Bicentennial USPS An Image of America Classroom Slidefilm 3 Partial Sets
There were originally 57 photos, I had to merge several into
collages to get them all shown. As much as possible, theyre
grouped together by box, and by items within each box. The image
next-to-last are of the loose items described (far) below. :^)
In
particular, the ones showing the backs of the calendars are
representative of the overall calendar conditions. There just wasnt
room for each and every shot, and the backs of the calendars all look
pretty much the same.
This
is a lot of 3 (incomplete) boxed sets of a United
States Postal Service Bicentennial Issue classroom training kit.
This
lot is history squared. Its nearly 50 years old (give it four
more years or so…), so its pretty old already, plus its about our
countrys 200th anniversary, marking the year the U.S.
celebrated our Bicentennial. I wish I knew more about these, but
havent been able to find anything more than whats stated in the
sets.
None
of the sets are complete. I cant find anything similar anywhere
online, and have no idea of its history, use, or value. Theres
a ton of items all together.
The best approach I can think
of is to take photos of everything, and describe which pieces (and
how many) come from which boxed set. This is an AS-IS listing.
In the description below, Im taking the boxes as is, the way they were when I opened them. The pieces may not all be in the correct boxes, and are there are definitely pieces missing. I cant track what should have been where, and whats not there. The only process that makes sense is to do a bullet list, and break some things out in numbered lists as needed.
Box
1
Rise
of the Spirit of Independence
Almost
An American
(Targeted
at grades 4 - 6)
First… the box. The box is yellowed with age, but still in sturdy condition. Very nice-looking.
One Blue Plastic Film Canister, with a film strip inside. The film
looks to be in good condition. Guessing its 35mm, if I find out
differently will come back and modify this sentence.
The story
on the film is told one frame at a time. No motion, each slide
holds steady until the audiotape says its part, then advances to
the next image.
One Audiotape Cassette, in a plastic protector case. Side A is used with Automatic Filmstrip Projectors, Side B is for Manual Projectors. The tape is supposed to be played synchronously with the filmstrip. As far as I can see, the tape is in good shape. Its wound well, no obvious warps or stretched spots. I dont have a tape player to test it with, so have no idea if the audio is still any good.
Four 8 ½ x 11 identical pages of classroom material. Each has an article titled Continental Congrefs on one side, and Classroom Think and Do activities on the other side.
A Teachers Guide for - Almost An American - Rise of the
Spirit of Independence – an Image of America slidefilm. At the
bottom it has PED-12, and c1975 U.S. Postal Service All
Rights Reserved.
There are 30 numbered pages. It looks very
thorough, including an image-by-image guide to the filmstrip and
audio.
1 Duplicator Master – The Boston Tea Party U.S. 8c Stamp Bicentennial Era 8 ½ x 11
1 Duplicator Master – Carpenters Hall U.S. 10c Stamp Bicentennial Era 8 ½ x 11
1 Duplicator Master – Independence Hall U.S. 10c Stamp Bicentennial Era 8 ½ x 11
3 copies (I think back then they were mimeographs?) of The Boston Tea Party master
5 copies of Independence Hall master
7 copies of Carpenters Hall master
(All of these copies
are faded in varying amounts due to age)
Box
2
Bicentennial
Era
Rebellion
Becomes Revolution
(Targeted
at grades 4 - 6)
The box is yellowed with age, but still in sturdy condition. Very nice-looking.
One Black Plastic Film Canister, with a film strip inside. The film
looks to be in good condition. Guessing its 35mm, if I find out
differently will come back and modify this sentence.
The story
on the film is told one frame at a time. No motion, each slide
holds steady until the audiotape says its part, then advances to
the next image.
Record Album – In pretty good shape for an old record. It feels
thicker than albums I remember, maybe even heavier. Might just be
faulty memory, or maybe it was build sturdy with rowdy students in
mind.
Titled: Rebellion Becomes Revolution / An Image of
America Story of The American Revolution
Its 33 1/3 RPM;
Time 10:00; (SoN 133721); c1980 U.S. Postal Service
Side A: For
automatic filmstrip projectors. Side B: For manual projectors.
Teachers Guide for Rebellion Becomes Revolution
an
Image of America Slidefilm
PED-13 c1977 U.S. Postal Service
All Rights Reserved
In very nice condition, maybe somewhat
yellowed from age.
There are 28 numbered pages. It looks very
thorough, including an image-by-image guide to the filmstrip and
audio.
An envelope titled IMAGES OF AMERICA that contains:
A simple map titled Where Did It Happen? Colonial North America In The 1770s
A full-page line image of a stamp, titled American Militia, and marked US 10c
A full-page line image of a stamp, titled Seamstress for Independence, and marked USA 13c
A full-page line image of a stamp, titled First Kentucky Settlement Fort Harrod 1774 – 1974, and marked US 10c
6 Educational stories about life in colonial America:
Life On The Colonial Frontier
Colonial Farmers
The Search For Colonial Currency
Travel In Colonial America
Skilled Hands That Worked For Independence
(Small bit of
trivia – the first sentence on this sheet claims average
pay
per day at the time was 4 and a half cents per hour… and states
that equals $4.50 for a 10-hour workday. They made an error
in their math,
that hourly rate would only be $0.45 cents per
day.
No idea if the per hour rate was wrong, or the full-day
pay, but its very
interesting, a bit funny, and kind of
scary that the US Postal Service put
out a classroom
educational guide with such a glaring error!
Manufacturing In The Colonies
5 copied pages of stamp line art. The copies are kind of dim, and the pages are yellowed. These are 1 single copy of each page:
Independence Hall / U.S. 10c / Bicentennial Era
Rise of the Spirit of Independence / U.S. 8c (scene of a drummer in foreground, multiple people in background.)
Rise of the Spirit of Independence / U.S. 8c (scene of horseman riding through town blowing a horn)
Carpenters Hall / U.S. 10c / Bicentennial Era
Text on outside border of image: The Boston Tea Party / 8c U.S. Bicentennial Era
1 Poster – 35.5 x 24. Herkimer at Oriskany 1777 by Yohn
Folded clean and flat. Wearing thin on the creases, and especially
on the corners. Completely worn through on the central fold.
Every
corner has a pushpin hole, indicating it was probably displayed in a
classroom.
Box
3
Rise
of the Spirit of Independence
The
Post Rider
(Targeted
at grades 4 - 6)
The box is yellowed with age, but still in sturdy condition. Very nice-looking.
One Blue Plastic Film Canister, with a film strip inside. The film
looks to be in good condition. Guessing its 35mm, if I find out
differently will come back and modify this sentence.
The story
on the film is told one frame at a time. No motion, each slide
holds steady until the audiotape says its part, then advances to
the next image.
One Audiotape Cassette, in a plastic protector case. Side A is used with Automatic Filmstrip Projectors, Side B is for Manual Projectors. The tape is supposed to be played synchronously with the filmstrip. As far as I can see, the tape is in good shape. Its wound well, no obvious warps or stretched spots. I dont have a tape player to test it with, so have no idea if the audio is still any good.
Teachers Guide for The Post Rider
an Image of America
Slidefilm
c1974 U.S. Postal Service All Rights Reserved
In
very nice condition, maybe somewhat yellowed from age.
There
are 25 numbered pages. It looks very thorough, including an
image-by-image guide to the filmstrip and audio.
Three Plasticized Learning Activity Cards, with things to do on the opposite sides:
Post Roads
Think and Do: Make Your Own Milestone
The Post Rider
Think and Do: Making a Colonial Letter
The Broadside – Americas First News paper
Think
and Do: Write Your Own Broadside
1 Duplicator Master – Rise of the Spirit of Independence U.S. 8c Stamp Drummer Scene 8 ½ x 11
1 Duplicator Master – Rise of the Spirit of Independence U.S. 8c Stamp Post Rider Scene 8 ½ x 11
11 Copies of the Drummer Scene image (pretty faded, some more than others)
10 Copies of the Post Rider scene (again, pretty faded, some more
than others)
Items Laying Loose in the collection:
2 Postcards:
Benjamin Franklin Stamp Club
Both are Postmarked Port Huron May 31 1978 USPO
Both are signed by the Postmaster. The first initial looks like a capital J, but I cant make out the rest.
I do believe they are actual signatures and not stamped. There are visible differences between each of the two.
Both cards are blank on the opposite side.
The cards are both in pretty good condition given their age. Mainly some yellowing, and some minor corner wear.
A segment from Scholastic Newstime, with 1776 at the top of the front page, in red white and blue. The 4-page folded document is mostly centered around the tv movie, 1776.
Condition is decent. Some yellowing, some wear, some punctures and bent areas. Mostly flat, and very legible.
Bicentennial Hanging Wall Scroll - Patriotic artwork in full color on an 8" x 27.5" piece of fabric/cloth.
POSTERS:
Surrender
at Saratoga
Size
is around 35.5 x 24
Condition is the same as all the other posters in this lot. Stored folded flat. Decent, very readable, but high wear on the folded edges, most especially on the corner folds. Some spots are worn completely through. There are pushpin punctures on the four outer corners, and some bent edges, also mostly on the corners.
Captain
James Cook
Size
is around 35.5 x 24
Condition is pretty much the same as the one above. I did find a small scribble on the back, like someone had tried to get the ink flowing in their pen.
NOTES
The
posters in this lot are all 35.5 x 24
All
of them are neatly folded and well-preserved, but they all have wear
and damage.
There
are several folded corners that have worn through, or so nearly worn
through they may as well be.
On
the outer four corners, they all have tiny pushpin holes where they
were pinned to a wall.
Other
minor miscellaneous wear or damage, some have folds on the outer
corners, at least one has an ink (blue) scribble on the back.
See pics.
LASTLY:
This is an incredibly varied lot. The three main sets are unique, as far as finding anything about them, or locating any other sets for sale. Ive resorted to listing every item as clearly and consistently as I can, and taking lots of pictures.
Ive tried to be exceedingly thorough, but this was a pretty overwhelming listing. If you have any questions not answered by the descriptions or the photos, please ask. I cant answer questions about their provenance or history, but will do my best to answer what I can.