There aren’t any first day covers for today in my dad’s collection (Earth Day, which is today and has been honored in stamps, came after he stopped serious collecting). So I have to be creative for #stampoftheday.

Today is the 131st anniversary of the land rush into what is now Oklahoma, which had been set aside as home for the Creek and Seminole tribes when they were forced out of the southeast United States. On that day, over 50,000 families flooded into the state to stake their claims on 1.9 million acres of land the government “bought” from the tribes.

To mark that day, here’s a copy of the first day cover and stamp issued on the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood, issued on June 14, 1957 (thanks to Mystic Stamp’s This Day in History page for this info…also, the wonderfully bizarre history of the land rush and other oddities of Oklahoma City, including how it stole Seattle’s basketball team, are covered Boom Town, a wonderful book by Sam Anderson’s…