APS Stamp Chat: 'Stamps in College Classrooms' presented by David Strittmatter

David Strittmatter, PhD, Visiting Assistant Professor in History at Ohio Northern University

[johngreen]

It is not limited to history classes. I was teaching a class of mathematical finance. Very few of my students were aware that before income tax the government was paid for using excise tax. In particular the tax on alcoholic beverages was the largest contributor. Also there were taxes on tobacco, stock transactions, promissary notes. I brought to class a promissary note with a old Washington Internal Revenue stamp affixed to the note. The note appeared not to have been paid. It was a note from a father to his son. I think the son had died or the father decided not to press the issue. It was a note of the Civil War period. This note I passed around to the class to show them what a real promissary note looked like in those days.

[nevingreninger]

Jack Child from American University wrote a college level book entitled "Minature Messages"'published by Duke University Press in 2008. It was about the "Semiotics and Politics of Latin American Stamps." It goes into detail on history connected with Latin American stamps and their impact on society. Jack Child was born in 1937 and died in 2011. Jack Child grew up in Argentina. The Minkus Company had an album devoted to collectors of Science, Technology, etc tied to medical science. The USSR issued a phenomenal number of stamps commemorating great scientists and mathematicians and engineers. They even had a stamp with Ben Frankin on it.

[stevanwcady]

Stamps helped me with my education endeavors.