This month’s Artifact of the Month is an edition of the Port Hole newspaper from November 1, 1944. This semi-monthly journal was published by the American Red Cross Service Club and printed by Sands & McDougall Pty. Ltd. in Australia for the sailors stationed in the Pacific Theater of World War II. There are numerous articles including two opinion pieces on Navy Day, reports on sports and local events, and notices and schedules of social events.

This month’s featured Artifact of the Month is a Costa Rican two-colón note from 1941 (1993.003.033).

This month’s Artifact of the Month features a map of ancient Asia Minor made by the  W. & A.K. Johnston firm in the mid to late 1800s. The map shows the historical regions of Armenia Maior, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, among others. There is a note in pencil along the edge of the sheet indicating 1897 as a possible date of publication, but further research has yielded another date of 1877 based on the atlas published by the firm in that year as well as the fact that the cartographer, Keith Johnston, passed away before 1897.

This month’s featured Artifact of the Month is a letter written by Henry Sandwith Drinker to Jason Torrey, Esq. (1988.394). This letter, dated January 18, 1819, concerns the sale, taxes, and levies on properties in Bethany, Pennsylvania. Drinker was replying to a previous letter from his friend, Torrey, in which he had asked about the properties that had been confiscated by the courts and were to be sold shortly. Drinker was a lawyer and merchant in Philadelphia born into a prominent Quaker family to Henry Drinker and Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker.