The Great New England Hurricane of 1938

Back in 1938 when hurricanes were unnamed and forecasting of storm tracks was primitive at best, one hurricane stands out for the speed and intensity of the storm and the far northern track that it took. Now called The Great New England Hurricane of 1938, it struck the southern coast of New England on the afternoon of September 21^st. The day had dawned sunny and bright, by all accounts a beautiful Indian summer day. By mid-afternoon the storm roared ashore off new Long Island Sound ravaging everything in its path. By 4:00 the storm had moved inland leaving in its wake beaches scoured of all standing structures, a death toll in the hundreds and untold havoc to the life and commerce of the region. The loss of life, mostly by drowning, was tragic enough in itself, but I was also personally moved by the fact that the very face of New England was changed forever with the loss of thousands of stately elm trees that had long dominated residential streets and village greens.

The storm was not well covered by the national news outlets of the day. The International News Service did publish postcards detailing the damage and destruction. The postcards are black and white views printed by the Tichnor Corporation in Boston whose printing plant had survived the storm. There were three sets printed.

The first is a random set of storm related scenes from both coastal and inland communities. Each postcard had a thin white border with black text identifying subject matter and location – the sole exception being an unidentified location without caption where survivors are viewed hand picking storm debris. My earliest known use of postcards from this set is October 3, 1938, less than two weeks following the storm. Postcards are listed alphabetically by state and locality. Unknown state locations are identified as US (Unknown State). Each postcard in this set includes the following imprint at the top of the message half of the card:

The second set followed closely on the heels of the first set with my earliest known use being October 7, 1938. Four days doesn’t provide conclusive proof as to the order of the two sets but the imprint on this set varies from the first and appears more complete and polished. Additionally a handful of the views are credited to both the Boston Post and Boston Herald newspapers, perhaps an effort to include additional coverage of the storm’s aftermath particularly in Boston itself. The postcards are also numbered with the highest seen to date being No. 33. An odd number seems unlikely for ending a set so perhaps there are more yet to be found. Perhaps readers can provide additional numbers.

There is also a third and much smaller set that focuses on the damages and flooding to center city Providence. Just five postcards comprise the set which are numbered P1 – P5. The imprint is the same as the numbered set. No photo credit appears on any of the postcards. Again, my earliest known use is October 7, 1938.

There is also another small set published by Sand’s Photo of Kingston, Rhode Island and focusing on beach damage and cleanup efforts in the coastal communities of Charlestown and Quonocontaug, Rhode Island. Postcards are press printed by the Collotype process and are unnumbered. All examples seen to date are unused without postal cancellations.