THE FIRST CHRISTMAS SEAL

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

 

 

The 1907 the Red Cross TB Seal was issued by the Delaware Chapter of the American Red Cross. There were two types: Type 1 - "Merry Christmas," and Type 2 - "Merry Christmas / Happy New Year." This seal is a Type 1. The 1907 Red Cross TB Seal was designed by Ms. Emily P. Bissell.

 

 

Emily Perkins Bissell (May 31, 1861–1948) was an American social worker and activist, best remembered for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States.

In 1907, she was drawn to the cause of helping people with tuberculosis (TB).  She had already heard of an idea in Denmark in which people attached a special stamp to their mail, the proceeds of which would go to fight the disease.  She decided to introduce the same idea in Delaware. Her goal was to raise $300 for a local sanitarium, using a bright red stamp she designed herself.  She convinced local post offices to sell them for just 1 cent. This way, she believed, even the poorest people could help in the fight against TB.

Though the idea failed at first, Bissell was able to gain enough publicity from a Philadelphia newspaper to make $3,000, ten times the amount she originally hoped to get. Bissell spent the remainder of her life promoting Christmas stamps and helping to eliminate tuberculosis. She died in 1948. A public hospital outside Wilmington bears her name.