Postal History Foundation in the Press

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20 JUN 2023

Xplore Tuc son: Postal History Museum

21 AUG 2021

Green Valley News: Travels with Two Sisters: STAYING COOL & LEARNING TOO!

07 AUG 2021

Postcrossing: The Little Mail Carriers at the Postal History Foundation!

29 AUG 2020

The Arizona Republic: A lifeline. A community center. A business safety net. In Arizona, the mail means more than you may think.

PHF commentary. Subscription required to view this article.

21 SEP 2019

The Arizona Daily Star: The Arizona Territory’s oldest known envelope is now at Tucson’s Postal History Museum

21 AUG 2019

KGUN 9 Tucson: The 12th Annual Tucson Birthday Stamp Design Contest for kids is accepting entries

21 AUG 2019

The Arizona Daily Star: 12-year-old girl designs winning postage stamp for Tucson’s birthday

Subscription required to access this article.

20 AUG 2019

KOLD 13: Tucson birthday stamp winner announced

20 AUG 2019

KVOA News 4 Tucson: Happy 244th Birthday, Tucson!

31JAN 2019

The Arizona Daily Star: Everything’s a story at Postal History Foundation…

Subscription required to access this article.

14 OCT 2018

The Arizona Daily Star: Tucson history museums deliver unexpected discoveries

6 SEP 2018

Tucson Local Media: Catalina Foothills student wins Tucson stamp contest

16 AUG 2018

The Arizona Daily Star: Come celebrate Tucson’s 243rd birthday

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29 MAY 2018

The Arizona Daily Star: Tucson summer bucket list: 100 things to do

1 FEB 2018

The Arizona Daily Star: Mail delivery in the boom days of mining

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30 JAN 2018

KOLD 13: Postal History Foundation exhibit tells story of mail delivery in early days of mining

4 MAY 2017

The Arizona Daily Star: Tucson teen and children events May 11-19

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16 AUG 2016

The Arizona Daily Star: Tucson and Nandi celebrate birthdays

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27 MAY 2016

USA Today: Postal pilgrimage: 10 great places for stamp lovers

21 AUG 2015

Arizona Daily Star: Ironwood Ridge student wins Tucson stamp contest

Subscription required to access article.

7 OCT 2014

The Arizona Republic: 5 reasons why your kid should collect stamps

Also ran in other papers via AP wire.

11 SEP 2014

The Arizona Republic: Tucson mail-sorting center set to close in April

PHF commentary.

22 AUG 2014

The Arizona Daily Star: Gale Elementary student wins Tucson Birthday Stamp Contest

Subscription required to access article.

22 AUG 2014

Arizona Public Media: The Postal History Foundation

A listing of past press releases is coming soon.

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phftucson

April’s flower is the daisy. #philately #phftucs

April’s flower is the daisy. #philately #phftucson

It’s National Pet Day! At the Postal History Fou

It’s National Pet Day! At the Postal History Foundation, many of us have pets and love them to bits!

#NationalPetDay2024 #philately #phftucson

The first Pony Express trip started #OnThisDay in

The first Pony Express trip started #OnThisDay in 1860! We often get asked about the Pony Express and why we don’t have any artifacts from it. Our archives specializes in Arizona postal history, and the Pony Express didn’t run through Arizona! It ran on a central route and avoided the then-restless south. The Pony Express operated from April 1860-October 1861 (it’s not really as cut and dried as that because various owners and interests in various express companies including the Pony Express still ran some routes, but the main central route was abandoned due to the completion of the transcontinental railroad).

#philately #phftucson

April Fool’s! #phftucson #philately

April Fool’s!

#phftucson #philately

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest pitchers eve

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest pitchers ever, Cy Young! Born #OnThisDay in 1867, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

Some Cy Young stats: 511 wins (MLB record); 7,356 innings pitched (MLB record), 749 complete games (MLB record). He also holds the MLB record for most losses, 316! He was an unusually fast pitcher in his early years, and he played professional baseball into his 40s. He’s known as the father of modern pitching, and of course, is remembered through the pitching award that carries his name.

#philately #phftucson

A lot of us at the Postal History Foundation are r

A lot of us at the Postal History Foundation are rooting for the Arizona Wildcats during March Madness. Is your favorite team’s mascot depicted on a stamp?

P.S. This is technically a bobcat, but we’re using it because this is a great stamp!

#philately #phftucson @azmensbb

This is the birthday of famous western figure Wyat

This is the birthday of famous western figure Wyatt Earp, born #OnThisDay in 1848! He’s most known for the shoot out at the O.K. Corral, in Tombstone, on October 26, 1881.

#philately #phftucson

This is the 258th anniversary of the repeal of the

This is the 258th anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, which in part required British colonies to use British stamps and stamped paper for many things — legal documents, magazines, even playing cards. American colonists were outraged and called it “taxation without representation.” Colonists protested and Benjamin Franklin appealed to Parliament. The Stamp Act was repealed #OnThisDay in 1766. However, it was subsequently replaced by other regulations and taxes that were partly why the American colonists revolted!

#philately #phftucson

Beware the Ides of March! #phftucson #philately #

Beware the Ides of March!

#phftucson #philately #idesofmarch

Happy Pi Day! #philately #phftucson #piday2024

Happy Pi Day!

#philately #phftucson #piday2024

Happy Birthday to football player and coach, Knute

Happy Birthday to football player and coach, Knute Rockne, born #OnThisDay in 1888. Among his accomplishments: popularizing the forward pass, coaching 13 years at Notre Dame, and, while there, overseeing 100 wins and 3 national championships. Also... apparently his first name is pronounced “Ke-NOOT”, not “NOOT.” Oops.

#philately #phftucson

Yellowstone National Park was established as the f

Yellowstone National Park was established as the first National Park #OnThisDay in 1872.

#philately #phftucson

Happy Leap Day! #philately #phftucson

Happy Leap Day!

#philately #phftucson

Happy Birthday to the one and only Man in Black, J

Happy Birthday to the one and only Man in Black, Johnny Cash, born #OnThisDay in 1932!

#philately #phftucson

It’s Groundhog Day in the US. The prediction? Ea

It’s Groundhog Day in the US. The prediction? Early spring! We’ll see! Anyway it’s a good excuse for this cute little stamp.

#philately #phftucson

Happy February! It’s a Leap Year, don’t forget

Happy February! It’s a Leap Year, don’t forget, so 29 days this time. The February flower (in the US, at least), is the violet. Which is kind of neat, as the gem is amethyst, and both are usually purple!

#philately #phftucson

Happy Birthday to Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Miln

Happy Birthday to Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne, born #OnThisDay in 1882.

#philately #phftucson

Happy Birthday to Benjamin Franklin, born #OnThisD

Happy Birthday to Benjamin Franklin, born #OnThisDay in 1706. He was America's *first postmaster* (and distinguished diplomat, and newspaper editor and printer, and abolitionist, and inventor, and --).

#philately #phftucson

Happy Birthday to American author, journalist, and

Happy Birthday to American author, journalist, and activist Jack London, born #OnThisDay in 1876. His most famous books are Call of the Wild and White Fang.

#philately #phftucson

Today is an important day in postal history: the f

Today is an important day in postal history: the first day of inexpensive, uniform postage rates in the UK. This system was championed by Sir Rowland Hill, who is thought of as the father of the modern postal system. Prior to Hill's idea, the cost to send a letter would depend on how far it was traveling and who was willing to take it. Not to mention the exorbitant cost! Starting #OnThisDay in 1840, it only cost 1 penny to send a letter, allowing for lower classes to participate in the postal system! The first stamp produced by any country, ever, is the Penny Black.

#phftucson #philately

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920 N 1st Ave Tucson AZ 85719
P 520-623-6652
E info@phftucson.org

The Postal History Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting people to postal history, philately, and the world of stamps to inspire curiosity and encourage the enjoyment of life-long learning.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Postal History Foundation

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George Washington Carver

Percy Lavon Julian

Charles R. Drew

Jan E. Matzeliger

George Washington Carver

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Robert Robinson Taylor

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable

Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable

Anna Julia Cooper

Booker T. Washington

Mary McLeod Bethune

Frederick Douglass

C Alfred "Chief" Anderson

Matthew Henson (with Robert E. Peary)

C Alfred "Chief" Anderson

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Carter G. Woodson

Whitney Moore Young

Sojourner Truth

A. Philip Randolph

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

Shirley Chisholm

Patricia Robert Harris

Clifton R. Wharton, Sr.

Thurgood Marshall

Shirley Chisholm

Benjamin Banneker

John H. Johnson

Madame C.J. Walker

Benjamin Banneker

Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel

Jackie Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson

Wilt Chamberlain

Jackie Robinson

Gwendolyn Brooks

Charles W. Chestnut

Carter G. Woodson

James Weldon Johnson

Zora Neal Hurston

Langston Hughes

Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Music Legends

Jelly Roll Morton

Coleman Hawkins

Louis Armstrong

Dinah Washington

Jelly Roll Morton

Musicians

Clyde McPhatter

James R. Johnson

Thelonious Monk

Singers and Songwriters

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Ella Fitzgerald

Marian Anderson

Mahalia Jackson

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Katherine Dunham

United States philately, 1969

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Worldwide philately, 1969

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Commemorations of the 1969 moon landing

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Letters from Home

“Another week gone and no newsman yet. These months—years perhaps—will to a certain extent be a blank to us. We know nothing of what is going on the states, nothing of the political maneuvers. President’s messages, doings of Congress, elections of senators and assemblymen and the thousand and one maneuvers of the day, riots, mobs, fires, rail-road accidents—in fact I shall be a kind of Rip van Winkle & it will require the first ten years after returning to learn what has taken place while away.”

–Letter from A.W. Genung in Curtissville, San Joaquin District to “Woodward,” Dec 16, 1849, from James W. Milgram’s The Western Mails.

Postcard postmarked Oatman, 1911

Cover postmarked Bisbee, Arizona, 1900

Cover postmarked Florence, Arizona, 1876

Postcard picturing Jerome, Arizona

Life in the Old West

Imagine leaving everything and everyone you know and moving across the country to live in the wilderness, hoping to make your fortune in gold, silver, or copper. Living 1000 miles or more away from home, the only way to talk to your family and friends, and the only way to know what was happening outside your immediate vicinity, was through letters and newspapers: the mail.

Postcard depicting man outside a cabin in Prescott

Promotional postcard from Globe depicting two men and a child at water pump

Image of teacher and students at Mayer school

Postcard depicting a prospector sifting with a rocker box

Mules, Wagons, and Well-Worn Routes

Mail, including letters, supplies, and goods, was often freighted in by steamship from San Francisco to the port of Yuma. From there, items either continued up river or were loaded onto wagons, coaches, and pack animals and taken out to towns and camps.

The stage lines and buckboard lines that carried mail and supplies also transported passengers on a regular basis between towns, sometimes requiring at least one overnight stay. These vehicles were extraordinarily uncomfortable, however. After making the much longer overland (cross-country) trip on stagecoach, journalist Waterman L. Ormsby famously said, “I NOW KNOW WHAT HELL IS LIKE. I’VE JUST HAD 24 DAYS OF IT.”

Cleator, Arizona, undated photograph

“Prospector on the Desert” unused postcard

Wilcox, Arizona, 1915, undated photograph

“For All Points Along the Colorado River”

Steamers left San Francisco for the Gulf of California every 20 days and then traveled up the Colorado River. The port at Yuma was a major artery in the delivery of supplies to Arizona.

The steamboats transported not only mail and goods, but also people. In 1874 Martha Summerhayes traveled on the steamboat Gila from Fort Yuma to Fort Mohave. In her book Vanished Arizona, she describes the conditions:

The staterooms “were always stuffy and noisy, and in the summer they were so suffocatingly hot.” In the dining room, “the metal handles of the knives were uncomfortably warm to the touch; and even the wooden arms of the chairs felt as if they were slowly igniting… A siesta was out of the question, as the staterooms were insufferable; and so we dragged out the weary days.”

Postcard postmarked 1910 depicting the Yuma landing on the Colorado River

Unused and undated postcard depicting the Yuma landing on the Colorado River

Colorado Steam Navigation Company advertisement

“Fastest Time and Best Stock”

Entrepreneurs from the Tucson area, such as Pinchney Tully, Estevan Ochoa, Pedro Aguirre, Mariano Samaniego, J.D. Kinnear, and William “Curly” Neal, provided much- needed services between short distances.

Tuffy Peach delivered mail on horseback three times a week between Camp Verde and Payson from 1910-1914. His route was 52 miles long, lasted 11 hours, and required one change of horse. When interviewed by the Arizona Philatelist in 1968, he described his work:

“I often had mail piled so high in front of me that I could hardly see where my horse was treading… “But, gosh, those horses knew the mail route better than the dispatch riders. We couldn’t get lost if we tried. Our horses wouldn’t let us.”

Clinton “Tuffy” Peach, Arizona Philatelist article, January 1968. Tuffy Peach delivered mail on horseback to and from Camp Verde, Arizona and Payson, Arizona from 1910-1914.

Pedro Aguirre unused cover.

Advertisement for Walker and Kinnear’s stage company.

Photograph of stage outside Hotel Nobles.

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