San Francisco, California

San Francisco Commemorative Cover Sep 17, 1985

San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.4 million people. The city is located at the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and San Francisco Bay to the north and east, and Daly City and Brisbane to the south.

Devils Tower, Wyoming

Devils Tower Commemorative Cover Sep 24, 1985 (Devils Tower, WY)

Devils Tower is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet (386 m) above the surrounding terrain and the summit is 5,112 feet (1,558 m) above sea level.

Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Monument's boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres (5.45 km2).

In recent years about 1% of the Monument's 400,000 annual visitors climb Devils Tower, mostly through traditional climbing techniques.

U.S. Capital Building

Capital Building commemorative cover Sep 18, 1985

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the Federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin by which the quadrants of the District are divided. Officially, both the east and west sides of the Capitol are referred to as "fronts". Historically, however, the east front was the side of the building intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries.

The White House

The White House commemorative cover Oct 13, 1985

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every U.S. President since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the home in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades which were meant to conceal stables and storage.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park stamp Commemorative Cover Oct 1, 1985

Yosemite National Park is a national park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of 761,266 acres (308,073 ha) and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain.

Yosemite is visited by over 3.5 million people each year, many of whom only spend time in the seven square miles (18 km2) of Yosemite Valley. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was a focal point in the development of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people like John Muir and Galen Clark.

Big Sur Coastline, California

Big Sur commemorative stamp Cover October 30, 1985 (Big Sur, CA)

Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big country of the south". The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination. Big Sur's Cone Peak is the highest coastal mountain in the contiguous 48 states, ascending nearly a mile (5,155 feet/1571 m) above sea level, only three miles (4.8 km) from the ocean.[

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court Commemorative Cover Oct 13, 1985 (Washington DC)

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" (majority vote) of the Senate. Once appointed, Justices effectively have life tenure, serving "during good Behaviour", which terminates only upon death, resignation, retirement, or conviction on impeachment.

Status of Liberty

Status of Liberty commemorative Cover Oct 28, 1985, New York

The Statue of Liberty dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution. It represents a woman wearing a stola, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch in her raised right hand and a tabula ansata tablet, where the date of the Declaration of Independence JULY IV MDCCLXXVI is inscribed, in her left arm.

Mother's Day

The Mothers of America stamp FDC May 2, 1934 (Washington, D.C)

In its present form, Mother's Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother on May 9, 1905; she made the first official celebration in 1908 and then she campaigned to establish Mother's Day as a U.S. national holiday, and later as an international holiday.

Originally the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of the original Mother's Day commemoration, where Anna handed out carnations, the International Mother's Day Shrine is now a National Historic Landmark. From there, the custom caught on—spreading eventually to 46 states.

The holiday was declared officially by some states as early as 1912, beginning with West Virginia. On May 8, 1914, the U.S. Congress passed a law designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day and requesting a proclamation. On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made that proclamation, declaring the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Arkansas Centennial 1936

Arkansas Centennial First Day Cover postmark Jun 15, 1936 (Little Rock, ARK)

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquin name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares a border with six states, with its eastern border largely defined by the Mississippi River. Its diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River. The capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state.

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park stamp FDC postmark Aug 27, 1934

Glacier National Park is located in the U.S. state of Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia to the North and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to the East. Glacier National Park contains two mountain ranges (sub-ranges of the Rocky Mountains), which are sometimes referred to as the southern extension of the Canadian Rockies.
Glacier National Park borders Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada—the two parks are known as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and were designated as the world's first International Peace Park in 1932. Both parks were designated by the United Nations as Biosphere Reserves in 1976, and in 1995 as World Heritage sites.

Century of Progress - Chicago

Century of Progress stamp FDC postmark May 25, 1933 (Chicago, IL)

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation. Its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms" and its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to the other.

A Century of Progress was organized as an Illinois not-for-profit corporation in January, 1928 for the purpose of planning and hosting a World's Fair in Chicago in 1934. The site selected was the land and water areas under the jurisdiction of South Park commissioners lying along and adjacent to the shore of Lake Michigan, between 12th and 39th streets. Held on a 427 acre (1.7 km²) plot of land in Burnham Park, much of which was landfill, and bordering Lake Michigan, the Century of Progress opened on May 27, 1933

350th Anniversary of Virginia Dare

Virginia Dare stamp FDC postmark Aug 18, 1937 (Manteo, N.C.)

Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587, date of death unknown) was the first child born in America to English parents, Eleanor (or Ellinor/Elyonor) and Ananias Dare. She was born into the short-lived Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, USA. What became of Virginia and the other colonists has become an enduring mystery. The fact of her birth is known because the leader of the colony, Eleanor Dare's father, John White, returned to England to seek assistance for the colony. When White returned three years later, the colonists were gone.

During the past four hundred years, Virginia Dare has become a prominent figure in American myth and folklore, symbolizing different things to different groups of people. She has been featured as a main character in books, poems, songs, comic books, television programs and films. Her name has been used to sell different types of products from vanilla products to wine and spirits. Many places in North Carolina and elsewhere in the Southern United States have been named in her honor.

Panamal Canal

Panama Canal stamp FDC postmark Aug 25, 1939 (U.S.S. Charleston, Canal Zone)

The Panama Canal is a ship canal which joins the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific ocean. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America.

The Panama Canal Zone (Spanish: Zona del Canal de Panamá) was a 553 square mile (1,432 km2) territory inside of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles (8.1 km) on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have fallen in part within the limits of the Canal Zone. Its border spanned two of Panama's provinces and was created on November 18, 1903 with the signing of the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty. When reservoirs were created to assure a steady supply of water for the locks, those lakes were included within the Zone.

From 1903 to 1979 the territory was controlled by the United States of America, which had built the canal and financed its construction. From 1979 to 1999 the canal itself was under joint U.S.-Panamanian control.

TIPEX New York 1936

Third International Philatelic Exposition New York FDC (May 9, 1936)

150th Anniversary Yorktown 1931

150th Anniversary of Surrender at Yorktown stamp FDC (Oct 19, 1931)

The Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender of Cornwallis’s army (the second major surrender of the war, the other being Burgoyne's surrender at the Battle of Saratoga) prompted the British government to eventually negotiate an end to the conflict.

30th Anniversary of U.N

Thirtieth Anniversary of United Nations FDC (Jun 26, 1975)

Beautiful Fleetwood cachet. 30th Anniversary of U.N stamp First Day Cover with a photo of U Thant (1909 - 1974) of Burma, education, civil servant, and 3rd Secretary General of the United Nations.

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. Due to its unique international character, and the powers vested in its founding Charter, the Organization can take action on a wide range of issues, and provide a forum for its 192 Member States to express their views, through the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and other bodies and committees.

Washington Inauguration FDC 1939

Washington Inauguration stamp FDC postmarked on April 30, 1939 (N.Y.)

The first anauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States took place on April 30, 1789. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President.

First Power Flight Coin Cover

Eyewitness to History Coin Cover

Two brilliant uncirculated condition coin cover with 5 stamps: two 31cents Wright Brothers, 2cent Wright Airplane, 6cent Wright Brothers, and 6cent Powered Flight. Coin cover postmarked March 12, 2001, Kitty Hawk, NC

Aviation Pioneers Coin FDC

Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers Coin FDC (March 11, 2002 Ohio)

This 2 Ohio quarter dollars coin first day cover includes 5 stamps: the 1962 4 cents Project Mercury, the two 1978 31 cents Orville and Wilbur Wright, the 1994 29cents First Moon Landing, and the 1995 60cents Eddie Rickenbacker Aviation Pioneer. It is issued in an edition limited to 5000.

California Heritage Coin FDC

Eyewitness to History Coin FDC (Jan 31, 2005 Yosemite, CA)

Two brilliant uncirculated 2005 California quarter dollars issued by U.S.Mint. The cover also includes four U.S. stamps celebrating California's history and heritage: the 1934 1cent Yosemite, the 1964 5 cent John Muir, the 1969 6 cent California Settlement and the 2000 33 cent California Statehood. Postmark Jan 31, 2005, Yosemite National Park, marks the exact date of the California quarter dollar's release.

Omar N. Bradley

General Omar N. Bradley FDC issued on May 3, 2000 (Washington DC)

Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army in the United States Army. He was the last surviving five-star commissioned officer of the United States and the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Alvin C. York

Alvin C. York FDC issued on May 3, 2000 (Washington, DC)

Born December 13, 1887, in Pall Mall, Tennessee, Alvin C. York grew up on a rural farm where he became an oustanding marksman with pistol and rifle. In the third grade, York left school to work for a blacksmith. A deeply religious man who was denied status as a conscientious objector, he was drafted into the US Army during World War I. Serving in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Division. York fought in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in France in October, 1918. When his patrol was pinned down behind enemy lines by heavy rifle and machine gun fire, York aimed with deadly accuracy, killing 25 Germans. Capturing the machine gun nest single-handedly, York accepted the surrender of the remaining soldiers. Allied Commander in Chief Marshal Ferdinand Foch said York's action was "the greatest thing accomplished by any private soldier of all the armies of Europe". On November 1, 1918, York was promoted to sergeant. Later, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medal of Honor - France and America's highest military decorations.

Audie L. Murphy

Audie L. Murphy FDC issued on May 3, 2000 (Washington D.C)

Born June 20, 1924, in rural Kingston, Texas, Audie L. Murphy enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 30, 1942, serving in the 3rd Infantry Division in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. Wounded three times, Murphy was repeatedly decorated for his heroic actions. On January 26, 1945, Murphy defended his unit in eastern France by single-handedly holding off six German tanks and over 200 enemy soldiers. For this act of heroism, President Harry Truman presented Murphy with the Medal of Honor - the highest U.S. military decoration. By the time he returned to the U.S., Murphy was the most decorated American soldier of World War II, garnering a total of 28 medals, including 5 from France and 1 from Belgium.