{"id":502,"date":"2014-04-06T22:19:31","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T22:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stampingamericanmemory.org\/?page_id=502"},"modified":"2014-04-06T22:19:31","modified_gmt":"2014-04-06T22:19:31","slug":"first-philatelist-fdr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/representing-unity-and-equality-with-new-deal-commemoratives\/first-philatelist-fdr\/","title":{"rendered":"First Philatelist, FDR"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Photograph<\/a><\/span>Franklin D. Roosevelt examining his collection at the White House (Photograph, Smithsonian National Postal Museum Collection <\/a>)<\/small><\/span>\n

From the campaign through his presidency, FDR\u2019s stamp collecting activities were highlighted in the mainstream and philatelic press. During the presidential campaign of 1932, the Wall Street Journal discussed the candidates\u2019 hobbies telling readers they were choosing between an avid fisherman in Herbert Hoover and a voracious stamp collector in Roosevelt. George W. Linn, publisher of Linn\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, openly endorsed FDR by printing on the front page of his widely-read philatelic paper, \u201cBoost a Philatelic brother,\u201d proclaiming, \u201ca million stamp collectors want a stamp collector for President.\u201d Seemingly concerned about capturing the stamp collector vote, then-President Hoover spoke at the convention of the Society of Philatelic Americans to declare that his entire family had collected stamps for many years even if he wasn\u2019t actively collecting at the time. Discussing leisure time pursuits in the 1930s gave voters another way of identifying with the elite male candidates. ((\u201cWife Says Balked Sea Career Led to Roosevelt\u2019s Ship Hobby,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, January 13, 1931, 34.; \u201cStamp Collecting vs. Fishing Is Issue in Some Quarters,\u201d Wall Street Journal<\/em>, August 3, 1932, 8.; \u201cStamp Collecting Included Among Roosevelt Hobbies,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, November 9, 1932, 11; C.W.B. Hurd, \u201cRoosevelt Among His Stamps,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, September 10, 1933, sec. SM, 17; \u201cRoosevelt Given Cup for Philately Work,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, April 15, 1934, 9; \u201cPhilatelic Society Honors Roosevelt,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, December 2, 1934, sec. SO, 11. Interestingly, Herbert Hoover applied for membership to the American Philatelic Society in 1935, something that brought a chuckle to President Roosevelt according to M. Ohlman,\u201cPresident Roosevelt Talks Stamps,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em> (September 2, 1935): 430. FDR\u2019s interest in collecting was sparked by his mother\u2019s stamp collecting habit, and his mother gave Franklin her collection.)) These discussions boosted popular awareness and interest in stamp collecting.<\/p>\n

Mekeel\u2019s Weekly<\/em> and other philatelic papers were thrilled when American voters elected the first active philatelist as president. Stories about Roosevelt\u2019s collecting habits generally repeated that he began collecting stamps when he was eight years old, a practice he learned from his mother. His interest piqued when he traveled abroad as a youngster and again later in life when he served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. To the disappointment of philatelists, FDR would not display his albums publically or appear at philatelic club meetings. Any meetings he arranged with fellow philatelists took place in private. While he was a very public advocate of stamp collecting, FDR guarded his collection. ((\u201cCollected Stamps as a Boy,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, January 2, 1933, 9; Philip H. Ward, Jr, \u201cThe New Administration,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, March 20, 1933, 135; Lewis Sebring, Jr., \u201cPresident Roosevelt Stamp Collector,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, March 20, 1933, 133, 143; Jas. Waldo Fawcett, \u201cThe Roosevelt Collection,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, December 18, 1933, 601, 612; M. Ohlman, \u201cPresident Roosevelt Talks Stamps,\u201d Mekeel\u2019s Weekly Stamp News<\/em>, September 2, 1935, 430.)) Yet, Roosevelt\u2019s collecting activities were covered in the mainstream and the philatelic press. New York Times readers learned that he stayed up sorting his stamps to relax while waiting for the 73rd Congress to vote on bills proposed during his famous first 100 days. White House staffers reportedly gathered stamps from letters sent to the president, other executive offices, and the State Department, and brought them to FDR\u2019s private quarters for him to sort through in the evenings. Philatelists honored Roosevelt for his role in increasing exposure to stamp collecting with the Hanford Cup, awarded by one of the oldest philatelic clubs in the United States. ((“Roosevelt Among His Stamps,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, September 10, 1933, sec. SM, 17; \u201cPhilatelic Society Honors Roosevelt,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, December 2, 1934, sec. SO, 11; The Garfield-Perry Stamp Club of Cleveland, Ohio (formed in 1890) awarded FDR the Hanford Cup, but he was not present to receive it: \u201cRoosevelt Given Cup for Philately Work,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, April 15, 1934, 9.))<\/p>\n

Shy about displaying his own collection, Roosevelt boldly used his power as president to influence stamp production. He submitted ideas for stamps that promoted current government and quasi-public programs that supported economic recovery and national unity. Often, he sketched the design he wished to be printed, or suggested an artwork to use as the model for engraving the stamp. Some have suggested that his stamp subjects were designed in light, soothing, colors to reflect a sense of optimism during the Great Depression. ((\u201cDelivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression,\u201d exhibition, National Postal Museum, Washington, DC (June 9-June 6, 2010).))<\/p>\n

Avid philatelists grew skeptical of FDR\u2019s efforts to encourage collecting, after learning that the President and his Postmaster General, James A. Farley received their own sets of first-day issue souvenir stamps<\/a> that would not be available for other collectors to purchase. In 1935, a Congressional inquiry asked the USPOD to respond to complaints by philatelic societies about this practice that appeared to give the executive office special privileges. While no Congressional action was ever taken, Postmaster General James A. Farley announced soon after the inquiry that any souvenir sheets printed by the Department would be made available for collectors to purchase through the Philatelic Agency. As demonstrated in previous administrations, philatelists closely watched activities of the USPOD to see how it influenced their hobby. Collectively, their voices were strong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the campaign through his presidency, FDR\u2019s stamp collecting activities were highlighted in the mainstream and philatelic press. During the presidential campaign of 1932, the Wall Street Journal discussed the candidates\u2019 hobbies telling readers they were choosing between an avid fisherman in Herbert Hoover and a voracious stamp collector in Roosevelt. George W. Linn, publisher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":500,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-502","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/502\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/2014version\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}