In August 21, 1945, my father, along with almost 15,000 other soldiers, was on the Queen Mary, which was one of the first ships to bring soldiers back from Europe …
Be well. Stay safe. Fight for justice.
Work for peace.
In April of 2020, not long after the COVID-19 pandemic began, I had an inexplicable urge to dig into my late father’s stamp collection, which had been sitting unexamined on my shelves since about 2012. I created a challenge for myself: each day find a stamp that was somehow connected to that day, write a short blurb about it, and post it on Facebook with a picture of the stamp. I thought I’d do that for a few weeks. But the pandemic continued and what started as short blurbs became a year of daily essays that not only discussed historic events, famous people, and obscure Americana but also recounted personal and family stories and examined how these decades-old stamps shed light on a host contemporary challenges. Thanks to my daughter Rebecca, every one of those 365 essays – from the early succinct ones to the later rambling ones – are collected on this website, where you can view them by date, by broad category, or by whether they were my “personal favorites.” I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.
Historical Figures & Events
Delving into the people and events that shaped history
Culture & Society
Exploring Americana artifacts and other obscure areas of US history
Contemporary Issues
Discussing the pandemic, 2020 politics, and other recent happenings
Personal & Family Lore
Recounting stories from my childhood, “adulthood,” and family’s history
Featured Essays
Author favorites
Ulysses S. Grant, who died on July 23, 1885 days after he finished writing his widely acclaimed autobiography, today makes an encore appearance in today's #stampoftheday, which is an 18-cent …
"Register - Vote" is the uncannily timely message from today's #stampoftheday, a 5-cent stamp issued on August 1, 1964. I have mixed reactions to this stamp. Obviously, I agree with its basic …
"A visit to Dr. Thoreau" is the journey I'm going on with today's #stampoftheday, a 5-cent stamp picturing Henry David Thoreau, author of "Walden or Life the Woods," which was …
The country of Israel’s first stamps are today’s the #stampoftheday. Israel declared its independence on Friday, May 14, 1948. However, Israel Post, the Israeli postal operator, waited until Sunday May …
Why do we hold onto and cherish artifacts from the past, particularly artifacts connected to our ancestors? That's the question raised by today's #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp, issued on September …