Design Sketch for Byrd Antarctic Issue, 1934 (pencil on paper, with postage stamp)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was an avid stamp collector who tirelessly promoted the philatelic hobby. During his twelve-year presidency, Roosevelt designed numerous U.S. stamps, including the three-cent Admiral Byrd stamp. To raise funds for Byrd's trip, the expedition marketed philatelic subscription envelopes to be serviced at the official USPOD post office in Antarctic, the 'Little America'. All the subscriptions required the Byrd II stamp, for which subscribers (about 150,000) paid fifty-three cents (three cents for the stamp and fifty cents to service the mail). The service fee was justified because the USPOD had no other means to send and retrieve mail to the Antarctic. It was necessary to contract with the expedition to perform this service.