The United States Post Office issued a series of stamps in 1898 known as the Trans-Mississippi commemoratives. The nine stamps in the series depict scenes of Native- and immigrant-American life in the West during a period of great agricultural and urban development.

The domestic letter rate was 2 cents in 1898, and as one might expect, more of the 2-cent denomination were printed than any other in the series, with nearly 160 million produced. Anticipating the stamp's widespread usage, the Congressional Postal Committee -- the body which approved the designs for the series -- took the opportunity to use the stamp as an advertising vehicle, hoping that its enigmatic "Farming in the West" scene would attract people to the business of agriculture in the Midwest.

The 2-cent stamp was arguably the most remarkable stamp of the series—it was the first stamp produced by the Post Office Department depicting images of (then) living people. Marcus Baldwin, engraver of the vignette for this stamp (and many of the others in this series) used a photograph of an actual farming scene as his model. The photograph was taken at a farm owned by the Amenia and Sharon Land Company, perhaps around 1893. It portrays a huge train of farmhands, plowing equipment, and horses working a "bonanza farm".

Shown in the picture are Evan Nybakken (seated in the foremost wagon) and Arthur John DeLance (seated with a dog in the wagon behind Nybakken).

Some of the material on this page reprinted with permission, ©1999 Peter Schwartz, The Museum of U.S. Essays & Proofs.