# 2781 - 1993 29c National Postal Museum: Moving the Mail

U.S. #2781
1993 Moving the Mail – National Postal Museum

• Pictures Charles Lindbergh (representing all airmail pilots) and other images from the early 20^th century US mail system as newer, faster mail delivery methods came about
• One of four stamps honoring the opening of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum with historic items, images, and themes from US stamp and mail history

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Set:  National Postal Museum
Value:  29¢, First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  July 30, 1993
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Quantity Issued:  150,000,000
Printed by:  American Bank Note Company
Printing Method:  Offset, Intaglio
Format:  Pane of 20 (Horizontal 4 across, 5 down)
Perforations:  11 x 10.9 (Bickel reciprocating stroke perforator)
Tagging:  Prephosphored paper (taggant added to tan offset ink)

Why the stamp was issued:  To commemorate the opening of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum with images honoring innovations in mail delivery during the early 20^th century.

About the stamp design:  The main subject of this design is a portrait of Charles Lindbergh, representing the many airmail pilots who delivered the mail in the early days of flight.  In the upper right of the stamp is a train car from the Railway Mail Service.  The design also includes two engraved vignettes:  A JN-4H Jenny mail plane and a 1931 Ford Model A mail truck. 

Special design details:  The portrait of Lindbergh was the first time he appeared on a US stamp (though his plane, Spirit of St. Louis, had been pictured before).  The portrait came from a photograph supplied by Duane Sneddeker, curator of photographs and prints at the Missouri Historical Society’s Jefferson Memorial.  The original photograph was taken by Edmond J. Farlie, Jr. of East Orange, New Jersey.  He snapped the photo at Mitchell Field, Long Island, New York, on June 16, 1927, just after Lindbergh had returned to the US from Paris after his famous flight.  Schlecht said of the portrait on the stamp, “It really wasn’t intended to be Lindbergh himself… We wanted a recognizable image of an airmail pilot, and that photo is pretty much of an icon.  So we decided to stylize it a little bit and use it like that.”  The vehicles on the stamp were based on images from the National Postal Museum archives.

First Day City:  This stamp, along with the rest of the National Postal Museum set, was issued in Washington, DC, at the opening of the museum.  Four First Day of Issue cancellations were available:  two standard handstamps, one pictorial cancellation labeled “National Postal Museum Station” picturing a boy dropping a letter in a mailbox, and the fourth labeled “Ice Cream Station” picturing a bitten ice cream bar surrounded by ice and the words “Good Humor Ice Cream.”  While the ice cream cancellation may seem strange, Good Humor Ice Cream was at the National Postal Museum opening and has been an avid supporter of the Smithsonian Institution, including donating to its archives in 1992.

About the National Postal Museum set:  Due to its subject matter, this set of stamps went through an extensive design process before the final versions were chosen.  They also went through two different designers, beginning with Lou Nolan and ending with Richard Schlecht.  After many rounds of back and forth with the postal service, Nolan said “I had worked on it for a long time… I had submitted quite a few designs to them, and they would come back with more ideas, try this, try that, and I don’t know – I just didn’t think I was satisfying them… I’ve enjoyed doing what I’ve done; let somebody else have a try at it.”  When Schlecht was chosen as his successor, Nolan said, “There were no hard feelings at all.  I’ve known Dick (Schlect) for years.  He’s a wonderful artist, and I have all the respect in the world for him.  He has a different technique.  I was tickled to death at how the stamps turned out.”

Schlecht himself said of the designs, “It was the most complicated set of stamps I’ve done… Everybody was kind of out of breath by the time it was over.  The hard part was just nailing down all those concepts and making sure we covered everything, and then having to satisfy the Postal Service and the museum people and other folks involved.  It just took a while to work all that out and run it by everybody and let everybody have their input.”

History the stamp represents:  On May 15, 1918, the Post Office inaugurated its new airmail service.  Although it was first suggested planes be used to transport mail in 1910, the idea was way ahead of technology; airplanes were too slow, fragile, and unreliable to compete with the mail train.  Seven years later, however, World War I had proven the usefulness of airplanes, and when it was recommended that an experimental airmail route be established, the Post Office readily agreed.

The Army agreed to provide pilots in order to give its young trainees experience in cross-country flying.  A simple 218-mile route was chosen that would offer service to Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York City.  Like any other government venture, the airmail service stemmed from a long tradition of federal support for projects that would improve transportation and communication, making the launching of airmail service more than just a milestone in postal history.  The goal of the new service was to prove that mail could be flown on a regular basis, regardless of weather, thus paving the way for transcontinental and eventually transoceanic flights.

Originally designed and outfitted for battle during World War I, the DeHavilland bi-plane became the workhorse of the US Airmail Service by the 1920s.