This nifty green 3-cent stamp, which honors 4-H youth clubs, was issued 64 years ago, when three pennies was all you needed to mail a one-ounce, first-class letter.
Part of the reason I wanted to write about this particular stamp is our family's experience with this organization. We are very fortunate, especially as homeschoolers, to have 4-H as a part of our lives here in York County, Pennsylvania. Sarah has been involved in two clubs (Wildlife Watchers, Alpaca Club) for years and has also taken part in some outstanding educational field trips and overnight programs. If you have kids and a 4-H program in your neck of the woods, I heartily recommend that you check it out.
As for this stamp, the Mystic Stamp Company tells us that U.S. #1005 was issued on January 15, 1952. And the National 4-H History Preservation Program tells us that the stamp was designed by C.R. Chickering and engraved by M.D. Fenton.
The Preservation Program has a boatload of great information about this stamp's history, so you should check it out. Here are a few more of their notes:
- The stamp was officially released in Springfield, Ohio, which was considered to be a federal validation of the once-debated claim that A.B. Graham launched the first of the youth programs in that area in 1902.
- 4-H members in the Springfield area were excused from school on the day the stamp was released, so that they could attend festivities that included music and speeches. Graham himself was present, and he talked about raising pigs as a youth.
- More than 400,000 pieces of mail bearing the new 4-H stamp received first-day cancellations. The biggest single mailer was the Stran-Steel Division, Great Lakes Steel Corp., with over 16,000 envelopes addressed to farm leaders throughout the country.
a 4-H alpaca named Coal
Hi Sarah! Hi Coal! Hi 4-H ephemera that I didn't know was in our house!!
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