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The New Deal
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Secretary of the Interior Harold LeClair Ickes examines one of his stamp albums.
Secretary of the Interior Harold LeClair Ickes examines one of
his stamp albums. The signed stamp sheet on display here is framed on
the wall in front of him.
Courtesy Smithsonian Institution Libraries, National Postal Museum Library
Thanks to the booming economy of the 1920s, affordable automobiles, and new roads, the national parks became an inexpensive alternative to European vacations during the Great Depression and World War II. To entice visitors, the government created an extensive visual culture around the parks, including posters and a natural architectural style known as "Parks Rustic." Postage stamps -- visual, inexpensive, and widely disseminated -- entered this mix in 1934 with the National Parks Year Issue. President Franklin D. Roosevelt reorganized the National Park Service in 1933, and his Civilian Conservation Corps made many park improvements that are still in use today.
Did You Know?
The first stamp to picture a US national park was issued by the Philippines in 1932, two years before the US issued its first park stamps? |