Hi Matt, Others may have more specific knowledge but yes, these are related to copies that agencies such as the U.S. Army Map Service (i.e., "AMS"), the U.S. Army itself and its specific engineering and/or surveying units had shortly after their production. Over time they came into the hand of the LC Geography and Map Division and many, many of these kinds of duplicates made it into the hands of various map collections either because individuals from institutions participated in what was for decades a very active LC G&M "Summer Program" (I participated in 1996 for 4 weeks) in which "payment" for services rendered was the attendee choosing maps from the duplicates area to send home to their institution; or through the FDLP process. And then, of course, since the rise of MAPS-L and other means of quickly communicating who wants to give away things in their collections, these get swapped or find a new home elsewhere over time as well. While I don't know how a unit such as the Intelligence Division of the 29th Engineering Division of the U.S. Army originally obtained the maps (in some cases created them?) they obviously property stamped them, and then as they got passed into other hands like LC's that agency also property stamped them (and as part of cataloging/processing we here at Penn State also property stamp incoming gifts to show current ownership as well). Hope my small amount of experience with these kinds of property stamps helps. Most usually these are WWII-era maps but I've also seen sets covering Europe in the WWI era with similar-type stamps though most usually the "creator" information was printed right on the map itself. Paige ----- Original Message ----- From: "Matthew Parsons" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 4:19:15 PM Subject: Mystery property stamps on Japanese Gaihozu maps Hello all, I have a couple of Japanese professors visiting Seattle to take a look at our collection of Gaihozu maps. They have some questions regarding various stamps found on the maps: "Foreign Map Library, Office of the Engineer, HQ FEC <or FEG?>" "Library Branch, Intelligence Divison, 29th Engineering Battalion, (Base Topographic APO 500)" "Area Analysis Division, Library and Services Branch, US AMS Far East" Base on the UW Libraries property stamps on the maps, we received them in 1965, apparently from the Library of Congress (their property stamp is on some of the sheets), so just a little before my time. :) I assume that the mystery stamps are various Army offices, divisions and/or branches, but some sort of confirmation would be nice. Anyone have some insights or context on these stamps? Thanks! Matt Matthew Parsons, Associate Librarian Geospatial Data and Maps Earth & Space Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Acting Head, Map Collection University of Washington Libraries Box 352900 Seattle, WA 98195 206-543-2725 [log in to unmask]