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 […]

In the midst of current trade disputes with—and heated pandemic fueled rhetoric about – China, it’s easy to forget the strange long history of US relations with China. Today’s #stampoftheday, a 4-cent stamp depicting Sun Yat-Sen issued on November 12, 1961, reminds me of that history, particularly America’s more than two-decade long refusal to recognize

Here’s an implausible and oddly timely pitch for a Netflix mini-series. A Republican presidential candidate clearly loses he popular vote and appears to be on track to lose the electoral college. But his backers argue that the popular vote count in several key states nominally won by Democrats was badly flawed. They get their allies

An all-but-forgotten hardball political maneuver designed to keep Republicans in power in Washington is behind-the-image story of today’s #stampoftheday. Although these actions are quite salient today, they aren’t recent. Rather, they date back to the late 1800s, when five of what are now the nation’s least populated states were admitted to the union. That decision,

Bliss. For the moment, I am in a state of bliss. Indeed, I even feel a bit like Francis Scott Key, who saw that “the rocket’s red glare…gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” So it seems quite appropriate that today’s #stampoftheday, which really was issued on November 7, 1948, not

“Georgia,” as Ray Charles sings in a classic recording, today, had been on my mind “the whole day through.” So, perhaps, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the somewhat random process that generates #stampoftheday candidates today produced a 4-cent stamp honoring one of the state’s most important and influential politicians in the mid 20th

Some classic American humor from the 1920s and early 30s is featured in today’s #stampoftheday, which aims to provide a temporary respite for those of us who’ve had an exhausting night, a tension-filled day, and an unsettled but hopeful evening. The humor comes courtesy of Will Rogers, a famed stage and film actor, humorist, newspaper

“Never was there, perhaps, more hollowness at heart than at present, and here in the United States.” Although Walt Whitman wrote those words almost 150 years ago, they are resonant tonight as I sit watching early election returns making it clear that the election is likely to be closer than I hoped. As I watch

As Election Day approaches, it is increasingly hard think or write about stamps that don’t somehow connect with tomorrow’s watershed vote. Consequently, I’ve been on the lookout for stamps that, in some way, connect with my current emotional mix of anxiety, excitement, bewilderment, resoluteness, and many other things. Today, that process brings me to 4-