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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Franklin Roosevelt's First Stamp Album
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Franklin Roosevelt's First Stamp Album

Artifact IDMO 2014.3.1
Object Type Album, Stamp
Collector (American, 1882 - 1945)
Dateca. 1891
Mediumpaper, fabric
Dimensionsclosed H 10 1/4 in x W 8 5/8 in x D 1 3/8 in (26 cm x 21.9 cm x 3.5 cm )
 open H 10 1/4 in x W 18 1/8 in x D 7/8 in (26 cm x 46 cm x 2.2 cm )
Physical DescriptionA green, cloth-covered hard bound album containing various postal items collected by Franklin Roosevelt as a child. The front cover has a multi-colored leaf design along with the word "Album" in gold script lettering. Taped to the cover is a white paper auction label with stamped and written text that reads: THE F. D. ROOSEVELT COLLECTION / 732 / APR 2 1946.

34 pages in the album have mounted and loose United States and foreign postal stationery items including postal cards, postal reply cards, letter cards, telegraph
cards and wrappers, used post cards, and mint and used stamps.

Pasted on the album's preliminary free endpaper is a December 24, 1952 handwritten letter from John Fleming (the original auction purchaser of the album) to Frederick Adams, gifting the album to Adams. Handwritten opposite of the letter, on the interior of the front cover, is a pencil note by Frederick Adams (and his bookplate) detailing the history of the album.
Historical NoteFranklin 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. This is the very first stamp album from the President’s collection. It includes a number of foreign stamps. Many members of the Delano side of FDR’s family were involved in overseas trade, and young Franklin consequently received a steady supply of foreign stamps from his Delano relatives that he carefully stored in this and other early stamp albums.

After FDR's death, his personal stamp collection, including this album, was sold at public auction in 1946 in accordance with his wishes.
Additional Details
Credit LineGift of William J. vanden Heuvel
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 StatusUnrestricted
CopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
In Collection(s)
Not on view