Revolutionary Figures and Farewell Postcards

Friday was another busy day at the Boston 2026 World Expo Stamp Show.

I attended the Special Dedication ceremony for the Figures of the American Revolution Forever stamps. In 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary, and this stamp collection was created to commemorate the occasion. The stamps were released by the USPS back in April.

The format of this ceremony was slightly different from that of the other First Day of Issue events during the week. Instead of formal speeches, the USPS held a panel discussion with members of the design team and a couple of the artists who worked on the stamp collection. The event celebrated the art of stamps.

The American Revolution stamps feature portraits of 20 individuals who played important roles during the Revolutionary era. What I appreciated most about the collection was that it included Native Americans, African Americans, women, and other lesser-known figures from the period. Rather than focusing only on the political and military leaders we learn about in school, the collection tells a broader story about the people who shaped the nation.

The design team explained that they intentionally included the names and descriptions on the front of the stamps because many of these individuals are not widely known today. They wanted the stamps to spark interest and help people learn more about the people represented.

One of the most interesting parts of the discussion was hearing about the challenge of creating portraits of people who lived before photography existed. For some of the well-known figures, paintings and illustrations were available. For others, there might only be a simple sketch or a handful of historical references.

The artists described researching their subjects to understand the clothing, customs, and personalities of the time. They wanted each portrait to reflect not only what the person may have looked like, but also something about their character and contributions.

The panel also discussed how the collection was designed as a unified sheet. Although the portraits were created by different artists using different styles and techniques, the American flag appears in the background throughout the sheet, helping to tie the images together. According to the art director, the artists worked in a variety of media, including traditional materials such as milk paint that are rarely used by artists today. Those historical techniques helped to create a unique aspect of the collection's Revolutionary-era theme.

As usual, after the ceremony, I headed over to the USPS sales area to buy stamps and get special cancellations for the postcards I had written the night before.

By the end of the week, I had mailed 40 official Postcrossing postcards. On top of that, I sent plenty of postcards to friends and family. My stamp budget may never recover, but it was worth it.

I also spent some time completing my passport. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't collect every stamp because a few countries had shipments delayed in customs, and their stamps didn't arrive in time for the show.

One of my favorite passport stops was the American Topical Association. They had created their own decorative stamp and cancellation for attendees. I absolutely loved their design. The stamp featured a panoramic view of the Boston skyline and was printed in a beautiful shade of blue that reminded me of the official Boston show stamp.

The afternoon ended with my final Postcrossing meetup of the show.

One of the best parts of attending an international stamp show is meeting people from all over the United States and the world who share the same hobby. During the week, I met Postcrossers from across the United States, as well as visitors from Portugal, Canada, China, Japan, and Switzerland.

This final meetup was smaller than some of the earlier ones, which meant we had more time to sit and catch up. We love the company as we write and decorate postcards to send out for the day. We talked about our favorite moments from the week and started making plans to meet again at the Great American Stamp Show in Albuquerque next year.

The meetup postcard was inspired by the iconic 1917 World War I "I Want You for U.S. Army" poster featuring Uncle Sam. The postcard was designed by Christopher Arndt, whose postcards are always popular.

As the meetup wrapped up, people began heading off to the airport, train station, or long drives home. It was bittersweet saying goodbye, but that's one of the nice things about the Postcrossing community. Even when we go back home, the USPS and postcards keep us connected until the next meetup.

Postmarks, Passports, and a Giant Soccer Ball

I had another successful day at the Boston 2026 World Expo stamp show.

My day started at the United States Postal Service area, where I stopped by to have my postcards postmarked. One of the fun things about the show is the variety of postmarks available. There are special daily show cancellations, First Day of Issue postmarks, and commemorative date postmarks.

The night before, I had prepared all of my postcards using cards I received at the various meetups. I mailed postcards to friends, pen pals, and my Postcrossing recipients. I had about 18 postcards ready to send through Postcrossing alone.

Of course, I wanted the perfect stamps on each card.

I had purchased the new Postcrossing stamps, the Bison stamp, the International Peace stamp, and the new Mister Rogers stamp. The Postcrossing stamps are my favorites, but because they are international-rate stamps, I save them for postcards traveling overseas. For postcards staying within the United States, I used the Bison and International Peace stamps. A few of my postcards were going to Pennsylvania, so I used the Mister Rogers stamps. It seemed fitting since Mister Rogers was from Pittsburgh.

After finishing my postcard mailing mission, I turned my attention to another popular activity at the show: the passport program.

Scott Stamp LLC created a special passport booklet with pages for participating postal administrations. Visitors could travel from booth to booth collecting stamps and special postmarks from postal services around the world. It felt a little like taking a trip around the globe without ever leaving the convention center.

I started my morning in the Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa Pavilion.

I stopped by the India Post booth and had a wonderful conversation with the staff there. Naturally, we ended up talking about addresses. Anyone who exchanges postcards internationally knows that some addresses from India can be remarkably descriptive. I’ve received addresses that sound more like directions than addresses: “the pink house behind the large tree” kind of descriptions. I’m always amazed that the mail finds its destination.they wanted to know how many postcards I had sent to India. I checked My Postcrossing stats and found out I mailed 21 postcards to India and received 62 postcards from India.

India Post was featuring beautiful puppet-themed stamps, and each day had a different postmark design. The day’s postmark featured yoga, which was a fun addition to my passport.

Next, I visited Fiji Post. The staff there were equally friendly, and I enjoyed chatting with them while collecting my stamp and postmark.

The Fiji stamp I selected may be the most unusual stamp in my collection so far. It featured a giant coconut crab. The stamp itself was enormous, almost like a miniature souvenir sheet. To me, the crab looked a little bit like a tarantula, which is exactly why I chose it. Everyone was talking about it, and it was simply too interesting to pass up.

After my international stamp tour, I headed back to the USPS event area for the First Day of Issue ceremony for the North American Soccer stamp.

This stamp was created to celebrate the upcoming World Cup, with matches being hosted in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Boston will host several games, so there was a lot of excitement in the room.

There were soccer fans everywhere, many wearing their favorite team kits. Even the master of ceremonies was wearing a USA jersey.

The stamp design is particularly fun because it spells “GOOOOOAL” with extra O’s, capturing the chant that echoes through stadiums after a score.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was a giant inflatable soccer ball that was tossed into the audience. People batted it around the room while waiting for the program to begin, and it created a playful atmosphere that perfectly matched the theme of the stamp. Another highlight happened while I standing in line to get my program signed. I was behind a family whose son loved soccer and stamps. He was so excited to be there and it was his first stamp show. 

The speakers talked about the role sports play in building communities. A youth soccer game may last only an hour, but it takes coaches, referees, volunteers, parents, and organizers working together to make it happen. Sports teach teamwork, perseverance, and how to handle both victory and defeat. They bring people together and create a sense of belonging.

Of course, after the ceremony I had to buy more stamps.

The day ended with another Postcrossing meetup. This meetup was a little smaller than some of the others, which gave me more time to chat with people and collect signatures on postcards.

My self-inking stamp needed another refill of ink, but I think it will survive one more meetup before the show ends.

The postcard for today’s meetup featured a soccer theme, which was perfect. A lot of Postcrossers request football postcards, and for most of the world, football means soccer, not American football.

Sending Peace Through the Mail

Today I attended the First Day of Issue ceremony for the International Peace Forever stamp.

The main speakers included the stamp artist and the founder of the Peace Crane Project. The ceremony focused on the symbolism of the origami paper crane as a message of peace.

The story behind the crane goes back to a child impacted by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. While she was hospitalized, she began folding origami cranes, which are an important symbol of peace and hope in Japanese culture.

The Peace Crane Project builds on that symbolism by working with schools and teaching students how to fold origami cranes. The organization then shares the cranes with communities in distress, including communities impacted by gun violence or natural disasters.

I really liked one of the speaker’s suggestions. She said you can learn how to fold an origami crane, write a message or someone’s name on it, and include it inside a letter to someone who may need encouragement. Sharing a crane is a way of sharing peace and letting someone know you are thinking about them.

It was a wonderful ceremony and a very meaningful one.

Afterwards, I attended another Postcrossing meetup where everyone signed a commemorative postcard featuring an origami crane holding a laurel branch over flying above a beautiful ocean scene at sunrise. The imagery was impactful, and I loved how colorful the postcard was. I bought several sheets of the International Peace stamps today, so I’m looking forward to sending out lots of peaceful postcards in the future.

#InternationalPeaceStamp

 

They’re finally here. The Postcrossing stamps.

Today I went to the Boston 2026 World Expo Stamp Show to attend the First Day of Issue Ceremony for the new Postcrossing stamps. It was so exciting because there was a huge crowd of Postcrossers who came to celebrate the release. People were taking photos and eagerly waiting for the ceremony to begin.

We heard from the stamp artist, along with Ana and Paulo, of Postcrossing. One of my favorite parts was hearing the artist explain the idea behind the stamp designs. He wanted to show movement, postcards traveling from one place to another, so the stamps featured travelers like a scuba diver, an astronaut, and a cowboy.

After the ceremony, we went downstairs for a massive Postcrossing meetup. According to the organizers, there were 205 Postcrossers there. It was one of the largest Postcrossing meetups I’ve ever attended.

A special commemorative postcard was created for the event featuring a scuba diver that matched one of the new stamps featuring a diver. Of course, many attendees also brought postcards they designed themselves. I made my own postcard for the event too, featuring an astronaut.

One thing people outside of Postcrossing may not realize is how important ink stamps are at these events. Everyone asks you to sign the backs of postcards, and when you are signing hundreds of cards, a custom stamp saves your hand. I even made a special stamp just for this meetup because I knew I would be stamping so many postcards.

But even with a brand-new self-inking stamp, I ran out of ink halfway through the meetup. Thankfully, a friend who was also attending had extra ink, so I was able to refill it and keep stamping cards.

We even had large 5x7 inch postcards, and somehow those filled up too because there were so many people there.

What I loved most was meeting Postcrossers from all over the United States and Canada. It’s always amazing to see how postcards connect people who otherwise never would have met.

And that was only part of the show.

The previous day I attended the First Day of Issue Ceremony for the new bison stamp. That ceremony was inspiring in a completely different way. A speaker from Yellowstone National Park talked about protecting wildlife and preserving the park for future generations. There was also discussion about local wildlife conservation efforts in Boston, including peregrine falcons living in the city. A Native American speaker shared why the bison is such an important symbol to many communities.

The bison stamp itself is beautiful. It combines a previously issued stamp design with a new photograph of a bison taken in Yellowstone National Park. A stamp within a stamp. It really stood out to me.

I also attended another meetup connected to the bison stamp release, where the postcard theme was, of course, a bison.

And honestly, I don’t even want to tell you how much money I’ve spent on stamps at this stamp show already.

The best part is that I still have three more meetups to go.

I’ll keep you all informed. 

Behind the Design: My National Postcard Week Postcard 2026

National Postcard Week has just wrapped up on May 9, 2026, and I wanted to share the postcard I designed for this year’s exchange.

This postcard was created as a demonstration piece for a YouTube video after a friend asked me to explain how I design postcards for the Capitol-Beltway Postcard Club. Because it was meant to show my process step-by-step, I kept the design simple, but it still included many of my favorite postcard elements.

Since National Postcard Week takes place during the first week of May, I chose a bright springtime background. I almost always include postal themes in my designs, so it's no surprise this postcard featured a mailbox. Mailboxes, postal trucks, satchel bags, and other postal details often appear on my postcards because they capture the spirit of happy mail.

I also love illustrated postcards featuring animals. This time, I chose a fox. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure why, although I did recently spot one running across my parking lot early one morning.

While creating this postcard, I found myself thinking about how I first discovered National Postcard Week.

I learned about it during my very first Postcrossing meetup at a postcard show in York, Pennsylvania. It was also the first gathering I attended after the COVID-19 shutdowns, so the experience felt both anxious and exciting. The organizer, Demaris, was unforgettable. She traveled to postcard shows across the country, promoting postcard collecting and National Postcard Week with incredible passion.

She handed every Postcrosser a National Postcard Week postcard. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and after talking with her, I was considering sending postcards for National Postcard Week.

Before Demaris revived it, National Postcard Week was originally an exchange among postcard clubs. She kept the tradition alive through dedication and a love for postcards and her postcard-collecting friends.  She may have described herself as “low tech,” but she managed to keep the entire event together year after year because she loved sending postcards.

After Demaris passed away a few years ago, others in the postcard community stepped in to continue the tradition she cared so deeply about. One friend took over National Postcard Week and modernized the event with a website, online sign-up forms, and a Facebook page. I was happy to see the event continue and evolve while still honoring the spirit Demaris created.

This year, participants could sign up for either a 20-card or 100-card exchange. I chose the 20-card exchange and am looking forward to checking my mailbox each day for postcards.

I plan to share some of the postcards I receive from fellow participants.

If you have never participated in National Postcard Week before, I recommend giving it a try. There is something special about finding a postcard waiting in your mailbox.

Postcards and Friendship in Delaware

 As a longtime postcard collector and Postcrosser, I know how much a postcard can brighten someone’s day. I recently attended a wonderful Postcrossing meetup at the New Castle Public Library in New Castle, Delaware, and it was such a heartwarming experience.

The library hosts a postcard social group twice each month, where people can learn about postcard collecting, Postcrossing, pen pals, and creative mail. The group was welcoming, and the library even provides postcards for beginners so newcomers can join in right away.

What stood out most was that the meetup was really about connection. Participants wrote cards to friends, family, and even strangers who needed encouragement. One attendee asked the group to send cheerful postcards to someone who was homebound, reminding us all how meaningful handwritten mail can be.

Because this was also an official Postcrossing meetup, a special meetup postcard was created featuring bright sunflowers to celebrate the release of the new United States Postal Service sunflower stamp.

If you are interested in attending, the next meetup is planned for July 11, 2026. Check the New Castle Public Library event page for more information.

Have you ever attended a Postcrossing meetup or postcard social? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments.