In 1962, when the U.S. Post Office Department released a jingle to go with its first ever Christmas stamp. Set to the tune of Jingle Bells, it went: “Christmas stamps, Christmas stamps, making our debut We’ll brighten up your Christmas cards, and speed them onto you. Don’t delay, mail today, it’s later than you think. […]

The great American philosopher Kenny Rogers once sang: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em Know when to fold ’em Know when to walk away And know when to run. …If you’re going to play the game, boy You gotta learn to play it right. Our current president clearly doesn’t know it’s time to

Where have you gone…James Oglethorpe? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo, woo, woo Those aren’t the lyrics but they are timely because the eyes of the nation are focused on the U.S. Senate races in Georgia, which was founded as a Utopian scheme by Oglethorpe, an 18th century social reformer who is

Somehow, in the midst of all the current craziness, I missed the fact that today – December 21, 2020 – is the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts. As someone who grew up hearing lots about the Pilgrims – and of course being someone who lives in greater Boston – that seems

“What does labor want,” asked Samuel Gomers, who is pictured on today’s #stampoftheday. “We want more school houses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more constant work and less crime; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate

“I know all about refugees,” Sesame Street’s Grover tells “Deputy Secretary Tony Blinken from the State Department,” in a marvelous, now-viral video made in 2016. (Google it if you haven’ seen it!) “You do?” asks Blinken, who President-elect Joe Biden will nominate to be the next US Secretary of State. “Of course I do,” Grover

WWJFDD? That is, what would John Foster Dulles do? That question occurred to me as I thought about today’s #stampoftheday (number 232 if you’re counting) – a 4-cent stamp picturing Dulles that was issued on December 6, 1960. In many ways, Dulles now is a largely forgotten figure. But in the mid-20th century, he was

As the nation lurches towards a presidential transition, it seems oddly appropriate that today’s #stampoftheday pictures a one-term, 19th century president, who, one of his obituaries contended, “possessed…none of the attributes of greatness.” The president in question is Franklin Pierce, who was born on November 23, 1804 and served for one term, from 1853 to

On November 19, 1863, Edward Everett, one of America’s great 19th century orators, gave a more than two-hour speech at the ceremony dedicating a new cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When he was done, President Abraham Lincoln, who had been asked by the event’s organizers to give “a few appropriate remarks,” stood up to speak. According

On November 13, 1937, when today’s #stampoftheday was issued, Alaska was a territory, not a state. The stamp, which pictures the mountain formerly known as Mt. McKinley, was part of a four-stamp series celebrating Alaska and three other US territories: Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Today, Alaska and Hawaii are states. About