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 phrase ‘historic event covers’ conjures up images of scruffy old envelopes that passed through the mails when your great-granddad wore short pants and the world moved at a slower pace. 

Also known as souvenir covers and special event covers, these artful message carriers were created for a wide range of unique occasions.  The covers often include a descriptive write-up to explain the event.  One such one-and-only cover:  “President Richard M. Nixon Resignation.” (The Nixon cover includes both text and a photo of the disgraced Commander-in-Chief )

Event covers mark achievements in aviation, entertainment, politics, transportation, sports, and even philately!  The Postal Service traditionally kicks off National Stamp Collecting Month by issuing new commemorative stamps in late September or early October.

So event covers, those collectible bits of history that celebrated World’s Fairs and Amelia Earhart’s around-the-world flight in 1937, are as modern as contemporary space travel.  Covers honoring the 1991 Apollo Space flight and covers dedicated to the new millennium attest to the our continuing fascination with history captured on envelopes and postcards.  Still, however, the allure of days-gone-by and the charm of early 20th Century event covers make them especially prized.

Among the most popular of bygone times captured by event covers is the 1933 Century of Progress.  From May 27 to November 1, 1933, the civilized world was focused upon 424 acres of land along the shore of Lake Michigan, edging Chicago.  It was the one place on earth where you could see ‘tomorrow’…today.  And people brought home a little piece of the future when they purchased colorful event covers and other printed souvenirs.

The Confederate Period in American history begins on December 20, 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the Union. Other states would soon follow to form a confederacy, but official stamps issued by the Confederates would not appear until nearly a year later – October 1861. In the absence of a government-issued postage stamp, Confederate postmasters were faced with a dilemma: how to keep the mail (and postal finances) moving. Most of the time they simply accepted payment in cash and applied a ‘PAID’ hand stamp to the envelope. Continue reading

Robert F. Chambers (1887-1947) loved stamps, but he is also credited as one of the first American collectors to appreciate and amass stampless covers and postal markings. His extensive collection includes examples from the Colonial period through the 1890’s. Meticulously assembled, it contains most types of postal markings available for the 125-year period. such as straight-lines, territorial, fancy and unusual markings such as oval, CDS, packets, ship markings, railroad and mail route markings. It is now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Nicknamed ‘the Prexies’ by collectors the Presidential Issue is a series of definitive postage stamps issued in the United States in 1938. The unique collection features all 29 U.S. presidents from George Washington through Calvin Coolidge. The Presidents are depicted as small busts printed on solid-color designs on stamps valued up to 50-cents. The designs are black on white with colored lettering for the $1, $2, and $5 values. Many irregular values were included simply to ensure so that each Commander-in-Chief had a stamp of his own. Additional stamps depicted Benjamin Franklin on a half-cent stamp, Martha Washington on a one-and-a-half-cent stamp, and the White House, on a stamp with a value of four-and-a-half cents.

Ask some people what ‘cachet’ means and they’re likely to tell you it’s a French word that refers to a stamp or a seal. Others may refer to its common English usage to refer to something that gives the owner superior status…as in “owning a bottle of Lafitte-Rothschild champagne gave the host a certain cachet among his guests.”
 
But to a devotee of postal history, a cachet is a design or inscription (other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage) that appears on an envelope, postcard, or postal card to commemorate a postal or philatelic event.
 
Cachetmaking is truly an art form. The designs may be produced in a variety of ways, including drawing or painting directly onto the envelope, serigraphy, block printing, and lithography. Engraving, and more recently laser printing and rubber stamping have been used to create cachets. Continue reading

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.

The Civil War patriotic covers and other printed stationery items created by the Charles Magnus Company are distinguished by their eye-catching hand-coloring. To create the covers, a pre-cut stencil pattern was laid over a black and white design and color was applied. The workers, primarily women and children paid a salary of 8-cents per day for their labors, were given free reign in their color selections. As a result, Civil War patriotic covers with designs created by the Charles Magnus Company may be truly unique.

The collecting of Civil War Patriotics actually began during the war, and one design actually promotes the collecting of the covers! It is said that some publishers continued printing and selling covers after the war ended, but rumors of modern production of these designs are, mostly unfounded. Patriotic covers from the War Between the States were published by a variety of manufacturers mostly in the North.

Artists and designers worked with political activists to stir support and sentiment. To do so, they used patriotic symbols including the American Eagle, the American flag, stars, and the Liberty Bell. Depictions of soldiers were common as were symbols of ‘Lady Liberty.’

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Patriotic covers….politically themed designs and propaganda placed on mailing envelopes…is as American as apple pie and almost as old. Even before the first shot was fired in the War Between the States, volleys of political rhetoric were flying thanks to patriotic covers. Freedom of speech was being exercised on the envelopes traveling through the U.S. Mail.
 
Envelopes purchased by the public at large for their regular correspondence began to carry the ideological sentiments of their makers. Some were expressions of National patriotism while others presented negative opinions on any of the major issues at the heart of the War. Some the most popular and interesting Civil War patriotic covers are unflattering caricatures of ‘the enemy’ from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.

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