First Airmail Special Delivery Stamp

Here is some more interesting information about a special stamp. I have enjoyed doing research on some of these stamps because I’m learning a lot of interesting things that I didn’t know about concerning the stamp, the background of the stamp, and the topic of the stamp. I think stamps would be a good tool to use in the classroom.

The post office decided to issue a new stamp in 1934 to prepay the combined airmail and special delivery rates. A letter bearing this stamp was guaranteed special treatment from the time of collection and sent by airplane until it was delivered to the final destination.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the one who suggested the stamp design. The Great Seal of the United States – The American eagle with wings spread in flight, symbolized the ide of special delivery letters flying over the continent from coast to coast. The steel blue color of the new stamp made it distinctive enough that postal clerks could pick out an airmail special delivery letter from other letters and rush it to the plane.

President Roosevelt was an avid stamp collector. He began collecting when he was 8 years old and his mother gave him her collection. He enjoyed stamps for their link with geography and history. After getting polio, stamp collecting helped keep him entertained and he spent hours arranging them. Even when he was President, he worked with his collection on a daily basis. When he died, he had over a million stamps and was sold at a public auction for $228,000. Stamps he received officially from foreign governments are at the Roosevelt Library.

The Postmaster General hoped the stamp would help speed the delivery of airmail. He hoped that once the letter reached the airport nearest to the addressee, it would be rushed to the address on the letter.

This stamp was issued at the American Air Mail Society Convention Station in Chicago Illinois on August 30, 1934. It was designed by Victor S. McCloskey.

Class Activities:

1.     Do more research on Air Mail stamps.

2.     Do more research on Special Delivery Stamps.

3.     Do more research on FDR and his stamp collection.

4.     Find a stamp on geography or history and share information about it.

5.     Find information about Victor S. McCloskey.

Original Photo by Pat Hensley