On December 1, 1921, the US Post Office Department opened its Philatelic Agency in Washington, DC, to the benefit of stamp collectors. It became a valuable resource for stamp information and fulfilled requests for stamps – and was sometimes the only place to get certain issues!
In the midst of World War I, a major change quietly began in the United States Postal Service: for the first time, women were seriously tested as city letter carriers. On November 23, 1917, First Assistant Postmaster General John C. Koons issued a call to the postmasters of eight of the largest US post offices to run 15-day trials of women serving as letter carriers in the city. This experiment was described as a potential wartime necessity, because many men were off fighting, and extra postal workers were already needed to handle the heavy Christmas mail in December.
On October 27, 1948, the US Post Office issued a stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.
After just eighteen months of daring rides across the American frontier, the Pony Express ceased operations on October 26, 1861. Though short-lived, it became one of the most legendary chapters in the history of the American West.
On October 10, 1934, eager stamp collectors crowded the mezzanine of Omaha’s Hotel Fontenelle, waiting in line for the chance to buy a brand-new souvenir sheet featuring the majestic granite cliffs of Yosemite National Park. Released to commemorate the Trans-Mississippi Philatelic Exposition, the sheets sold out in less than an hour, leaving many empty-handed but cementing the issue’s place in stamp-collecting history.
On October 1, 1885, the Special Delivery service was first available and the first stamp, US #E1, went on sale. The service provided the immediate delivery of a letter within one mile of any other Special Delivery post office.
On September 19, 1968, the American Philatelic Society (APS) officially introduced the World Series of Philately (WSP)—one of the most prestigious competitive platforms in US stamp exhibiting. The WPS came as a result of years of requests from serious collectors for a way to highlight top-tier exhibits at a national level.
On September 1, 1853, the Cape of Good Hope, a British colony at the southern tip of Africa, issued the world’s first triangle stamps. These were also the first adhesive postage stamps issued in Africa.
On August 31, 1852, the US passed the Postal Act 1852, which required private express companies to use envelopes created by the Post Office.