A paper trail through history đź’Ś
I learned a new word tonight—one I can’t recall ever seeing or hearing. I stumbled upon it while looking at the Smithsonian’s online archives, and the word was so strange to me that I’m certain without context, I couldn’t have guessed what it meant or related to.
philately (noun) : the study of postage stamps and postal history
Immediate intrigue. I collected postage stamps throughout my childhood until I graduated high school, but never learned about the origin of stamps or postal history. (And I probably would’ve found it boring.) My collection existed because of my bent toward art, design, and photography.
Here’s part of that stamp collection, which now lives in a closet somewhere back at my mom’s house.1
A bulk of my stamps came from my grandma oceans away, so I’m not a stranger to international snail mail—but imagine stamps from every country of the world. (!!) The National Postal Museum in D.C. hosts the Stamps Around the Globe exhibit where you can view almost 800 stamps in these color-coordinated pullout frames. A quick search led me to a 136-page PDF where collectors can paste a stamp from every country.2
Until tonight, I’d never thought about how the invention (in 1837, apparently) of the postage stamp shaped communication and now tells a tale of world history through the ages:
Stamps provide a paper trail of the rise and fall of empires, countries, rulers, currencies and industries. They picture the architecture, customs, belief, symbols, environment, and artistic traditions of countless peoples.3
I look forward to learning more about philatelic history. I’m sure I’ll return here with further findings at some point. 🔎