Before cable news and email and Twitter, it was the postal service that transmitted ideas and information across land, sea, and political divides. Kim speaks with National Postal Museum chief curator Dan Piazza about some of the messages that stamps themselves were communicating, including a few asides from Philatelist-in-Chief, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

We also pair some noteworthy stamps to original artwork that lives right here at the National Portrait Gallery.

See the portraits we discuss:

Benjamin Franklin by Duplessis

Franklin’s stamp

Roosevelt and the Little White House

Roosevelt at his desk

Susan B. Anthony, bronze bust

Susan B. Anthony, three cents

Susan B. Anthony, photograph

Susan B. Anthony, fifty cents

Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable

Benjamin Banneker