Christmas Seals Part II Of II

Continuing from the post on Friday…

By 1907, there were many sanatoriums dotted throughout the United States. One sanatorium in Delaware was so in need of money that Emily Bissell decided to help raise money to keep its doors open. She had heard of a man in Denmark who sold seals; that were applied to envelopes, during Christmas to help raise money for people plagued with TB. She decided to give the idea a try as well. She designed her own stamp and had them printed in time for her Christmas campaign. She had 50,000 seals printed and sold them for one cent at post offices. With endorsements from high government officials, including Teddy Roosevelt, by the end of Christmas, she had raised $3,000…ten times the amount needed to help the sanatorium in need.

By the early 1900, and a national campaign, the legacy of the stamps was solidified. Christmas Seals have become a cherished American tradition. The colorful creations continue to decorate Christmas cards every year. Christmas Seals continue to be a major source of funding in the fight against various lung diseases.

The Christmas Philatelic Club is not only dedicated to collecting different types of Christmas postage stamps from around the world; they also embrace the Christmas Seals stamps. Collecting Christmas Seals are also a fun way to start children in stamp collecting. They are easy to obtain and their colorful creations are very nice to look at.