Sixteen sheets of the Smiler stamps are on exhibit in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Gallery of the John Hay Library from January 7 – March 4, 2015. The Smilers are part of the Brown University Library’s extensive stamp collections.

The “Smilers” are a series of stamps first issued by Great Britain for the 2000 International Stamp Exhibition, London. During the Exhibition, attendees could go to special photo booths and have their picture taken and placed on the stamps. The service was popular at the Exhibition, but its novelty eventually wore off with the public, possibly due to the higher price for the customized stamps. These early, customizable Smiler sheets are now fairly scarce.

As an alternative to the customized Smiler sheets, the Royal Mail also produced pre-designed Smilers, such as the sheet featured here and those in the Exhibit at the John Hay Library.

The Smilers stamps were created to inspire people to return to traditional correspondence through the post, as opposed to using electronic forms of communication. Will they inspire you?

The Brown University Library is home to several stamp collections, including the Knight Collection, the Peltz and Morriss Collections of Special Delivery stamps, the George S. Champlin Memorial Stamp Collection of international issues, and the Robert T. Galkin Collection of First Day Covers.

Click here for more information about Special Collections at Brown, including the stamp collections.

Dates: January 7 – March 4, 2015
Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday
Location: Anne S.K. Brown Military Gallery, Third Floor, Room 303, John Hay Library, 20 Prospect Street, Providence