US Stamps

Mister Rogers cachet of 1979

Feb 3, 2025, 8 AM

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

Fred Rogers (1928-2003) was honored with a nondenominated (50¢) forever stamp (Scott 5275) issued on March 23, 2018 by the United States Postal Service, as shown in Figure 1. Rogers is best known as the host of the children’s television show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran for an astounding 895 episodes on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) network from 1968 to 2001.

However, the 2018 issue was not his first philatelic appearance. Rogers was also honored by the Westmoreland County (Pa.) Philatelic Society as the subject of a cachet for its 1979 Year of the Child philatelic exhibition theme cover, seen here in Figure 2.

The cachet celebrates “23 Years in Children’s Television.” Only 11 years of that included Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood shows. Rogers, a native Pennsylvanian, began his career in 1953 at television station WQED in Pittsburgh, Pa., working on cwhildren’s programming.

This might seem an odd choice for someone who majored in ...

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