What Happened at UNICEF's 10th Anniversary ??
In 1956 UNICEF celebrated its tenth Anniversary. Much had happened by then: its interim mandate was extended in 1950 and reaffirmed as permanent in 1953; its name was changed to "United Nations Childrens Fund"; it acquired the remainder of funds (some $122 million) from UNRRA to work with; the WHO/UNICEF Joint Committee on Health Policy (JCHP) was set up; after the initial TB campaign other disease control mass campaigns were launched; NGO's got consultative status with UNICEF; the Greeting Card Operation was started.
Strangely, there were no stamps issued by either the UN or other countries for this UNICEF milestone. Either that or I have not found any so far and would request my readers to let me know if they come across any. Disappointing, especially that both the UN@10 and WHO@10 were commemorated by a number of countries.
 |
| Here are examples of two stamps issued by Liberia and Panama for the UN's Tenth Anniversary. |
 |
| This is a UN envelope with the WHO@10 inscription. The post mark is dated 26 May 1958 and it shows the UN Building in New York |
Herebelow I show different issues which relate to UNICEF; although not for its 10th Anniversary, they cover the period between 1951 and 1960 (ie. before the 15th. Anniversary).
 |
| Issued by Haiti as a tribute to the United Nations is a five-stamp series commemorating UNESCO, UNICEF, FAO, UNRRA, and WHO. This 10 centimes stamp has a tag inscribed "UNICEF". |
 |
| This post card shows in front a photo of the old port of Marseille in France. |
 |
On the reverse the stamp is inscribed "FISE-UNICEF Assists The Children".Used mainly by France, FISE stood for "Fond Internationals de Secours pour l'Enfance". Officially though the French title for UNICEF was" Fond de Nations Unies pour l'Enfance". The post card is addressed to Genoa,Italy and is post marked 21 August 1958.
|
 |
| This letter from the Belgian National Committee for UNICEF was air mailed from Brussels to Kansas, USA on 3 May? 1959. Note the original logo of the child drinking milk. |
 |
This lovely set
of semi-postal stamps from Belgium was issued on 8 October 1960 to commemorate
UNICEF. Each stamp shows a different aspect related to child care; drinking
milk; nursing children; providing clothing; maternal care and weighing;children
at play; and care for the homeless. Note that each stamp has the original logo
of a child drinking milk, but the Brussels post marks all show the newer logo
of mother and child. |
 |
An attractive First Day Cover (FDC) from the United Arab Republic (Egypt) celebrates "Childhood" and was issued on 24 October 1959 (UN Day) to commemorate UNICEF. The two stamps are "semi-postal" issues with a surcharge on each (10 + 5 and 35 + 10 millimes). It was mailed from Cairo.
|
 |
This FDC from India was issued on 11 December 1960, the UNICEF Anniversary. It commemorates UNICEF Day and shows a group of children pointing at the UNICEF logo. Here again the FDC cachet shows the original logo of a child drinking milk although that year UNICEF had adopted officially the new logo of a mother and child. |
Foaud, marveloous collection enriched with the explanations!
ReplyDeleteYour treasure trove of stamps is wonderful. Did you ever envision sharing your collection with XUNICEF readers long after leaving UNICEF? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible sampling of stamps and postmarks of early UNICEF! I knew of your collection but seeing these images with the commentary makes me realize for the first time how important your collection is. So it is not only satisfying (I assume) but also invaluable to preserve. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYour stamps and commentary are wonderful. I tried to buy UN First Day covers while in NY, and I saved other stamps that looked interesting. But I never organized the collection, and the children don't seem to be interested.
ReplyDelete