A very long bridge that made much needed connections but in ways that can be terrifying for some people is the subject of today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on June 25, 1958. The stamp shows Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac and connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The bridge’s name […]
Michigan’s Big Mac Bridge Read More »
A message about the slow but inexorable ways that change occurs is offered by today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp. Issued on June 21, 1955, the stamp shows New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain rock formation, which collapsed in 2003d despite decades of efforts to prevent that decline. The 40-foot-tall “face” in New Hampshire’s White
Was the Old Man in the Mountain Trying to Tell Us Something Read More »
Oklahoma, “where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain” (and where many strange and unsettling things also have happened), takes center stage as today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp, issued on June 14, 1957, to mark the 50th anniversary of Oklahoma becoming the nation’s 46th state. Issued in conjunction with Oklahoma’s Semi-Centennial Exposition, which ran from
Oklahoma: Where Many Oddities Come “Sweepin’ Down the Plain” Read More »
Baseball, which is near and dear to my heart, takes the field as today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on June 12, 1939, issued in conjunction with the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown NY. The stamp commemorates what was alleged to be the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of
A 5-cent stamp picturing Ulysses S. Grant that was issued on June 11, 1895 “should” be today’s #stampoftheday. But since Grant was the subject of the May 28 #stampoftheday I’m going to reach back a few days to the wonderfully illustrative, 4-cent “American Women” stamp that I overlooked on June 2nd, which was the 60th
The Historic Dearth of Women on US Postage Stamps Read More »
Today #stampoftheday journeys to sea with the 3-cent stamp issued on June 10, 1957 to commemorate the 1957 International Naval Review, on June 12. The review was based in Hampton Roads was scheduled to coincide with the 350th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent white settlement in the U.S. It featured about
The 1957 Naval Review Made Me Think About Racial Segregation in the Armed Forces Read More »
Doctors are the subject of today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on June 9, 1947 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American Medical Association (AMA) in May 1847. I’m not sure why they waited until June to issue the stamp. Perhaps they were running late. The stamp pictures of Sir Luke Fildes’
The Best and Worst of American Medical Association Read More »
Digging into today’s #stampoftheday – a 4-cent stamp, issued on Jun 8, 1959, that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Comstock Lode in Nevada – I unearthed a story that starts with mining, continues to bitter fights over national economic policy, and ends with an infamous trial in which a leading political figure took issue
The Comstock Lode, Silver, and the Scopes Monkey Trial Read More »
A seemingly banal, classic mid-20th century image of a white mail carrier that is today’s #stampoftheday turned out deliver a timely lesson about the ways that the government, particularly the federal government, can be used to both further oppression and foster opportunity. The stamp is a 15-cent stamp special delivery stamp issued on June 6,
How the Post Office Mirrors America’s Racial History Read More »
Today’s #stampoftheday, a $1 stamp picturing Admiral David Farragut that was issued on June 5, 1903, is yet another old stamp that in some ways connects to today’s turmoil, albeit in less insightful ways than some of the other recent stamps. Still, it reminds us that even in the face of real obstacles and danger