The first – and perhaps the only – two men who ever asked for directions are honored in today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued on July 29, 1954 honoring the 150th anniversary of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. The expedition, which also was known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, which stared on August […]

Townsend Harris, an obscure 19th century American diplomat who not only was portrayed by John Wayne in 1958 and was a character a satirical Japanese manga-based anime, but also founded what became the City College of New York and is the namesake of a well-known New York City public high school, is the unlikely focus

The Wright Brothers take wing in today’s #stampoftheday, a 6-cent airmail stamp issued in 1949. But why today, when the stamp was issued on December 17, 1949, on the 46th anniversary of their famous first flight at Kitty Hawk, on December 17, 1903? Because today is the anniversary of another, lesser-known but arguably much more

Today’s #stampoftheday features Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who took office in the midst of an unprecedented crisis and provided much needed leadership through the Great Depression and most of World War II. A 1-cent stamp issued on July 26, 1945 that has a portrait of Roosevelt and Hyde Park, his childhood home, it was the first

Competence in government, particularly the difference that talented people can make if given the authority and the resources, is the theme of today’s #stampoftheday (actually #stampsoftheday). The three stamps themselves honor three major Revolutionary War milestones. The first is a 3-cent stamp, issued in 1955, commemorating the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain by

Unlike the past few days, when I really had to dig around to find a good #stampoftheday, there’s a wealth of easy and wonderful choices for today’s stamp. There’s a 2-cent stamp featuring the Grand Canyon issued on July 24, 1934 that was part of a series of 10 stamps issued that year that pictured

Ulysses S. Grant, who died on July 23, 1885 days after he finished writing his widely acclaimed autobiography, today makes an encore appearance in today’s #stampoftheday, which is an 18-cent stamp issued in 1938. While I wrote about Grant in May, I’m returning to him because in mid-June, protestors in San Francisco tore down a

The once settled question of whether and how America should provide military support for democratically elected governments in western Europe is highlighted in today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp issued in 1952 celebrating NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The treaty establishing NATO, which was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside

Today is one of those days when the #stampoftheday provides an uncanny connection to current events. The stamp is a 22-cent stamp from 1942 picturing Grover Cleveland, the only man to serve two non-consecutive terms as president from 1884-1888 and 1892-1896. The connection to current events is that in July 1894, Cleveland, against the wishes

The Seneca Falls Convention, an historic gathering that produced one of the most important documents in the long fight for women’s rights, is the focus of today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp celebrating “100 Years of Progress of Women” issued on July 19, 1948, the 100th anniversary of that 2-day gathering in western New York State.