Current rotating exhibit
Step Right in, Let Adventures Begin: The Philatelic Truck
On view in Slusser Library beginning October 2023
The Philatelic Truck!
The stamp-collecting president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his colleague, Postmaster General James A. Farley, devised a plan to help encourage people to collect stamps. So many people had never before seen the large range of stamps produced in the United States, they reasoned. The truck was filled with commemorative stamps from 1893-1938, “official” stamps from 1873-1894, airmails, 1918-1938, “ordinary” postage stamps from 1847-1890, parcel post orders from 1894-1938, current coil and booklets, the current presidential series of stamps, printing plates, a model printing press, and stamp collecting booklets, sold for 10c, 25c, and 50c.
The truck traveled up through the eastern seaboard, down south, through part of the mid-west, and finally out west where, after Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, it did a couple more stops in California. After that, it never rode again.
During its tenure, though, the truck was seen by thousands of people, from avid collectors to curious schoolchildren.
Come on up to the philatelic truck! Visit the exhibit at the Slusser Library today. You can also click on the button below for more information on the philatelic truck.
