Daniel Webster (Figure 1) was a prominent lawyer and politician in the antebellum period. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives,...

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

In late 2022, I purchase a boxful of covers at a stamp auction. The covers were a fascinating lot dating from the mid-19th century to the...

Stamp collectors, especially those who specialize in classic covers, are, for all intents and purposes, curators of historical artifacts....

In the early 1840s, railroads were a very new form of transportation in the US. The first common carrier railroad in the US was the...

The steamboat was the invention of Robert Fulton, an American engineer. In 1807, his steamboat, the North River Steamboat or the...

This is the oldest item in my collection: A stampless folded letter - probably better described as a self-made envelope - from 1791. As...

Covers from the stampless era – the period prior to 1855 when postage stamps became mandatory on U.S. mail – are fascinating to collect....

I am a philatelist – a stamp collector. I like all aspects of philately, but I particularly enjoy acquiring old envelopes and letters not...

This is how the catalog for the HR Harmer auction held October 26-27, 2022, described the item pictured in Figure 1: Green Bay M Ty 4...

I'm pretty sure "Business to Business" was not a term 175 years ago, but that is what this stampless letter represents. It was sent from...

Update: The crux of this article was published in the second quarter 2024 issue of StampEd, an all-digital, free publication started by...

Have you ever heard of Nanjemoy, Maryland or a "Writer to the Signet"? I never did until I began researching this stampless letter sent...

This is a stampless folded letter from 1840 that was sent from Niles, Michigan, which is about 20 miles north of South Bend, Indiana, to...

Before the advent of adhesive postage stamps in 1840, mail was still sent and received throughout the world. These are referred to as...