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“Our Dear Ella”: A Civil War Soldier's Letter from 1863
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...


A Civil War Patriotic Cover from 1862 Addressed to a Future Wisconsin US Senator
(This was published in the Badger Postal History , Volume 64, Number 2, November 2024. A PDF is attached.) Many covers with patriotic...


The Inventor of the Clay Pigeon, 1887
I acquired this cover (Figure 3) at an auction because of the advertisement. It's a very bold one, depicting an allegoric figure...


A Mystery Item Postmarked Rome, California Circa 1870s
This item, which is just a piece of an envelope or wrapper with a stamp on it, is largely a mystery to me. It was postmarked at the Rome,...


Registered Mail from 1873
Beginning in 1855, the Post Office provided a registry service to more securely move high-value matter through the mail system....


An Early Usage of a Stamped Envelope Circa 1854
This envelope was probably mailed sometime around 1854, and unless the sender made a mistake in calculating the amount of postage needed,...


A Cover Sent from New Orleans to Germany, 1868
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), which was organized in 1874 and today is a specialized agency within the Union Nations, coordinates...


A Letter to the Founder of Rockford University, 1860
This plain looking cover was postmarked September 5, probably in 1860 based on the notation to the left, in Chicago. It then made its way...


A "Blood's Dispatch" Item from Philadelphia Circa 1850
This cover is likely from the early 1850s. I assume that is the case because this envelope has two stamps that help narrow the timeframe....


Sheriff, Former Farmer, Dies of Pistol Shot Wound! News at 11!
This cover from 1894 is beat up, but it has a neat train car-themed ad and a recipient who died of a pistol shot! It was mailed from...


A Famous and Not-So-Famous Drug Company from 1894
These two covers were sent from Baltimore, Maryland to the same address in Lowell, Massachusetts - "J.C. Ayer Co." - just one week apart...


An Attractive Columbian Cover from 1896
This is a nice cover to highlight even though I have no clue who sent it. The cover has 2-cents worth of postage, which was the letter...


Is It "Soda" or Is It "Pop"? A Milwaukee ("Soda") to Iowa ("Pop") Business Cover from 1893
On January 1, 1893, the US Postal Service released its first-ever commemorative stamps, i.e., stamps issued to celebrate a specific event...


"Historian and Hobbiest" and the Independent Order of Good Templars, 1895
This advertising cover was sent from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Greene, Maine sometime in the spring of 1895. In Figure 1, you can just make...


1888 Advertising Cover from Rochester "Flower City" New York
This advertising cover was sent on December 17, 1888, from Rochester, New York to Cobbleskill (or Cobleskill), New York, a small town...


A Patriotic Cover from the Civil War, Sender Unknown
This patriotic cover from the Civil War is franked with a 3-cent US Scott Catalog #65 and was postmarked in Washington, DC on June 30,...


An 1848 Letter from Wisconsin Territory to New York City
The Territory of Wisconsin existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when Wisconsin became the 30th state. This is one of only four...


To My "Ever Dear Wife": A Civil War Soldier's Letter Home from 1862
This is a fascinating item from the US Civil War. It is a letter sent on September 19, 1862, from Newport, Kentucky (just across the Ohio...


A Piece from the Cotton Trade Between the North and the South Circa 1852
The cotton trade between the North and South was robust in the pre-Civil War era. The Northern textile mills depended on a steady supply...


A Letter to a Sister Circa 1850?
This cover is an interesting one, and I would love to confirm who sent it and what was in it. The cover was sent from Madison, Wisconsin,...
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