mid-NineteenthCentury European passports see Andreas Fahrmier, “Governments and Forgers: Passports in NineteenthCentury Europe,” in
Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World
, ed. Jane Caplan and John Torpey (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press), 232–3.
17
. Consular Bureau to Hengetler, November 6, 1923, RG 59 138.8/38, National Archives. Also see Ayme to Bryan, August 8, 1908, RG 59 Numerical File 15265 M862/R922, National Archives.
18
.
Outlook
, “Why Passports,” September 22, 1926, 105.
19
. Isabel Hapgood, “Passports, Police and Post-Office in Russia,”
Atlantic Monthly
72, 43. The deliberate production of a passport issued to immigrants who had declared their intention to become U.S. citizens as a document smaller than a regular passport indicates an official belief in the importance of size to the perceived authority of the U.S. passport. The State Department issued this passport from 1907 to 1920 to aliens who had declared their intention to be U.S. citizens but had not yet fulfilled the residential requirements for naturalization. See Scott to Hunt, March 7, 1907, RG 59 Numerical File 5630, M862/R461, National Archives.
20
. Vox Populi, “Passports,”
New York Times
, July 31, 1874.
21
.
New York Times
, “The Value of Passports,” December 3, 1882, 5.
22
. Act of Sept. 15, 1789, ch. 14, 1 Stat. L. 68.
23
. Marc Shell,
Money, Language, and Thought: Literary and Philosophical Economies from the Medieval to the Modern Era
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 5.
24
. David M. Henkin,
City Reading: Written Words and Public Spaces in Antebellum New York
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 7, 14–16.
25
. Viviana A. Zelizer,
The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Pay Checks, Poor Relief, and Other Currencies
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), 13.
26
. David R. Johnson,
Illegal Tender: Counterfeiting and the Secret Service in NineteenthCentury America
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995), 37.
27
. Henkin,
City Reading
, 147–160.
28
. Zelizer,
Social Uses of Money
, 13.
29
. Johnson,
Illegal Tender
.
30
. Ibid., 176.
31
. Eric Helleiner, “National Currencies and National Identities,”
American Behavioral Scientist
41(1998), 1409–36.
32
. Lauer, “Money as Mass Communication.”
33
. This will be discussed in chapter 10.
34
. “McC.” to Brist, June 27, 1925, RG 59, 138/1976L, National Archives.
35
. State Department to Consuls [Europe], May 12, 1918, RG 59, 811.111/22705a, National Archives;
New York Times
, “Forge Passports for Foreign Reds,” December 16, 1919;
New York Times
, German Red Agent Caught in Chicago,” August 6, 1920;
New York Times
, “Forging of Passports to America Revealed,” December 24, 1920; T. R. Ybarra, “Seize Reds’ Store of False Passports,”
New York Times
, October 19, 1924;
New York Times
, “Passport Swindlers Seized in Berlin,” January 4, 1928;
New York Times
, “Belgians Drop Charge of Anti-Fascist Plot,” February 23, 1930;
New York Times
, “‘Mill’ for American Passports Discovered by Italian Police,” October 4, 1932.
36
. “History of Shipside Inspection of American Passports,” January 25, 1935, RG 59 138.81/408, National Archives; “Violation of the Passport Laws Committed for the Purpose of Effecting the Illegal Entry of Aliens into the United States,” August 7, 1933, RG 59 138.81/366 Box 645, National Archives, 52–56.
37
.
New York Times
, “New Type of Paper Adopted to Balk Passport Forgeries,” November 8, 1930.
38
. “Forged Passports and Altered Naturalization Certificates of Giuseppe Gemmiti and Giuspppe Palmieri,” October 20, 1937, RG 59 138.81/338a, National Archives; “Concerning Passport Fraud,” July 19, 1932, RG 59 138.81/338a, National Archives.
39
. Olds to Consul General [London], February 7, 1927, RG 59 138/2181a, National Archives.
40
. Olds to Min. in Panama, March 18, 1926, RG 59 138/2082, National Archives.
41
. “DFN,” January 31, 1938, RG 59 138.81/524 Box 645, National Archives; Shipley to Hamilton, April 20, 1939, RG 59 138.81/588, National Archives.
42
. Shipley to Breed, August 25, 1937, RG 59 138.8/216, National Archives; Bannerman to Shipley, June 14, 1929, RG 59 138/2583, National Archives.
43
. Report to Bannerman, September 19, 1933, RG 59 138.8/170, National Archives; Scanlan to Shipley, April 3, 1934, RG 59 138.8/178, National Archives.
44
. Report to Bannerman, September 19, 1933, RG 59 138.8/170, National Archives.
45
. “Re
News-Week
use of ‘Passport,’ “October, 1933, RG 59 138.8/170–72, National Archives.
46
. Ibid.
47
. Scanlan to Shipley, April 3, 1934, RG 59 138.8.178, National Archives.

C
HAPTER
2

1
. One cause of misspelling could also be the inability to read someone’s handwriting. For example I remain unsure of the exact spellings that Mr. Zimmerman offered for his client’s name. Zimmerman to Benedict, September 23, 1885, RG 59 Entry 509, Box 80, National Archives.
2
. Gaillard Hunt,
The American Passport: Its History and a Digest of Laws, Rulings and Regulations Governing its Issuance by the Department of State
(Washington, DC: GPO, 1898), 56.
3
. Except where noted otherwise, the following brief history is drawn from Jane Caplan, “‘This or That Particular Person’: Protocols of Identification in NineteenthCentury Europe,” in
Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World
, ed. Jane Caplan and John Torpey (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 54–65. For a more detailed history of naming practices in Western Europe and the United States see Stephen Wilson,
The Means of Naming: A Social and Cultural History of Personal Naming in Western Europe
(London: University College London Press, 1998).
4
. Caplan, “This or That Particular Person,” 55.
5
. Valentin Groebner,
Who Are You? Identification, Deception, and Surveillance in Early Modern Europe
, trans. Mark Kyburz and John Peck (Brooklyn, NY: Zone, 2007), 68–71.
6
. Howard Barker, quoted in H. L. Mencken,
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States: Supplement 2
(New York, Alfred Knopf, 1948), 441. See also H. L. Mencken,
The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States
, 4th ed. (New York, Alfred Knopf, 1977), 610.
7
. Estelle T. Lau,
Paper Families: Identity, Immigration Administration, and Chinese Exclusion
(Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006), 44.
8
. Ibid., 107–9.
9
. Kantowitz to Secretary of State, October 18, 1884, RG 59, Entry 509, Box 79, National Archives; Russell to Passport Bureau, March 14, 1885, RG 59, Entry 509, Box 79, National Archives.
10
.
New York Times
, “Let’s Have One Rule for Everybody,” November 12, 1917.
11
. Jacqueline Stevens,
Reproducing the State
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).
12
. Howard F. Barker, “How We Got Our Surnames,”
American Speech
4 (October, 1928): 53; Wilson,
The Means of Naming
, 303–4. For a detailed summary of the name-changing patterns of immigrant groups in the United States through the 1930s see Mencken,
The American Language: Supplement 2
, 396–525.
13
.
New York Times
, “Let’s Have One Rule for Everybody.”
14
. Greshamto Raine, June 4, 1894, RG 59, Domestic Letters, 197:245, National Archives; “Note re Name, Passport number 49849,” May 27, 1876, RG 59 Entry 510, Box 9, National Archives.
15
. Wharton to Osiel, July 8, 1889, RG 59, Domestic Letters, 173:547, National Archives.

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