The first Christmas Seals went on sale December 7, 1907
at the Wilmington, Delaware post office. Emily Bissell,
pictured below, was and active member of The American
Red Cross and had considerable experience with fund
raising. She was asked by her cousin, Dr. Joseph Wales
to help keep a sanitarium in operation through the winter.

Emily got the idea for the stamps from Denmark where a
group had raised money to help people with Tuberculosis.
She talked the local post office into selling the stamps in
the lobby for 1-cent. Bissell spent the remaining years
of her live promoting Christmas Stamps and helping
eliminate TB. She died in 1948.

                                 Emily Perkins Bissell

         Conducting the first sale of Christmas Stamps.

                                      Magazine ad from 1947