On September 1, 1939, 1.5 million German soldiers and more than 2,500 tanks invaded Poland, while more than 2,000 German airplanes began bombing Polish cities, air bases, fortifications, bridges, and railroad lines. Two days later, Great Britain and France, which a year earlier had acquiesced to the German takeover of Czechoslovakia, declared war on […]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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