1993 Volume 116 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Miller's Meanderings
ordinary postage stamps,
properly known as the
Presidential Series, to
replace the issue of 1922-23.
Incorporated in the designs
UNITED
K1MI41
PQSTACE
BENJAMIN
HARRISON
|]
24 CENTS 24
y
Presidential Series, 1938.
Harrison ended up on the
24< stamp even though he
was the 23 rd president.
are likenesses of aU presidents
from Washington to
Coolidge "arranged in
accordance with their
tenure of office." Thus the
bust of Harrison appears on
the 24c stamp, facing to the
right with 1889-1893
printed below his name.
This has always bothered
me because everyone
knows Brother Ben was the
twenty-third president
while Grover Cleveland
both preceded and succeeded
him in office.
Cleveland appears on the
22c stamp. The 23c issue
has been omitted — a
mistake, in my opinion.
The stamp first carried
mail on December 2.
Many commemorative
stamps and sixteen years
later, the little village of
Oxford, Ohio, experienced
its day in the sun, philatelically
speaking. The
occasion was the first day of
issue for a new 12c
Harrison stamp. (Typically,
a site is selected for the
"first day of issue" of a new
stamp. The stamp is not
available in any other post
office until the following
day.)
The red-letter day was
June 6,1959. Postmaster
General Arthur E.
Summerfield presided over
the activities of the day and
spoke at Miami University's
150th Anniversary. The
General Headquarters
prepared a special first-day
cover that was made
available to members who
placed advance orders. The
post office representative
who arrived early to plan
the events was housed in
the General Headquarters
building as a guest of the
Fraternity. A local newspaper
story erroneously
reported that Harrison
"was a founder of Phi Delta
Theta Fraternity."
Liberty Series, 1954-61.
Known as the Liberty
Series, these stamps were
printed to replace the
Presidential Series. Only
seven presidents were
featured in this set of
twenty-six stamps.
In honor of the 1986
International PhilateUc
Exposition in Chicago, the
post office issued four
miniature sheets depicting
the portraits of nine
presidents on each sheet. In
the middle of the third
sheet is our owm Ben
Harrison holding down the
twenty-third slot where he
belongs. The first day of
issue was May 22. The
sheets were designated
Ameripex '86.
Finally, a word about the
man. Benjamin Harrison,
bom August 20,1833, at
North Bend, near Cincinnati,
Ohio, was the grandson
of WiUiam Henry
Harrison of Virginia - the
ninth President of the
United States. (The first
President Harrison appears
on only three stamps, two
of them in conjunction with
his grandson.) He graduated
from Miami University,
where he was initiated
into Phi Delta Theta on
November 15,1850, by the
Ohio Alpha chapter, which
he later served as president.
He became a very
capable lawyer and served
with distinction in the Civil
War, including such battles
as Kennesaw Mountain,
Peachtree Creek and
Nashville. After service in
the U.S. Senate, he was
nominated by the Republican
Party for the Presidency
in 1888 and defeated
Grover Cleveland. He lost
his bid for a second term to
the man he had defeated
four years earUer.
He returned to Indianapolis,
Indiana, where he
became active in Phi Delta
Theta activities and served
as president of the local
alumni club. He died on
March 13,1901.
A later article will bring
word of other Phis who
have been honored by the
philatelic profession.
Ordinary issue, 1922-23.
Winter 1993 * TheScroU 47