Airmail Week in Mtn . View
By Pamela Baird MVHA President
According to the American Air Mail Society , in 1938 , Postmaster General James A . Farley and President Franklin Roosevelt created and proclaimed a week-long event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of US airmail service . They saw the event as an opportunity to gain wider support and usage of the Post Office Department ’ s airmail service . The celebration week was preceded by the issue of a new $ 0.06 airmail stamp , the attractive bicolored eagle , Scott # C23 . Farley asked that every US citizen send an airmail letter during the week . The slogan was “ Receive To-morrow ’ s mail today .”
Mountain View participated in the nationwide celebration . On May 19 a plane piloted by Ted Simon and Louis Lang took off from the Mountain View Airport at 3:45 p . m . heading to Mills Field , where connections were made for all air mail routes . The Mountain View Register Leader newspaper noted that usually about a dozen pieces of mail were sent via air mail daily . Just a bit over 1,000 pieces of mail were posted that day by residents of the city , surpassing nearby Palo Alto on a per capita basis by many times over . With four times the population of Mountain View , Palo Alto sent only 1,558 pieces of mail .
In California alone , 4.5 million airmail letters and 3200 packages were posted on May 19 . And just like the notice predicted , collectors have sought envelopes mailed on May 19 . John Kostka , a Mountain view resident and history major student at San Jose State University , supplied a copy of an envelope that he saw listed on eBay in 2022 . Unfortunately , he was unable to bid on the envelop , but did take a copy of the image shown below .
Today , the US Postal Service uses 140 domestic airports to fly six million pounds of mail each day .
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MEMBERSHIP FORM
The MVHA welcomes new members ! You can also join / renew online at www . mountainviewhistorical . org . Membership is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law . The MVHA is a tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501 ( c )( 3 ), Tax ID 94-6115407 .
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