The Civil War was serious business to American citizens, even if they chose to express their sentiments in a humorous way via the mail. Patriotic covers were enormously popular in 19th Century America. Then, as today, when a ‘serious business’ like war created a need for smartly worded, visually compelling political expression…a different kind of [...]

The period immediately before and during the early years of postage stamps in this country was particularly rich in interesting and often short-lived experiments in how to prepay and deliver mail. All the postal mechanics and procedures we take for granted today – for printing, distributing, selling, and processing stamps and stamped mail – had [...]