In the early part of the 19th century, envelopes were not used. Instead, a letter was folded and the address placed on the outside of the sheet. The customer had to take a letter to the post office to mail it, and the addressee had to pick up the letter at the post office, unless he or she lived in one of about 40 big cities where a carrier would deliver it to the home address for an extra penny or two.

Street boxes for mail collection began to appear in large cities by 1858. In 1863, free city delivery was instituted in 49 of the country’s largest cities. By 1890, 454 post offices were delivering mail to residents of United States cities. It was not until the turn of the century, however, that free delivery came to farmers and other rural residents.

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U.S. Postal Service honors Bill Mauldin, one of America’s favorite cartoonists. During World War II, military readers got a knowing laugh from Mauldin’s characters Willie and Joe, who gave their civilian audience an idea of what life was like for soldiers. After the war, Mauldin became a popular and influential editorial cartoonist. The stamp goes on sale in March.

In 1945, he won a Pulitzer Prize “for distinguished service as a cartoonist” and the Allied high command awarded him its Legion of Merit. His illustrated memoir, Up Front, was a bestseller. That same year, his “dogface” Willie appeared on the cover of Time.

U.S. Postal Service art director Terry McCaffrey chose to honor Mauldin through a combination of photography and an example of Mauldin’s art. The photo of Bill Mauldin is by John Phillips, a photographer for Life magazine; it was taken in Italy on December 31, 1943. Mauldin’s cartoon, showing his characters Willie and Joe, is used courtesy of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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Anyone who’d like to get a special first-day-of-issue postmark for the new holiday stamps has 60 days from the stamp’s issue to request it. Requests for the first-day-o-fissue postmark for the Christmas stamp must be received by December 21, requests for the Winter Holidays stamps must be received by December 9 and requests for the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stamps must be received by December 10.

To get the postmark, customers should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

(Winter Holidays) (Hanukkah) (Kwanzaa) Stamp(s)
Postmaster
421 Eighth Ave., Rm. 2029B
New York, NY 10199-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for this service.

At the peak of its success during the early 1970’s, international airline Pan was well known for its trademark slogan, “World’s Most Experienced Airline.”  And some of that experience dates back to the birth of Foreign Air Mail.

In the 1920’s, as airmail was ‘taking off’ all across America, the U.S. government was eager to develop mail service between North and South America. On March 8, 1928, Congress passed the Foreign Air Mail Act to regulate that international service.  A few weeks later, the Postmaster General solicited bids for companies to take over a wide-ranging network of mail routes all across Latin America and the Caribbean. Continue reading

By 1917, the U.S. Government had seen enough progress in the development of its air fleet that the administration decided to try something new:  air mail. To get the idea off the ground (literally), Congress appropriated $100,000 for an experimental airmail service.  The innovative service was under the joint control the Army and the Post Office.  It operated between Washington and New York, with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia. The first flight left Belmont Park, Long Island, for Philadelphia on May 14, 1918, and the next day continued on to Washington where it was met by President Woodrow Wilson.  Continue reading

What’s on the design A-List when it comes to Civil War patriotic covers?  President Abraham Lincoln is one of the most expensive, while the Rose of Washington by Charles Magnus is undoubtedly one of the most popular.

The Rose of Washington is a multi-colored Civil War patriotic designed by Charles Magnus.  It is his arguably his best-known work.   The colorful and elaborate rose is printed in blue on one side and bronze on the other.  The Rose of Washington cover features a foldout rose enclosure with numerous scenes and monuments of Washington, D.C.

A resource for collectors of postal history, covers, postcards, stamps and other relate areas of postal history.

Browse dozens of articles on all types of postal history such as Airmail, Naval, Patriotic, Town Cancels, Auxiliary  Markings, Stampless,  Registered, Advertising, Censors, Special Delivery and just about anything else you can imagine.

Many articles focus on the Civil War, WW II, US  Presidents and the US Post Office while at the same time I have posted guides to aid in your postal history collecting efforts.

If you enjoy collecting First Day Covers, Event Covers, commercial covers or  pictorial slogan cancels you will plenty of information in these areas too!

President Herbert Hoover appointed Walter Folger Brown as his postmaster general in 1929. In 1930, Brown, citing inefficient and expensive air mail delivery, requested legislation from Congress granting him authority to change postal policy.  The legislative body obliged, passing the Air Mail Act of 1930 which gave Brown strong, almost dictatorial power over the nation’s air transportation system.

The main provision of the Air Mail Act changed the manner in which payments were calculated.   The purpose of the provision was to discourage the carrying of bulk junk mail to boost profits and to encourage the carrying of passengers instead.  A second provision allowed any airmail carrier with an existing contract of at least two years standing to exchange its contract for a route certificate giving it the right to haul mail for 10 additional years. 

But it was the third and most controversial provision that raised concern.  The Act gave Brown authority to extend or consolidate routes based on little more than his personal judgment.  Brown took full advantage of his new powers which resulted in one of the most notorious ‘black eyes’ in Post Office history.
Continue reading

When railway mail service began, mostly letter mail was sorted on the cars, which were not equipped to distribute other kinds of mail. By about 1869, other mail, except packages, was sorted as well.

In 1930, more than 10,000 trains were used to move the mail into every city, town, and village in the United States. Following passage of the Transportation Act of 1958, mail-carrying passenger trains declined rapidly. By 1965, only 190 trains carried mail; by 1970, the railroads carried virtually no First-Class Mail.

On April 30, 1971, the Post Office Department terminated seven of the eight remaining routes. The lone, surviving railway post office ran between New York and Washington, D.C., and made its last run on June 30, 1977.

The largest airmail customers were in the banking business. They used the service to send checks and financial papers more quickly. Bankers wanted to reduce the float time of checks and pushed for an extension of routes. Financial papers were light, and the cost to send them was low—just 16 cents an ounce, having been reduced from 24 cents in July 1918 to attract more customers. It was further reduced to six cents per ounce on December 15, in an effort to draw even more customers. In July 1919, the extra charge for airmail was eliminated completely and airplanes began to carry a random selection of mail. The charge would be reinstated in 1924 when regular transcontinental service began.

Postal aircraft could fly with sacks of mail for an average cost of $64.80 for each hour in the air. Pilots received a base pay of about $3,600 per year and then were paid five to seven cents more for each mile they flew, flying an average of five to six hours each day. After a year in operation, postal revenues for the year totaled $162,000. The cost to fly the mail had been just $143,000. This first year of operation was to be the only time in airmail history that the service showed a profit.