First Time Travel To Philadelphia, What Philatelic Sites Would You Suggest?

Hello!

I will be in Philly the first week of April and want to make sure I cross off some philatelic locations / attractions on my bucket list. I assume there is a lot of philatelic history in Philadelphia, what sites, museums, businesses, clubs do you all recommend I visit?

I am planning on making a custom cover commemorating the conference and hope I get positive reactions from postal clerks when I request hand back post marking service.

Thank you everyone! I will documenting my philatelic adventure on my podcast and am excited to try out the new video episode feature of the Anchor podcasting platform.

Best from Colorado,

Mike Pascoe

Not sure about philatelic, but I would suggest visiting Independence Hall, Constitution Hall, the Liberty Bell, Elfreth's Alley, City Hall, USS Olympia, Univ of Penn for its Egyptology Dept. Brandywine and Valley Forge if interested in some battlefields.

If you felt energetic enough, you could also run up the steps at the Art Museum like Rocky Balboa. A statue of him is now at the top of the steps. Museum is pretty good too.

1776 - 2nd Continental Congress ?! Get your hands on incoming post and signatures...



Just kidding, Mike - have a great trip!

John

I thought there'd be a music museum, but the thing that the world knows Philly for doesn't have one.

Ben Franklin, first US Post Master, has a small museum with printing press and some.philatelic-related information.

Independence Hall, Constitution Hall, the Liberty Bell for sure.

The Merchant's Exchange Building is still standing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merch...hiladelphia)

It housed the Philadelphia Post Office at the time that Blood's Local Post issued its striding messenger stamp showing the Blood's carrier leaping over the post office

image borrowed from the Siegel webpage

The merchants exchange building was depicted on one of the better 1970s stamps in the US architecture series.

In the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, you should find Charles Wilson Peale's painting of his museum, which was on a 1950s stamp.

At the site of Franklin's house is a post office with its special postmark, and a small museum.

Independence hall and the liberty bell of course have been on quite a few stamps.

Benjamin Franklin, our first Postmaster General, is buried in Philadelphia in a downtown graveyard. You might tour the US Mint. There some wonderful things in the Art Museum, and the Barnes Foundation has an incredible collection of mostly Impressionist art (about two thousand pieces) collected by one couple. And if you have a taste for the bizarre, don't miss the Mutter Museum, mostly medical stuff from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In the Penn Museum (the archaeology collection of the University of Pennsylvania), you can see the Greek vase that was the basis for a 2014 US Olympic stamp:

http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/dgr/si...spsstamp.htm

Several have mentioned the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall/Independence Hall.
Be aware that there are metal detectors so do not pack a pocket knife and be prepared to explain stamp tongs.

Should you go to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, which I hope you do, know that a hundred feet north of the entry to the Liberty Bell pavilion, on Market Street, is the first "White House." Washington's house while he was our first President was located there. Demolished long ago, its foundations were excavated in 2007 and then developed into an interesting presentation.

This attracted a lot of local interest during the excavation and is well worth a 15 minute visit. Many of my out-of-town guests have found it fascinating (the bow window he used to amplify visually his presidential and personal dignity) and moving to the point of tears (the kitchen facilities below and notes concerning the president's slaves).

A short (3 min.) stroll further south from Independence Hall is the old Curtis Building. Go in the back door 6th and Walnut and you run into the "Dream Garden" a 15 ft. x 49 ft. stained glass mosaic which was a collaboration of Tiffany and Maxfield Parrish just before WWI. It's stunning. There is of course a Maxfield Parrish stamp, and a Tiffany stamp, but those are of different independent and lesser works.
Then if you can, exit the Curtis building by circling round into the atrium and see the astonishing marble waterfall. It was under restoration last I walked through, but it is one of the great spaces in America.

Have a cheesesteak somewhere and a hot pretzel -- Quintessential Philly.

The Post Office on 9th street near Market has a cool facade with WPA bas reliefs of mailmen doing their thing. There might be a Philatelic exhibit on panels in the south end of the east lobby. It's been a while since I was last there. Also re recommending the Franklin post office near Independence Hall on Market for their fancy postmark. Not worth a visit but if you end up in 30th street train station look across the street at the post office there. It had for a brief time Autogyro flights from it's roof carrying airmail. Also the Curtis Publishing company had a truck which ran into the 1970s that took mail to this station everyday. The truck was a solid wheel 1910s Electric truck.

"The Post Office on 9th street near Market has a cool facade with WPA bas reliefs of mailmen doing their thing."

Alas it is no longer a functional post office, and the building is closed, but the sculptures on the outside are worth a look.

I used to go to Philly for work visits from the uk. Apart from the obvious historic attractions listed above I found the Battleship New Jersey and on the other side of the river the Cruiser Olympia and Submarine Becuna at Independence Seaport Museum well worth a visit.

I was lucky that I went on a very quite day and got a personal tour of the cruiser from one of the staff who did not have much to do. Got to see places that most tourists did not.

I was amazed how segregated the US navy was in WW2 between officers and men. One of the people on the tour of New Jersey had been on board as a seaman when she was still active and had never seen the parts of the ship reserved for officers.

AQ

Not philatelic, but this is fascinating

https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...philadelphia