Registration Open
Stamp Stories: Philatelic Images of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War
In this online workshop, Museum Educator Jeff Meade uses images on United States postage stamps to create topical stamp collections based on the theme of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War history. Postage stamps contain a vast array of images commemorating President Lincoln, important Civil War figures and moments of history relating to the tumultuous Civil War era.
Teachers in Meade’s workshop create virtual stamp collections available in the Postal Museum’s on-line digital collection. This digital collection, named Arago, contains images of every U.S. stamp as well as nearly thirteen thousand objects from the Postal Operations collection. The Arago website allows users to create their own collections of digital images which can then be sorted into particular topics. Combining real stamp collecting with the images found in Arago provides teachers excellent opportunities to engage students in new and creative ways, with an emphasis on visual thinking strategies. Participants of the workshop build their own Arago collections based on suggested Civil War themes, then debate in realtime the relevance of their images with other virtual participants. Participants may even suggest the topics, showing how flexible and adaptable the program is for classroom teaching.
Jeff Meade
School and Tours Coordinator,
National Postal Museum
Jeff Meade is the School and Tours Coordinator at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. He shares his personal interest in stamp collecting with museum visitors of all ages, and has recognized that classroom teachers need programs and materials that they can adapt to their own needs. His current work to promote the combination of physical stamp collecting with the Arago website will ensure that teachers all over the country will have access to the Postal Museum’s themes and collections.
