Perforated Propaganda

On Thursday, April 23 at 8 PM, Daniel Piazza (shown here) will be speaking at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif. Dan, an assistant Smithsonian National Postal Museum curator, will be dicussing American, German and Italian postage during World War II, and the messages they were intended to project at home and aboard.

His talk is titled, "Perforated Propaganda." There is no admission charge and parking is free.

According to the Caltech Web site, "As a stamp collector, Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood that the common postage stamp's ubiquitousness made it a perfect medium for projecting political messages at home and abroad. During his twelve years as president, Roosevelt and his Postmasters General actively used the nation's stamps to sell New Deal projects, reinforce his role and authority as president, promote his personal interests and affiliations, and encourage optimism and hope during the Great Depression and World War II. In short, he harnessed their propaganda potential in a way that no administration before or since has matched."

Dan's talk will be illustrated with material from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's collections and the upcoming exhibit Delivering Hope: FDR and the Stamps of the Great Depression.

For more information, click here.