Postal History

On May 10, 1876, the first official World’s Fair in the United States was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The fair also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

On May 9, 1939, the Philatelic Truck departed the White House on a cross-country journey to introduce thousands of Americans to the exciting world of stamps.

On April 18, 1900, the US Post Office issued its first stamp books. The books proved to be very popular with the general public and several post offices sold out of their supplies on the first day they were placed on sale. 

On March 14, 1997, the USPS issued two linerless coil stamps on a small scale to test the potentially money-saving format. Despite early positive reviews, the experiment was short-lived.

On March 11, 1980, the USPS removed all the stamps it had issued for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Moscow from sale as part of an American boycott of the games.  According the USPS, this was the first time they removed stamps from sale for political reasons since the Civil War.

On March 10, 1995, the USPS issued the first stamps in two new definitive series – American Scenes and American Transportation. These stamps were created as part of the USPS process of converting its service-inscribed stamps for discounted bulk mail to non-denominational postage.

On March 9, 1858, iron manufacturer Albert Potts of Philadelphia patented an early mail collection box.  His mailbox was affixed to a lamp post for the convenience of mailers.

On March 3, 1845, a congressional act established star routes.  Businesses would carry mail under contract with the post office on these postal routes.

March 1, 1870, is the earliest known use of one of the Bank Note stamps, a long-running series of stamps produced by three different bank note companies. These stamps have interesting differences thanks to secret marks, grills, paper varieties, fancy cancels, and more!