Stamp of the Day

August 2020

Ramon Magsaysay Really Was “A Champion of Liberty” (I Think)

While it might seem odd today, today’s #stampoftheday was first in a series that honored 10 foreign “champions of liberty”-people who both fought for democratic rights and generally opposed the spread of Russian influence. The stamp in question is an 8-cent airmail stamp, issued on August 31, 1957, that honored Ramon Magsaysay, who was president […]

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Exploring Galaxies—and Cheese—from Palomar Mountain Observatory

The Palomar Mountain Observatory, one of the world’s most iconic and important scientific facilities, comes into to focus as todays #stampoftheday and, in doing so, provides some wise advice on life. The stamp in question is a 3-cent stamp issued in on August 30, 1948 that depicts the observatory, which in 1949 began using the

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The Grand Army of the Republic Missed its Grand Opportunity

There’s something poignant about the image and subject of today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on August 29, 1049 to commemorate the last (and 83rd) annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization of men who had fought for the Union in the Civil War. While the GAR had more

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Taking the Tom Thumb Train To Cooper Union and McSorley’s

A 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 on the 125th anniversary of the granting of a charter for the B&O Railroad brings Tom Thumb, Cooper Union, and McSorley’s Old Ale House to the fore as today’s #stampoftheday. The stamp pictures the first American-built steam locomotive, and steam locomotives are important because in the early 1800s most

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Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and the Power of Political Debates

Seminal political debates featuring two of the country’s most skilled orators delivered provocative, reasoned and (occasionally) morally elevated arguments on issues that were tearing the country apart are the focus of today’s #stampoftheday. Issued on August 27, 1958, the 4-cent stamp marked the 100th anniversary of a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and

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Harlan F. Stone and the Most Important Footnote in Constitutional Law

Today’s #stampoftheday focuses on the “most important footnote” in constitutional law, which was part of a Supreme Court case involving adulterated milk and a decision written by a justice known as one of the court’s “Three Musketeers.” A 3-cent stamp issued in 1948, it portrays the footnote’s author, Harlan F. Stone, who was an Associate

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Can the Liberation of Paris Help Guide Us in a Post-COVID World?

A massive celebration of liberation from more than four years of oppression is the focus of today’s #stampoftheday. A 3-cent stamp issued in 1945 that commemorates the liberation of Paris by Allied forces on August 25, 1944, it shows US troops parading in front of the Arc de Triomphe a few days after the Germans

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Will the American Bar Association Help the “Powers of Good” or the “Powers of Evil”?

Today’s #stampoftheday travels to four important and very timely ethereal places (in contrast to yesterday’s stamp, which went to four distinct and important parts of the United States). A 3-cent stamp issued on August 24, 1953 that marked the 75th anniversary of the American Bar Association, it shows four figures—representing Wisdom, Justice, Divine Inspiration, and

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The International Botanical Conference Stamp Helps Me See the World

Oddly enough, today’s #stampoftheday, which features flora from four different parts of the US, captures a thought I had in the shower last night, not long after I posted yesterday’s #stampoftheday. It occurred to me that in the “before time” (i.e the time before COVID), we would often travel and one of the things I

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Charles W. Eliot Didn’t Get Tenure But He Did Transform American Higher Education

Charles W. Eliot, a well-connected chemistry professor who failed to get tenure at Harvard but who went on to be the university’s longest serving president is the focus of today’s #stampoftheday. Here’s pictured on a 3-stamp stamps issued as part of the 1940 “Famous Americans” series. Eliot, who was as president of Harvard University from

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