US POSTAL HISTORY BLOG

As the 18th Century became the 19th, the mail was becoming increasingly secure. As a result, people were becoming more confident in entrusting US postal workers with their keepsakes and valuables. Not all mail reached its destination initially and often found itself in the Dead Letter Office. In one year, for example, 71,336 letters contained checks, postal notes, or money orders worth $2,308.046 arrived ‘dead.’ In light of the money, jewels, and other precious treasures that were handled by the DLO, that branch preferred to employ retired clergy as clerks because they felt ‘men of God’ could be trusted with items of value.
 
Woman’s Work – Working women have always been a part of the U.S. Post Office. They were, in fact, considered superior employees compared to men…at least as far as the Dead Letter Office was concerned. In the late 19th Century, postal officials felt that women had better analytical powers than men and were better able to decipher complicated and confusing addresses.

A forever stamp is valid for first class postage no matter what the rate. By concept, once purchased, a forever stamp is a perpetual stamp that never expires or declines in value. Although the U.S. has used non-denominated stamps in its history, they were not the same as a forever stamp. The U.S. Postal Service used lettered stamps as contingency stamps several times when postage rates increased.

The U.S. Postal Service submitted a proposal in May 2006 to the U.S. Postal Rate Commission to create a forever stamp beginning in 2007. Future forever stamps would be sold based on the first class rate at the time they are purchased.

More than 6 billion “forever” stamps have been sold since they were introduced last year. The USPS sold $267.7 million worth of them in March, up from $207.9 million in February and $115.3 million in January.

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Anyone who’s attended a baseball game and stood up for the ubiquitous 7th inning stretch has probably sung along to one of the most popular baseball songs of all time. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” has been part of baseball history for decades and a stamp celebrating the 100th anniversary of the tuneful ditty will be issued as part of the USPS 2008 commemorative series.
 
The 2008 commemorative stamp series “celebrates our greatest creative minds, our groundbreaking heroes, and the places, institutions and values that have made us who we are,” says Postmaster General John Potter in a USPS press release. “We’re proud to be able to highlight noteworthy parts of our shared American history on stamps that people will use every day to connect with family and friends.
 
According to baseball lore, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was created on a New York City train in the summer of 1908. Passenger Jack Norworth, an actor, singer and songwriter who had never attended a major-league ball game, is credited with writing the words after seeing a sign about an upcoming game at the Polo Grounds.
 
The graphic of the 2008 baseball stamp is based on a circa-1880 trading card. The rare card is in the personal collection of art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ. The original artwork is a baseball scene and contains advertising copy for a product made by a Michigan company. The USPS issue features the same scene, but replaces the ad copy with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the stamp denomination, notes from the music, and the words “United States of America.

An independent federal agency, the USPS gives new meaning to the phrase ‘full service.’ delivery. With its army of men and women in uniform, the USPS is the only delivery service in America with the will and the way to visit every address in the nation. (And that’s regardless of snow, rain, sleet, and other carrier-unfriendly conditions including dogs!)
 
The Postal Service works hard to earn its annual revenue of $75 billion, delivering nearly half the world’s mail. Much of the credit for that work and that revenue goes to USPS postage stamps. BUT…with the online stamps readily available, are USPS stamps becoming the Edsel of the postage world?
 
Nearly 10 years ago, on March 21, 1998, technology site C/Net announced, “The Postal Service cemented its place in the Internet age today with the unveiling of the first electronic stamps.” The launch of the stamps represented the first new form of postage approved in 78 years. (In 1920, the Postal Service approved postage meters, still commonly used by businesses.)
 
Many people said e-stamps would be the death knell for traditional stamps and the end of beautifully designed commemorative and definitive issues…not to mention the end of nearly 200 years of U.S. postal stamp collecting. But a decade later, stamps are as strong as ever. The 2008 Commemorative Postage series is as eagerly anticipated as any before it.
 
Yes, the traditional stamp is alive and well and being purchased by the millions. And I don’t think that e-stamps will replace traditional stamps any more than I think that email will replace good old forms of communication like handwritten letters and cards. Cold technologically produced stamps will never replace warm, tangible bits of art. (Although I am in favor of the move from lick-and-stick stamps to self-adhesive!)
 
And here’s another thought. Interest in stamps has never been greater and the Internet fuels that interest with thousands of websites that provide information, auctions, and opportunities to purchase stamps.
 
In the long run, the medium that some thought threatened the creation of postage stamps may, in fact, be the reason they thrive.

In 1939, the post office at Cooperstown (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame) was swamped with requests from young baseball fans eager to collect a first day cover and the year’s newly issued baseball stamp. Unfortunately, the requests for the special issue frequently arrived without the required self-addressed envelope plus three cents for the stamp.
 
Local postmaster Melvin Bundy honored thousands of those requests out of his own pocket, and US baseball stamp collecting was born, thanks to what were affectionately known as “small boy orders.”

With February 14th just around the corner, love is in the air…literally…as Valentine’s Day cards jam mailboxes around the world. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all seasonal cards sent each year in America are Valentine’s, making it the second most popular card-sending occasion in the Unites States
 
Valentine’s Day originated in 5th Century Rome as a tribute to St. Valentine, a Catholic bishop. February 14th evolved into a holiday for lovers over time, and Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first true Valentine card in 1415. The recipient: his wife. (He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time.) 

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Cachets can be official or private and they commemorate everything from political opinion, to specific routes, or the Super Bowl. Cachets for first day covers (FDC) made their appearance in 1923. Prominent philatelist and cachet-maker George W. Linn created a design for the Harding Memorial stamp issue. With this creation, Linn created an entirely new collecting area, and for many years, through his firm, Linprint, printed and sold first day cachets.

Most cachetmakers repeat certain elements in each design they produce. It could be a border, or the basic design of the cachet, or distinctive typography. One cachet designer well known for continuity of style is F.R. Rice’s whose lifesaver-style border is found on about 75% of his designs. C. Stephen Anderson’s cachets consistently feature an illustration with an historical narrative printed below it.

Editor, publisher, and stamp enthusiast George W. Linn holds a place in postal history as the designer of the first pre-printed cacheted FDC (first day cover). It was issued on September 1, 1923 to honor the late President Warren G. Harding. Linn prepared several hundred covers that he posted in Marion (the first day city) and other nearby Ohio towns.

Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson (RWH&E), one of the most prominent printing and engraving firms in nineteenth-century America, was the first to receive a government contract for designing and printing U.S. postage stamps. Though the firm’s production was small—only two stamp Issues—its artistry set the standard for succeeding U.S. printing and engraving firms. The RWH&E issues were generally superior to the first stamps produced by other countries.

Great minds think alike…at least as far as stamp collecting is concerned.  President Franklin Roosevelt, an avid stamp collector, had sent a gift of stamps and a small album to the nine-year-old son of a powerful Massachusetts family. The well-mannered boy wrote back right away: “Dear Mr. President, I liked the stamps you sent me very much and the little book is very useful. I am just starting my collection and it would be great fun to see yours which mother says you have had for a long time. . . . Daddy, Mother, and all my brothers and sisters want to be remembered to you.” The letter is signed, “Bobby Kennedy.”