History of Seals

A “Christmas Seal” is the marriage of two independently existing ideas: a tuberculosis fundraising seal and

a label issued at Christmas time, during the season of giving and when the volume of mail is high.

Danish postal worker, Einar Holboll put these ideas together, resulting in the world’s first Christmas Seal

issued in Denmark in 1904, picturing the deceased wife of the King of Denmark (figure 1).

The world’s first tuberculosis fundraising seal (Green’s #297) was issued in Germany in 1897 by the

People’s Sanatorium of the Red Cross on Lake Grabow (figure 2). It was not issued at Christmas time,

Holboll, honored on a 1927 Danish Christmas Seal (figure 3), appears on more seals worldwide than anyone

except for German Dr. Robert Koch, who in 1882 isolated the bacteria which caused TB. He is honored on

German local TB seal, #271. This seal, whose exact date is unknown, was issued by The Society to Combat

Part of the groundwork for Koch’s discovery was laid by French Dr. Jean-Antoine Villemin, who in 1868 proved

that TB was contagious and transmitted by contact. Villemin had a single piece of the TB puzzle and his career

may have come a little too early to get the recognition on seals that Koch received. The only Seal which honored

Hot on the heels of Denmark’s first Christmas Seal were Sweden’s (figure 6) and Iceland’s (figure 7)

Christmas Seals. All 3 were issued for the 1904 Christmas season. Iceland issued a very similar Christmas

Seal in 1911, which lacks the rectangular grey overprint coloring the falcon's body. Norway and Argentina also

released Christmas Seals before the United States did. Norway #1 1905 (figure 8) and

#2 1906 (figure 9), which were issued by The Norwegian Women’s Health Society. In the last few years seals

tied on cover by dated postmarks have confirmed that Norway #1 and #2 seals are actually reversed, the larger

seal (figure 9) preceded the smaller one (figure 8). This error originated in old European publications. Another

early TB seal, Argentina #1, was issued in 1906 by the Charity Society of Buenos Aires (figure 10).

Back in the US, in 1904 the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis was

formed by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau and Dr. Lawrence Flick. Earlier, in 1892 Flick had founded the

Pennsylvania Society for the prevention of TB, the world’s first society dedicated to the prevention of TB.

Trudeau was diagnosed with TB in 1871 and went to the Adirondacks to die, but began to feel better and

became convinced that rest, fresh air, sunshine, and good nutrition could cure TB. His experiments on

tubercular rabbits confirmed his theories. In 1884, he felt fully recovered and opened the first sanatorium in the

US, at Lake Saranac, NY. This “Little Red” cottage is pictured on the 1934 US Christmas Seal (figure 11).

Before I visited Little Red, I had no idea how small it was, little bigger than one modern hospital room, it looked

like a nice size child’s play house. Trudeau was the first president of the NASPT, which The American Lung

Association, our national Christmas Seal issuing society, traces its origin from.

The NASPT also campaigned against public spitting because they knew that it could transmit TB. In 1915

they began their Modern Health Crusade, modeled after a successful program in Wisconsin, which educated

children on TB through the Christmas Seal Campaigns. Depending on their level of involvement, children received

Crusader certificates, as well as buttons with various ranks such as “Squire”, “Knight” or “Knight Banneret”

(figure 12). Chivalry (being polite) was not dead, and the historical Crusades were still viewed through heroic

fiction. Louis Caprario has just finished a new book on US Christmas Seal Buttons, which is available from the

Most Christmas Seals include the red double-barred cross of Lorraine (figure 13), adopted by many

countries as the international symbol of the effort to find a cure for TB. This cross was first proposed in 1902 at the

International Conference on TB in Berlin as the symbol of the “Crusade against TB”, and adopted by the NASPT in

1906. Added to our National Christmas Seals in 1919, it and has been used ever since, however it has been

getting very small on some recent issues and is occasionally printed in black instead of red. The double barred

cross was originally the coat of arms of Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine, a leader of the first crusade

and elected ruler of Jerusalem after its capture in 1099. Used in Godfrey’s coat of arms, it was borrowed from the

Jerusalem or Patriarchal cross. Godfrey refused the title of King of Jerusalem, became the central figure of

Now I shall turn the clock back to the first US Christmas Seal, which was issued in 1907. Emily Bissell was

approached by her cousin, Dr. Joseph Wales, who worked at the Brandywine Sanatorium in the State of Delaware,

with a plea to help the hospital stay open, “Unless $300 can be raised somehow, the poor patients will have to be

sent home to die…perhaps to spread the disease to other people.” Bissell, a social worker born in Wilmington,

Delaware, had founded city’s first public kindergarten, wrote poetry and prose under the name Priscilla Leonard,

was a volunteer at the Red Cross, and fought at the state level to reform child labor.

After reading an article by Jacob Riis, who had six brothers die from TB, about the successful sale of Denmark’s first

Christmas Seal, she decided to issue a Christmas Seal. Bissell borrowed forty dollars from friends, designed and

initially had 50,000 Christmas Seals lithographed on credit by Theodore Leonhardt & Son Printing Company (figure 14).

Sales were weak at first, but after she acquired free publicity from The North American, one of Philadelphia’s largest

newspapers, Christmas Seal sales took off. Staff columnist, Leigh Mitchell Hodges wrote daily articles to promote the cause.

The campaign was endorsed by President Teddy Roosevelt and the seals sold out before Christmas.

A second type of seal, the type two, was printed, with “Happy New Year” added (figure 15). 300,000 seals were printed in all,

Sales for the 1907 Christmas Seal grossed $3,000, ten times the amount needed to save the Brandywine Sanatorium.

In 1908, the second year, $135,000 was raised from the Christmas Seal sale. By 1916 the Christmas Seal sale surpassed

one million dollars. Emily Bissell died in 1948, but lived to see the 40^th anniversary of US Christmas Seals, and was honored

on a 1980 US commemorative postage stamp, Scott #1823 (figure 16). Bissell was also honored, along with Leigh Mitchell

Hodges, Jacob Riis, and E. A. Van Valkenburg, editor-in-chief of The North American, on the portrait seals in the center of the 1

Tuberculosis was brought under control in most of the western world by the 1950’s, and the American Lung Association has

branched out into medical research and education for other lung diseases such as asthma, and emphysema. Far from being

eradicated, TB claims about 2 million lives a year worldwide, and one third of the earth’s population is believed to be latently

Emily Bissell presenting a sheet of her 1907 type 1 seals to National Tuberculosis Association Managing Director,

Dr. B. Kendall Emerson on the 40^th anniversary of Christmas Seals in 1947. The first US Christmas Seal tied on cover or

postcard by timely postmark, has become one of the most prized Christmas Seal collectibles.

Our National Christmas Seal issuing society has changed their name over the years as follows:

John Denune, Jr., B.A. ’85 Art Ed. O.S.U., and his father have been a full time Christmas Seal dealers

since 1981. Tricia, John's wife, is a special education teacher in Newark, Ohio; his daughter, Hilary is a

John is the president of the Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society and editor of Green’s part 1,

US National Christmas Seals. The CS&CSS, American Philatelic Society affiliate #101, was founded in

1931 to promote and encourage the hobby of collecting fundraising seals of the world and to provide

information and resources to aide in the pursuit of the hobby, and boasts nearly 500 members

worldwide. The CS&CSS publishes literature, an award winning quarterly journal, Seal News, and will

be meeting at VAPEX 2007, in Williamsburg, Virginia, on November 9^th – 11^th, 2007

The CS&CSS website http://cscss.home.att.net/ includes a list of seal collecting literature. Some of their

newest titles include, Green’s Foreign section Supplement 1985-2007, by Charles Hoger, US Christmas Seal

Buttons, by Louis Caprario, Green’s Catalog of Canadian Local and Provincial Tuberculosis Seals, by Cliff

Beattie, and Larry B. Hixon’s Santa Claus Post, by Joseph Ward, Jr. US membership is $15, Canada &

Mexico $17.50, and all others by airmail are $27.50. Sample copies of Seal News are $2. Write to Florence

Wright, Secretary Treasurer CS&CSS, 33 Northunberland Rd., Rochester, NY 14618-2405.