One of the first philatelic/social history articles I wrote was titled, “A Prize Agent, A Naturalist, and A Navy Captain: A Penny Black...

[Note: This article was published in the Winter 2025 edition of StampEd, the American Philatelic Society's digital publication. A PDF is...

Some stamp societies invite collectors to submit one-page exhibits that are then displayed on their websites. These are noncompetitive...

We take ice for granted. As Amy Brady writes in Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks - A Cool History of a Hot Commodity, "Ice is...

[Note: This post was published in the Fourth Quarter 2024 Kelleher's Stamp Collector's Quarterly .] When it comes to Civil War postal...

[Note: This post was published in the February 2025 Pennsylvania Postal Historian .] On the surface, the folded letter in Figure 1 is not...

On July 16, 1870, fearing the loss of its dominant position in continental Europe, France declared war on the North German Confederation...

This is a great Abraham Lincoln campaign cover (Figure 1). The cover is postmarked "October 29" but without a year. I'm fairly confident,...

For a short period in the mid 1800s until they were put out of business by Congress and the Post Office, there were a number of companies...

To streamline the complex maze of postal services for international mail, 22 countries met in 1874 to establish the General Postal Union,...

During the U.S. Civil War, the Union blockade prevented many supplies from entering the Confederacy. That included paper and envelopes....

Attached is a presentation that I delivered at the Philatelic Gathering on March 23, 2024. It's the final version of a presentation that...

Between April and August 1898, the U.S. and Spain fought a war that Spain lost and that resulted in the U.S. taking over Cuba, Puerto...

In March 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a law establishing new uniform rates of postage: 5-cents for a single sheet letter or a letter...

The Confederate States of America (CSA) was formed by seven seceding states on February 8, 1861. Four more states joined the CSA after...

This cover (Figure 1) was postmarked in Conway, New Hampshire on August 15, 1859, and was addressed to Colonel Thomas E. Chickering of...

Today, the smallest postcard or envelope that you can mail through the US Postal Service has to measure at least 5 inches long and 3-1/2...

Early in 2023, I purchased at auction a box full of covers. I don't know the exact number, but it was certainly more than a couple of...

This is a Civil War-era cover that includes the original letter from a Union solider to his wife. The cover (Figures 1 and 2) has a...

(This was published in the Badger Postal History , Volume 64, Number 2, November 2024. A PDF is attached.) Many covers with patriotic...