Postage Stamps and Postal History of The United States

Postage Stamps And Postal History Of The United States

This is a general historical outline of postage stamps and postal history of the United States of America. The page rarely covers the subjects or topical aspects of individual postage stamps issues at any length, and only when it is relevant to the issuance of the postage, as some events are solely responsible for the stamp being issued, as is the case with the first Lincoln stamp of 1866, issued on the anniversary of Lincoln's death one year later. This was not a regular issue. The issue was prompted by an event (subject) and only to that extent will the stamp's subject be addressed here.

The question of stamp subjects is, however, discussed in general terms: in particular, the evolving notions over the years of what images are appropriate on a stamp—and under what circumstances. Some attention is thus given to the historical evolution of commemorative stamps, introduced in 1893: at first appearing only infrequently and only in multi-stamp series honoring international expositions, but eventually produced in a continual stream of individual issues. Occasional notice is also taken of the manner in which commemorative and definitive stamps reflected aesthetic, cultural and ideological currents in the United States, particularly during the Roosevelt presidencies and the Cold War.

Chronicled here as well is the periodic introduction of new categories of postage stamps: issued either to allow stamps to be used in a new way (the encased postage stamps of 1862) or, more often, to cover new classes of mail or new methods of delivery. Finally, when necessary, the article touches upon in the evolution of stamp production as a physical process, and the history of Government involvement in it.