Skip to main content
Menu Collections
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
1938 National Air Mail Week U.S. Commemorative Cover
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

1938 National Air Mail Week U.S. Commemorative Cover

Object numberMO 1949.129.1.96
Name Cover, Commemorative
Maker
Date1938
Mediumpaper, ink
Dimensionsoverall H 3 5/8 in x W 6 1/2 in (9.2 cm x 16.5 cm )
DescriptionA stamp cover commemorating National Air Mail Week in 1938. On the left side of the white air mail (par avion) envelope is a stamped blue ink cachet featuring a box within which is the illustration of a plane flying over the Hampden County Memorial Bridge with a clock tower in the background. Text in the cachet reads: National Air Mail Week / MAY 15- 21, 1938 / Twentieth Anniversary / of Air Mail Service / Springfield, Massachusetts / "The Convention City of New England." Running along the left side of the cachet is the original ink signature of the Springfield postmaster: Thos. J. Ashe, P.M.

The envelope is addressed to (handwritten in ink): To Franklin Delano Roosevelt / President / of the / United States / of / America. Adhered in the upper right corner of the envelope is a U.S. 1938 blue and red 6¢ Air Mail postage stamp (Scott C23). The envelope is postmarked Springfield, Massachusetts, May 19, 1938

On the reverse of the envelope are three stickers: two blue and silver oblong stickers for the 53rd Annual Convention of the American Philatelic Society in New Orleans, October 10-14, 1938; and one multicolored round sticker for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.
Label TextFranklin Roosevelt was an avid, lifelong stamp collector who gathered over 1.2 million stamps into his personal collection during the course of his life. He began collecting stamps at the age of eight at the suggestion of his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who passed on her collection to him.

After FDR's death, his personal stamp collection, including this stamp cover, was sold at public auction in 1946 in accordance with his wishes.
Additional Details
Custodial History NoteLent to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum by Charles M. Abbott in 1949. It was donated as a bequest of Abbott to the Library in 1952.
Credit LineGift of Charles M. Abbott
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesStamp Collecting Materials (National Archives Identifier 749938)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
Collections
Non exposé